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Breast and Bottle

Just wondering if anyone was planning on trying shared feeding, with breast and formula from a bottle. I have read that it can be done although some MWs try and put you off the idea

13+6 x

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  • I will def do this. I plan to express so OH can also feed, however if I dont produce enough milk then I will top-up with formula. A hungry baby is an unhappy baby. I understand the whole 'breast is best' BUT if you cant then you cant, there are millions of healthy babies that were never breat fed, me for one, I would like to try but if I cant I wont kick myself x
  • Hi Kimmy

    I'm sort of thinking of doing this but expressing breast-milk for hubby to bottle feed. I think my sister said don't attempt to bottle feed until after 4-weeks until BF is established but I'm not sure how right she is!

    Joo xxx
  • I'm going to do it. I never produced enough milk with DS 2 and i dont want that to happen again, so i'll be feeding baby on demand but then topping up with formula if i feel baby is still hungry or if my milk isnt coming in. My midwife has been ok about it, she is so lovely, and told me to do whatever i'm happy with, however health visitor was very quick to tell me it will never work and that giving a bottle will put the baby off the breast. All i can say is i'm going to try, it worked before and i see no reason why it won't work again!
    I've bought the tomee tippee closer to nature bottles as i've heard they work really well for part feeding, and will be using aptimil on the advice of my friend who works in our local NICU, as she tells me this is closest to breast milk! Hope this helps xxx
  • Well what I was thinking was, of course we all know that breast milk has all these importat nutrients. So I want to give them to my baby. But what I also want to do is to go out and leave H2B with the baby, or with my sister who is soooo looking forward to babysitting even this early on! I think it's really important to get the baby used to people, and to make sure the dad is really involved, you know?

    But I don't want to have to sit down before going out and express some bottles because if I did that I might as well just feed the baby myself!

    So I really want to try and mix feeds. I hear Aptimil is a good formula to use

  • My plan was to express so that dh could do the feeds if I wanted to go out - however, we didn't try her with a bottle until 6 weeks as per the recommendations and she now refuses anything but the boob :\(

    So this is just me, but I wish we'd offered her a bottle as soon as bf was firmly established.
  • I am hoping to breastfeed but will also be expressing once a day so that hubby can do a feed when he gets home from work.

    At this point I don't *plan* on leaving the baby at all in the first 6 months so hopefully this will work.

    I would be interested to know if anyone has successfully mixed fed though as it would definitely open up more possibilities!

    Bec 25+5
    xx
  • Its totally your choice hun, i agree with you that its a good idea to let Daddy and Auntie get involved from early on so that baby is used to being left with others, and so that they can bond with baby too! (my OH told me afterwards that he felt a bit useless when i BF because baby only ever needed/wanted me) i also think it takes the pressure off a little, especially if baby feeds an awful lot or seems unhappy, the only downside to BFing is you never know exactly how much they're getting so tend to treat every whimper as hunger. Of course we all know that breast is best, and if exclusive feeding went well then i'd be very happy to express for OH to give bub in a bottle, but i also know from experience that its not always that easy to express as its so time consuming, and doesnt always work! I never managed to express even with DS 1 who i produced plenty of milk with, i tried all different pumps, sat there for hours and produced about an ounce! Sorry to prattle on lol, its a subject very dear to my heart, especially after the way i was treated after i switched my son to formula, from the look on the midwifes face you'd have thought i told her i'd been giving him weetabix!
  • It's not fair that some of these people can be so judgemental.

  • I know hun, it really gets my goat lol. At the end of the day, breast milk is great for babies, but so is formula, and if we decide that we want to introduce both, i'm pretty sure its our decision! Obviously i would never give my baby things that are unsuitable, and as per weaning guidelines these days i will wait to introduce any other foods until at least 5 months, preferably 6 (it was 4 with my other 2, absolutely nothing wrong with them, but they must have changed the guidelines for a reason!?) And as for nipple confusion, it wasnt a problem for my boys, so i doubt it will be for this one either!
    Oh look, i'm ranting again!! lol
  • Hi Ya
    So many women get so worked up over this subject - If you cant breast feed then you cant! And nobody should judge you especially the MW, she is there to support and help you, not look down her nose at you which i know alot of midwife's have done to my friends. Sorry - it gets me worked up because i have had a lot of friends get upset about this and feel like failures.

    I mixed fed both my children and they are now 14 and 11 and they are perfectly fine. I breast fed, started them on a bottle within the first few days. I expressed and also gave them formula too. I am now nearly 18 weeks pregnant and i plan to do this again and my MW had better not say a dicky bird to me otherwise she is not going to like my response! He He!
    I just think at the end of the day you just do whats best for you and your baby and what suits best. Rant Over!. Nicki
  • Ooh interesting Nic! So did you start breast and bottle more of less straight away then? x
  • It's really up to you hun things work for different people. I am going to try and breast feed and express my breast milk so that daddy can have feeds as well as I think that is so important.

    I am not going to beat myself up though if I can't breast feed or if it;s not working out for baby and me the main and most important thing to remember is your baby needs food one way or the other so as long as they are getting it all is good.

    K xx
    http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev217pr___.png

  • il do it! i shall breast feed as mch as i can- bt express some for oh to help with night feeds or if im out shopping
  • My lo is 5 weeks old and I have started given him one bottle of formula at around 7pm at the weekend. He took to the bottle straight away and meant DH could feed him. It has also helped him take a dummy too which is good as he wasn't that interested before.

    My HV was absolutely fine when I told her to do this and recommended that I did it between 4 and 6 weeks. She said if I didn't want to express (I have a 2 year old so didn't want to be sat down for any longer that necessary) then this was the best option.

    I breastfed my dd for 3 months which I was pleased and plan to do the same or longer with my son. I did make the misake with my dd that I went up to a number 3 teat which meant she could get it out really easily and started to refuse my breast. So will stick with number 2 teat this time max.

    xx
  • Hi

    Yes I introduced a bottle about 12hrs after my second child was born but i cant remember with my first - definately within the first week or so. I dont know if i was just lucky, but both of mine tookbreast and bottle. I just found it helped me out that my partner, parents or friends could help me. This time my children are 14 and 11 and they will be able to help out too, which will help them bond with their new baby brothe ror sister. Nicki
  • That is exactly what I am after! x
  • I am intending to do both.

    My friend was told by her mw not to introduce a bottle for three months and then he wouldnt take it at all, so she has told me to ignore what they say and do what I think is best.

    I really want to express, so am going to introduce a bottle after the first week or so I reckon. Good to see that this has worked out for so many people xx
  • i also plan on doing both, as with tegan she was constantly hungry and i just couldnt satisfy her with my breastmilk, i tired her with a bottle at 4 weeks and she wouldnt have any of it, i tried expressed b'milk and formula, I finally got her on bottles at 6 months which was such a relief but by then she was weaning so i gave up breastfeeding completely, im hoping if i introduce a formula feed within the 1st week then my lo will take to it much better so i will have a happy satisfied baby xxx
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