does anyone mix feed!!

[NICCI]

hey ladies just wondering if anyone has successfully mix fed there baby!
the reason i ask is my HV suggested it for a number of reasons,
1. jacks weight gain is quite slow, even though he feeds every 2 hours (13lb 8)
2. get him used to formula and bottles because im stopping most breast feeds at 6 months and planning to go onto formula
3. he might go longer in between feeds.

he is such a hungry baby and i asked the HV whether or not i should try him with some baby rice (he is 17 weeks old!) but she suggested mix feeding im confuddled!!

 

[beanie]

every two hours is a normal gap, plus he is at growth spurt stage so should be feeding frequently anyway. Introducing formula at this stage could be quite damaging to your milk supply and you may find you are having to use more formula as time goes on but if you were wanting to finsihh at 6 months anyway then you might not find that a problem. I personally wouldn't give baby rice due to the fact he sounds as if he is doing great, he is putting weight on albeit slowly (what are the growth charts in your red book, formula or breast) but that's not a sign he needs anything more.

 

[Bloom]

DD has had 1 bottle of forumla a day in the evening since about 3 months old as i had a similar problem with the weight gain. She loves it and it gave me break when she was feeding all the time and now she takes a bottle no problem.

As she was my first baby i feel i listened too much to the hv and not enough to myself i got very upset about having to give in to the bottle but it was the best choice for us at the time but looking back and knowing what i know now im not sure i would go down the same route again

Not sure if that helps but its very hard to go back once you start down that route and do it because you feel you want to not because your hv suggests you should. You know your baby best.

 

[ASD123456]

I'm a mix feeder and tbh I wish I'd stuck with breastfeeding. The reason we decided to mix feed is slightly different though, I go to study on a Mon and Tue and expressing enough was becoming a nightmare amoung other reasons. We're now on the slippery slope to loosing breastfeeding altogether and I feel really, really sad about it. The thing is, you can relactate but it's not easy and takes a lot of time and you have to be very dedicate an not have much else going on.

Rudy has become very impatient with the breast and will only feed from me when he is calm and sleepy as otherwise the flow is way to slow.

Saying that, I do enjoy lots of aspects of mix feeding and I don't find sterilising etc too much of a chore.

My advice would be to think long and hard about it. If I'd know that this is what would happen when I started mix feeding I woldn't have gone ahead and would and should have stuck with the breastfeeding exclusivley.

Alex xxx

 

[NICCI]

well jack has decided for me!! he doesnt like formula at all!!
i had a cheeky taste and it tastes horrible! i tried sma gold am i using the wrong formula! xxx

 

[charlie84]

Nope formula tastes funny to me too. I tried Calleigh with some Aptimal and i got such a discusted look off her
I think it will take a bit of getting used to for baby. Im afraid though when i do return to work Calleigh will have to get used to the formula.

 

[kalia]

His weight is on the charts. Has he suddenly started going rapidly down the percentiles? If not, there's not a problem.

 

[ASD123456]

well jack has decided for me!! he doesnt like formula at all!!
i had a cheeky taste and it tastes horrible! i tried sma gold am i using the wrong formula! xxx

I tried Rudy on SMA gold and he hated it! We use Aptamil. Formla must taste rank compared to Breastmilk.

 

[Noor~ul~Usman]

Farooq is mix fed but that's more because I don't have a good supply yet (and I'm gona have to work bloody hard to get one! ) so he only gets about an ounce of expressed breast and the rest is formula. I want to perserver (sp?) and try to get my supply up more so that he gets at least 1 full bottle of breast a day....just to help keep his immue system up

I knwo it's normally the other way around though with the bottle as the top up.

My midwife was supportive and had nothing bad to say about me mixed feeding (might be because I was heart broken at first not being able to work out b/fing with him but now I'm happier expressing) and to be honest since I started introducing a bit again his colic has gone
The only other thing I've really noticed is his poops can sometimes resemble formula (being drier and yellower) and sometimes breast milk (greener and runnier).

As both are supplied in the same bottles he has no problem taking.