mixed feeding - newborn

[siany]

Hi All,
my sister had a baby on Thursday. She wants to mix feed. Her plan is to breast feed the majority of the time but give a formula feed once in the afternoon and at 11pm. Has anyone any experience of feeding this way. Any advice/positives/negatives. Thanks

 

[Bee]

I had to do this after a car crash I was in and I didn't like it at all. Yes he slept at night but its not what I wanted to do.

Personally I think she should keep to breastfeeding for the 1st 6 weeks until it is established otherwise she may muck up her supply and have to introduce more and more bottles.

Its so much more faffing with bottles, better to stick to breast IMO rather than doing both

 

[Mildly]

Oscar has one formula feed last thing before bed and has done since birth pretty much. We were advised to do this due to his ineffective feeding which we believe related to his tongue tie and caused really slow weight gain. I'm not sure it was something that we would have considered unless we were advised by a medical professional however on the whole it has worked out well for us.

Positives are he hasn't got nipple confusion (although I have to breastfeed using nipple shields anyway), he sleeps really well after a formula feed and that OH is able to give the last feed at night.

Negatives are that sterilising is a bit of a pain (but again with the nipple shield use, I can't get away from that), it was also much harder to make sure my supply was boosted in the early days.

I'm sure there are other things but I can't think of any. The main thing is Oscar seems happy enough and because the formula fills him up for longer, I was lucky to have around 5 hours sleep at the beginning which saved my sanity. It might not work like this for your sister though. There was a point where we were asked to up his formula feeds to two a day instead of one by the hospital, my supply suffered really badly at that point so we dropped the midday feed and went back to just formula at night. I think if we had stuck with two formula feeds a day it wouldn't have been long until I wouldn't have been able to breastfeed. Of course, again that might not be the same for your sister

Do you mind me asking why she wants to mix feed? Most people you meet want to feed exclusively feed either breast or bottle. Sorry I am nosey

 

[Sherlock]

I'd say to wait the 6 weeks of exclusive BF'ing first tbh and establish the supply to meet babys demands. It can really mess up the supply if you give formula in the early weeks. And often its the beginning of the end and lots of women find it hard to keep up the breast feeding as baby starts to prefer the bottle (not because it is better but because of a faster flow and not having to do as much work to get the milk out).

If there is a specific reason she needs/wants to give 2 formula feeds a day then she can try it but it may well mess up her breastfeeding. I'd really advise waiting 6 weeks so as to avoid nipple confusion and so on and also so as to not mess baby around. Some babies are allergic to formula also.

There is also the having/needing to express when giving formula at those times in the early weeks. Without doing so the breast milk supply may well not establish or will drop off. It needs baby to feed to stimulate it. And expressing very often does not get hardly any milk out whereas a baby can get all it needs. Expressing is not a good indication of how much milk Mum is producing either way.

There is also no sure way of knowing if a formula feed at night will mean her LO will sleep longer at night. And if the bottle is being given by her it may confuse her LO who will want the boob. Its usually better if someone else gives the bottle feeds so as to not cause baby upset etc.

TBH I expressed a bit when LO was around 3 weeks on medical advice and I soon gave up on it. Faffing with bottles, expressing, sterilising and also having to have someone else feed him from the bottle was more effort and I preferred breastfeeding even though it caused me problems (I had health problems after giving birth). I'm glad I stuck with it as its the best thing I've done for my son and its been a wonderful experience. I'd do it all over again in an instant and never go near a bottle or pump again.

If she really wants to do so then of course she should, but she should be aware of the down sides and problems it may cause. Of course, I hope it goes well for her if she does so.

 

[Redshoes]

I mix fed Isaac, it basically came about because he was in an incubator for high jaundice levels and they needed lots of fluid to flush it out of him, I couldn't express enough, they said I was starving him, and I was already in a bad place after an unexpected birth, so kept up the formula feeding as well as breastmilk feeding after the hospital stay. I cannot say I had any problems with that way of feeding, I co-slept and so formula was just a daytime thing, but Isaac was happy with the mix and never had nipple confusion, and its nice to let others feed your baby too, I cannot remember any negatives except its darn easier getting a boobie out over faffing about with bottles, teats, steriliser..blah, blah hehe If she can, I'd suggest just breastfeeding initially to see how it goes, works with her lifestyle etc as it is easier than formula feeding. Very best wishes