Please help me with mix feeding...

[HeadFairy]

I'm going back to work in 2 weeks, and I'm going to try and feed ds at least in the mornings (or pump if I've got a really early start) and perhaps evenings (again pumping if I can't) and let him have formula for his tea time feed. I tried this today for the first time, I gave him 7oz formula at 4pm, then tea at 5pm and his usual bedtime breastfeed at 6.30-7pm. However he had much less at his bedtime feed than normal. Is this because formula takes longer to be digested so he wasn't as hungry as he normally is? Should I give him less formula at 4, say 4oz or is that wrong? I'd rather he had more breastmilk and less formula if I'm going to do this. DS is 7 months old. Any advice?

[HeadFairy]

forgot to add, of the 7oz formula I gave him at 4, he had only 5oz.

[HeadFairy]

Really? I was getting paranoid that he wasn't getting enough milk, so I was aiming for three feeds a day. He has breakfast (porridge) lunch (some veggies and fish/chicken and fruit) and tea (pasta or something similar and yoghurt) so does he really not need three milk feeds as well on top of that? I really hated giving him formula but I thought he'd not get enough milk without it.

[HeadFairy]

when I'm working I'll probably only be able to feed him once a day, for example in the morning, but when I get home from work in the evening I'll pump, and dh can give that to him for his evening feed the next day and so on. As I will only be working three days a week I can feed him three times a day on my days off, but not when I'm working. I do give him yoghurt pretty much every day, i was worried that I was giving him too much, but I guess not. I also put cheese in with his veggies pretty often so I'm sure he's getting enough protein/calcium.

Could I give three feeds if I bf in the morning, ebm at bedtime and then I could give him a dreamfeed at 11pm (which I currently do but was going to drop soon)?

[HeadFairy]

and yes, he does get milk in his porridge, it's cows milk.

I know babies aren't supposed to have cow's milk as their main drink before they're one, but there's no reason they can't have one drink of cow's milk is there? I'm a bit concerned ds isn't getting enough fluid in him, he's not great at drinking water (my mum's suggestion was to put sugar in it !)

[cmotdibbler]

Three bfs a day with morning, bedtime and 11pm sounds good, but maybe he could have some milk at lunchtime too - some moo milk in a cup with his lunch won't do any harm as he gets to grip with drinking from a cup.

DS has always loved drinking through a straw, so that might help.

[HeadFairy]

thanks so much for the advice starlightmackenzie and cmotdibbler, it's reassured me a lot. I do worry about his milk intake as he never feeds terribly well these days, he's so distracted. I have to bf him in a dark room with absolutlely no noise. Even my dh walking in to the room is enough for him to pull away and look around. The only time he has a ok ish feed is his dream feed, so I think I'll carry on with that for a bit.

I've tried giving him water from an anyway up cup but I don't think he understands he has to suck, he just chews the spout. I've tried taking the lid off and he does try and sip but more often than not he inhales it and has a coughing fit, but I'm persevering. I might try a bit of cow juice this lunch time as well as water, his poos have been a lot looser recently so I must be getting some fluid in to him, they've been like marble until now!

[cmotdibbler]

Those anywayup cups are really hard for them - an open cup, like a Doidy, or a free flow spout like the Tommy Tippee first cup seem to be easier

[HeadFairy]

I thought that might be the case, it's a bit much to expect a 7 month old to work it out. My sister swears by them but maybe her girls are geniuses ! I've tried taking the lid off the top of the cup and letting him sip, but I will look for one of those tommy tippee ones.

[cmotdibbler]

If they are used to a bottle, then they know to suck to get things out of plastic.
Another thing thats a bit fun is a sports cap bottle - you can give it a little squeeze to help the water out initially, but DS thinks its dead funny to use.

[HeadFairy]

great idea, dh has got hundreds of them lying about!

[HeadFairy]

that does make sense to me starlightmckenzie, I was getting too hung up on him having a sopping wet top but that's silly, just change his top!

[HeadFairy]

Hi there, I bought him one of those tommy tippee free flow cups and he's drunk loads today. I've had a bit of a wobble with the feeds as yesterday ds had a bit of tummy upset and wouldn't eat anything at all, and at one point was refusing fluids too. I finally got him to have some water from the tommy tippee cup, and I managed to get him to breast feed too, but he had no solids at all yesterday.

Today he's had a bit of food, some porridge at breakfast and he apparently had loads of chicken and rice at the cm, plus she gave him about four ounces of formula (I only left it with her for an emergency, but she gave it to him anyway). He didn't really have much tea but a pretty good breastfeed at bedtime, so hopefully we can get back on track tomorrow. I'm going to start working towards three breast feeds a day, at breakfast, bedtime and dreamfeed, with three meals including lots of yoghurt and cheese and see how we go. Just got to make sure the cm knows what I'm doing, she does love to tank them up on milk, even if it's formula! Thanks so much for the advice, it's really helped and made me feel a lot more reassured