mixed feeding

[daisymum]

I have been breastfeeding dd for 3 months and over the next couple of months want to start mixed feeding (ff and bf) to allow me to ease back into work. Any advice on how I can end up breastfeeding mornings and evenings only and still have enough milk? (I do express but can't freeze as my milk goes all stinky when defrosted but that's another subject altogether....)

[twinklemegan]

I'm not really the best person to advise on this because for me mixed feeding was a necessity rather than a choice as such, but as no one else has come along as yet I'll give you my thoughts on this one. It should be perfectly possible to just feed morning and evening and still have enough milk for those feeds. I only gave two bfs a day for quite a while and didn't notice my milk dropping off any further. Your body will produce milk in the quantity required, when it is required and as long as you stick with the new regime you should be fine. The issue would be that you'd have to give formula through the day at the weekends as well because your breasts will be used to producing milk for feeds that are 8+ hours apart. I think you can probably get down to two feeds without creating problems for yourself by gradually cutting out one bf at a time during the day and replacing with formula, but someone else would be able to offer you better advice on this.

[hairymclary]

hi daisymum, if you scald your milk in a pan before you freeze it that should stop it from going funny when defrosted.
it's a process quite common with breastmilk, it saponifies when put in extreme temperatures, the scalding prevents this fromhappenig