Have you breastfed and bottle fed the same baby?

[eisbaer]

How do they compare? Am currently EBF my DS4, having bfed other 3 to age 1. But in meantime have become disillusioned with the alleged health benefits and am wondering if it is sheer martyrdom to continue when I am finding everything quite tough anyway. But am not sure whether it is tough due to being glued to sofa every evening for 4 hrs, not being able to exercise, or just due to having a baby and the challenges that go along with that. Keep seeing these bottle feeding mums looking fresh(well slept) and their babies so contented and drifting happily to skeep and staying asleep for a decent stretch. But this could all be in my head! Did you stop bfeeding and go to bottles and how did life change, if it did? 99% certain I won't jack in bfeeding altogether, just wondering really.

[UnicornCrisps]

Nothing changed for me, we fed on demand with bottles so DD still took milk just as often including through the night. It's a pain in the arse washing and sterilising bottles, we spend a fortune on ready made milk to use at night so we don't have to get up and make one up. The only change is she didn't poo as well as she did on bm but comfort milk sorted that out. If I could have stuck to bfing I would have preferred to.

[JuliaScurr]

I mix fed from birth, formula at night, then bottle only from 6 months. Dd slept through from 6 weeks - loved ordinary milk from bottle up to age 4 which obv freaked some people out (not me). Teeth fine, sleep fine
none of the other things were caused by mix feeding, but obv didn't stop them
just found formula more filling and she liked bottle for comfort

[GreggsOnLegs]

I bottle fed ds1 for various reasons.
Had a go at breast feeding ds2, it was much more time consuming, he also snacked so had very little and often feeds every 20-30 minutes. He started slipping down the centiles so hv suggested top up formula feeds. So for a while I mix fed. He became more content then got bronchiolitis and found it hard to latch on and breathe while feeding so I expressed as much as I could (very small amount, about 1-2oz after 1hr of pumping).
It was exhausting I was trying to express every 3 hrs and look after and feed him and ds1. I didn't feel I was getting anywhere with breast feeding and felt quite disheartened that my pumping efforts equated to such little milk that with regret I gave up.
If my supply was better I probably would've continued.
That said he became more contented and slept better moving completely onto formula.

[sittingatmydesk]

I breastfed ds1 until 10 days, then bottle fed. He was still a nightmare. colic, cluster fed for hours at a time.

I ebf ds2 until 4 months, then mix fed until 7.5 months. Bottles were better for me as I had a thyroid problem which caused recurring mastitis, but I don't think it made any difference to ds.

[Potol]

I mixed fed from 5 weeks to 13 months. I had a v good supply. I used cartons and on average he had one bottle feed a day. Then I went to work at 7 months and he had 2-3 bottles and 1 meal at the CM's and breakfast, dinner and 2 breastfeeds at home (first one of the day and last one at night). It worked v well. My supply adjusted. No making bottles at night and after a long day at work, that bedtime feed was my chance to cuddle and relax. I would do the same for a second child.

[eisbaer]

sitting that is one of the things I thought might disappear so it is interesting to know cluster feeding can still happen with bottles
Am toying with idea of one bottle a day to get him in his own bed so DH can get back into our bed, at least for part of the night! But am slightly gratified to learn that the works isn't instantly totally rosy with FF baby. But "slept better" does sound wonderful..

[CelticPromise]

Lots of people mix feed successfully. Do whatever suits you but be mindful that introducing formula especially in very early days may have an effect on your supply.

What has made you disillusioned about the health benefits of EBF?

[NormHonal]

I mix-fed DC2 so that I could have the odd break when needed. Sadly I can't report better sleep, but it was wonderful at 10wo to be able to hand him over and have a day off, and even (!) the odd evening out here and there.

[eisbaer]

Well, DS2 was EBF and has allergies, eczema, asthma so these are all the things mooted to be prevented by bfeeding. And I don't see any FF kids failing to thrive on the back of it. I think you'll be how you'r going to be, irrespective of how you're fed, I also think there's a good deal of smugness etc from the pro-bfeeding camp. The only thing I buy is the idea of preventing obesity, as bottles in general seem to get more milk "into them" in one go, I.e. More than they'd get from feeding, snoozing, feeding, snoozing, but then I'd say that goes for EBM too then. all 3 previous DCs had EBM and have totally different appetites. I suppose as my kids get older I'm getting a different perspective on what I need to do to be a good parent and breastfeeding is only a minuscule part of it, and doesn't make you a "good" parent or not!

[callamia]

Allergies and asthma etc have a huge genetic component, so perhaps bf can dampen the effects, or maybe for somethings it has no effect (I'm a bf asthmatic).

Fwiw, while the first few months of breastfeeding are intensive and hard work, after a while it does become super easy - I can go out taking the minimum, and don't need to worry about heating a bottle etc.; feeding at night is quick an easy (essentially, I am really lazy and bf pretty much allows me to stay that way). I express bottles for when I go out, and it's not a problem. DS was ff at birth because he spent a week in nicu, so I'm definitely not anti-formula - you should do whatever really works best for your situation. We're lucky to have the choice, and I don't agree with people being all judgy about people exercising that choice.

[CelticPromise]

Of course that is true- bf or not sure doesn't make you a good or bad parent. But evidence on the health benefits of bfing is overwhelming and anecdote is not the same.

I count myself as part of the pro bfing camp and give a good deal of time to bfing support (including mixed feeding and support to stop bfing if that's the mother's choice). I hope I'm not smug.

Incidentally, if you decide to FF and are concerned about overfeeding there is a great article about responsive bottle feeding on the Best for Babes website.

[conorsrockers]

I BF my first for 6 weeks. Christmas came, family stayed - everything was chaos - I just couldn't sit feeding on demand for hours. So I tried a bottle. It changed my life. He slept, for the first time for HOURS. Everyone enjoyed feeding him and he was much happier and calmer. Never BF again.
DS2 came along and I lasted a day.
When DS3 turned up 14 months later I put him straight on the bottle (after the first feed). I have three strapping boys who are very healthy and I have absolutely NO regrets. On the flip side I watched my best friend go through emotional trauma because she was being pushed to continue BF and brainwashed that she wasn't being a good parent if she didn't .
BF just doesn't work for every baby (or mother). In the big scheme of things it's such an irrelevant thing (I think).

[Purplelooby]

My DS was unable to BF due to a TT but I did try for 2 weeks. Being honest, he was a bloody high maintenance baby both ways. My current baby is also tt and also I tried to bf and she is now mix feeding from a bottle. She is a dream both way and she cluster feeds from the bottle like a bf baby. In fact making bottles is a bloody faf at 2 in the morning. If I could have bf my two I would have without a second thought.