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Breast and Bottle - Can you do both?

My son is 3 1/2 weeks and currently breastfed but I just can't keep up with him, he feeds every 90 mins at least and every 2 hours at night. He's on me all night from tea time onwards and sometimes he can only fall asleep with my nipple in his mouth :roll: This past week he's feeding all morning too and wakes up every time I put him down.My HV said he's having a growth spurt and might need to feed constantly for 24/48 hours until I can produce enough milk to meet his demands but ths has been going on for over 2 weeks now. I can feed him for 1 1/2 hours and then he'll still have 2 or 3 ozs of formula straight after. At the moment he's being topped up with just 1 bottle of formula although yesterday he had 3oz of breast milk from a bottle as well.

Sorry to go on a bit but has anyone managed to combine breast and bottle at this early stage??
How many breastfeeds can I replace before I get engorged boobs?
Is it possible to get it down to 1 or 2 breastfeeds a day and bottles in between?
Please someone give me some advice before I give up breastfeeding altogether, I'm sick of feeling guilty and miserable :cry:

Replies

  • I know what u mean, already he seems to be a bit lazy on the booby! He's never had a problem latching on but these past few couple of days he's been just chewing on the end instead of getting most of it in his mouth and it's starting to hurt.
  • Hi Loopylass

    I breast fed my youngest & plan to do the same when this little one arrives. I breast fed only until she was almost 3 months old then i went to a party and left her with my parents, as i couldnt leave my boobs behind i decided to mix her feeds. not only because i was off out for my sanity but because its exhausting and my nipples were killing me too lol.......about a week into mixed feeding my milk started to dry up, don't know if thats why but i'm guessing my boobs felt a bit redundant......lol.....you've got to weigh up the pro's and con's though, is it worth you being tired and unhappy, or do you mix feed so that someone else can take over while you have a break.....you've done a good job feeding him yourself for 3 and a half weeks, give yourself a feed or two off or you wont be fit for anything else.....And as for the guilt.....there's plenty more opportunity for feeling guilty as they get older for example leaving them with a sitter, going back to work, leaving them at school on their first day, the first time they fall over and you're not there to catch them.........so give yourself a pat on the back for doing so well now ;\)
  • hello
    is it not best to express evertime u give the baby formula so ur boobs dont get weaned off? sorry i dont know that much about this its just what my friend advised me to do as i have a hungry baby too...
    gonna make my desicion today on what to do... after his weight is checked...i just feel ive let him down... bless him...
    swxx
  • I think some babies use you as a dummy aswell, so once they stop sucking and start playing I would take babe off and leave at least an hour before offering boob again so at least I wasn't getting sore and fed up. It is supply and demand so I agree with others if you give some bottles you are on a slippery slope. Good luck
  • Thanks for the advice ladies. He's having a bottle around lunchtime and 1 again at bedtime and there's still plenty of breastmilk to go around. I just feel like it gives my body 2 or 3 hours to catch up and make milk for the next feed. It's complicated trying to get timing/amounts right sometimes!
  • sounds like he's using you as a comforter - my lad did this to me! Try weighing him occasionally during a 'feed' you might find he's not taking anything very much but will help you work out how long he's actually feeding for and when to limit access to your tender bits.... would you consider giving him a dummy, if he's still happy with one of them then it's not lack of food!
  • Hi Loopylass, my baby is nearly five weeks old and fed every hour since he was born. This gradually got better until he was going two- two and a half hours at four weeks old. then he suddenly settled down and most days he can go 3 and a half to four hours.
    Ive found that getting out and about keeps him asleep that bit longer so i can get him as hungry as possible, then he'll have a really good feed. This means he will go another four hours til the next feed.
    I also occassionally give him a dummy if he just needs to suck something or to send him off to sleep so i can delay the feed a bit.
    We do have bad days where he goes back to his old habits but i put it down to a growth spurt.
    I know they say to feed on demand but we have demands too!! Good luck
  • hiya loopylass, you can definitely do both, my little man is 11 weeks old and has had a bottle at 10pm every night since 2 weeks old. first it was expressed milk so my husband could see him when he got in from work late. Now he has formula at 10pm, i express the milk and feed it to him in a bottle at 2pm the next day, all his other feeds are breast and he is quite happy with both. i would always express when you give a bottle as it helps keep the supply up for when they have growth spurts. good luck x
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