mixing breast feeding with formula feeds?

[Littlestar]

Hey ladies

Obviously initially i want to breast feed for our little girl to give her the best start as all the midwifes and health vistors push breast is best. I have felt quite self concious about the whole breast feeding subject when being out and about or around the company of others and have an electric breast pump to express as and when needed.

Originally i wanted to express the two evening feeds for OH to feed so then i can be tucked up in bed and shes still getting the breast milk. but im not sure how much and if i this will be possible as your body only produces whats needed.

I have also heard that babys sleep more during the night with a formula feed as breast milk is so thin doesnt keep them full so another thought was to express one bottle and then the last night feed before bed to be formula about 2weeks after birth.

The other dilema i face is that my best friend is moving to australia a month after baby is born and would really like to be there for her meal and leaving party. My parents are more than willing to look after little one but i cant see that i would be able to get a whole nights worth and following day of milk expressed whilst feeding so i thought that whilst baby is away from me that she could be formula feed.

We have brought aptimal baby formula as is closest to breast milk and they use to use it for premature babies on the wards.

I just dont want to feel like i have failed already by thinking like this or to be judge for doing so. i wont be stopping her from getting the best will i by doing both?

Is anyone else planning on mixing feeds or has anyone done this previously with your other children that has any advice?

thank you xxx

 

[clairebear22]

Hiya, I can't really help you because i'm going to be a first time breast feeder myself soon, but i'm reading a lovely book on the whole subject at the moment. It's called 'What to expect when you're breast feeding and what if you can't'. It's by Clare Byam-Cook. I'm half way through reading it and have found it very informative so far.

Hope this helps x

 

[pinkymum]

I can't be very helpful either as I'm going to be formula feeding but there is lots of girls on here who breastfeed. I'm sure there are a few who do both as well. If I remember correctly, Cherelle was planning on doing both too. No one on here will judge you for combining both

x

 

[cherelle]

Hiya

Yep as Pinky said i was planning on doing both but on advice from the midwives im not sure if that will work now!

Apparently they do sleep better at night after formula because there is something in formula milk to make them feel more full - the midwives at my antenatal class told me this can cause them to reject breast milk though so its not always possible to do both.

As for not being able to express enough i dont think thats the case. I went to a breastfeeding workshop the other week and from what they said - the more you feed and the more you express the more milk you will produce. The hormone you produce when feeding tells your body to make more milk so you should have enough to express a couple of feeds a day. Apparently the reason a lot of women dont have enough milk is because they arent feeding and expressing enough so their body isnt being told to make more!

Hope that helps x

 

[becki28]

I'm planning on mix feeding. I did with my first and it worked a treat. He was sleeping through in no time. Its obviously different for everyone though and you'll soon work out what works best for you.

 

[Stunned]

Hey I'm a mix feeder! My eva gets one 7oz bottle of aptamil for her last feed before bed at 7.30pm. She's otherwise breastfed on demand. I started her on the formula when she was 2 weeks old after a very nightmarish few daysof her clusterfeeding in the evenings. 2 weeks is a bit early but I was lucky with eva being a little piggie that she will drink anything out of anything . If I were u, I'd wait till 4 weeks when ur routine is fully established and u can swap a bf for a ff. It will have to be at the same time everynight cos ur body will adapt and produce milk only for when baby needs it.
As for expressing - easy peasy! To start with u won't produce much but after a few days of expreswing at the same time of day, ur body will be tricked into believing that ur baby needs milk at that time of day and ur supply will go up.

I managed to express over 70oz in a couple weeks by expressing once in the evening when Eva was in bed. And now she is guzzling her way through it at her grannys while I'm in hospital today and tomorrow.

 

[Stunned]

Oh p.s. - with a dream feed at 11pm, eva sleeps through the night till abt 7.30 - 8am and has done so since she was 3 weeks old :-D x

 

[Nanc]

Good post Littlestar, this is the one area I would like more info on too. You're right that all midwives bang on about breast feeding being best. Stunned, your routine sounds brilliant. I have a friend who did a dream feed every now and again and said it was great if she needed a good sleep, but she didn't do it on a regular basis...nnot sure why. It's fantastic that your little one sleeps through after it.

 

[nadine]

What's a dream feed, feeding whilst they asleep x

 

[Stunned]

What's a dream feed, feeding whilst they asleep x

Yeah dream feeding is feeding baby while asleep or in eva's case, half asleep. She stirs at about 11ish so that's when I breastfeed her, before she wakes fully and she settles right back asleep in minutes.

 

[nmf1987]

i know of a few people that were actually told to do both as there babies werent getting enough. i plan on doing both. i want to start breastfeeding but will see how i get on but am the same about being out and about and doing it etc.

the midwife at the hospital my sister had my niece actually said to her to do the 1st 2 feeds as breast and then if she wants to move to formula go for it. as 1st 2 feeds have the best bits in them according to her. i was quite shocked as most of them say breast is best but she said she has found the most content and happy babies she has dealt with have been ff.

odd. will see how i get on though. xxx

 

[nadine]

I'm same, going to try n see for one if I can do it (breast feed) n baby will latch if so I'll do it a few days trial n error really n see how I get on, then I'll start to mix ff n breast so Oh n my mum etc can help, if I can't do it for what ever reason I'll bottle feed her, but I'll certainly not be beating my self up over it, just c how things go x

 

[cherelle]

Its confusing when midwives tell you things cos they are so strict on stuff like this - they insisted at my breastfeeding workshop that you cant do both and you cant mix breastfeeding and dummies either. I was hoping to mix BF with formula until they advised me i coudlnt! x

 

[Stunned]

Its confusing when midwives tell you things cos they are so strict on stuff like this - they insisted at my breastfeeding workshop that you cant do both and you cant mix breastfeeding and dummies either. I was hoping to mix BF with formula until they advised me i coudlnt! x

Oh that's rubbish! Ideally exclusively breastfeeding is best but inthe real world it isn't always ideal. Mix feeding is better than ff only especally if you really want to bf but is struggling (no offence to those who do ff only you are absolutely right to do whatever is best for you and your babies)

I don't know why midwives and bf workshops don't tell you about mix feeding! I wonder how many women gave up bf altogether not realising that they could mix feed if the baby accepts that. Surely some breast milk is better than none!?

 

[cherelle]

Its confusing when midwives tell you things cos they are so strict on stuff like this - they insisted at my breastfeeding workshop that you cant do both and you cant mix breastfeeding and dummies either. I was hoping to mix BF with formula until they advised me i coudlnt! x

Oh that's rubbish! Ideally exclusively breastfeeding is best but inthe real world it isn't always ideal. Mix feeding is better than ff only especally if you really want to bf but is struggling (no offence to those who do ff only you are absolutely right to do whatever is best for you and your babies)

I don't know why midwives and bf workshops don't tell you about mix feeding! I wonder how many women gave up bf altogether not realising that they could mix feed if the baby accepts that. Surely some breast milk is better than none!?

yep i totally agree and i did think they wouldnt have advised against it - it deffo put me off and i thought id prob BF for less time if i couldnt mix feeds too x

 

[Littlestar]

Wow thanks for all your replies! It definately gives you a lot to think about and the more I read the more appealing mix feeds are. As you say stunned some milk is better than none at all. I feel like I would struggle exclusively breast feeding.

Stunned your routine that you have with little eva is definately worth thinking about once everything is established.

Thank you so much everyone for all the advise definately gives you a lot to think about especially when you want to give baby the best but are also self concious as I am that you can do both and baby still gets all it needs.

The breast feeding workshop we went to down here was purely on how to get baby to latch on. Nothing about how long you feed from each breast and if you were planning to have a drink on a summer night how much milk you had to dump the next day. They push breast feeding but don't always give you the information that's needed and then it all gets really confusing.

Stunned I love the idea of your dream feeds to amazing!

Cherelle there is so much conflicting information out there I don't know what to believe sometimes, books say one thing all midwifes say different things. I sometimes think its more their personal opinion than anything. With the breastfeeding and no dummies. I was always planning on giving baby dummy because I was told it reduces cot death as they don't fall into such a deep sleep. So much different information given out.

Just thankful for you girls as just makes you question yourself already whether you can do this/ are you making the wrong decisions before baby is even here!

Xx

 

[cherelle]

I agree im thankful to read everyones experiences! x

 

[hopefulmummy]

I hadn't even thought of this really, but it's really interesting to read all this. something else to consider!! xx

 

[karenandbump]

Hi ladies, I've got 2 little boys - one 2 and a half years old and a 5 month old.
I breastfed Harrison (my 2 and half year old) for 7 and a half months. I used an expressed bottle from 3 weeks and introduced formula at 3 months. He took a dummy from 3 days old (and we got rid of the dummy a few months ago with no problems. Harrison never confused bottles, breastfeeding or dummies and I felt that I gave him a good start and managed to feed for the 7 and a half months because I mix fed for the last 4 and a half months of it.

With my 5 month old (Elliot) I started breastfeeding as with Harrison. He fed loads and I struggled to express enough milk for him so didn't really do expressed feeds this time. I fed exclusively for 2 months and then used formula (I had to leave him for several hours at one point as my sister had a baby rushed into intensive care and I needed to be there) so we used a bottle of formula a day from then. I introduced a second bottle at 4 months. He won't take a dummy (fine by me) and tbh isn't a big fan of bottles either. He much prefers a breastfeed whereas Harrison wasn't fussed if breast or bottle.

My view is that mix feeding works - I would try to get ur milk supply established first tho as that seems to have worked well for me. Dummies never caused me problem with Harrison in terms of feeding and he had one from 3 days old.

I hope that is helpful for u guys - good luck with the babies and the feeding!!! x x x