Mixed feeding - teat size?

[Soozey1]

Hi All

As the title suggests I am mixed feeding my 5 month old - breastfeeding first then topping up with formula. I have been doing this since about 3 months old and it's working really well for us - at least I can still get some breastmilk into him!

My question is should I be changing the size of the teat? I have deliberately kept him on the 0-3 month teats in the hopes that the stronger sucking on the bottle will keep up the strong sucking on the nipple. Does anyone have any idea about this?

Many thanks!

[lucy101]

Hi there - I have been mixed feeding my nearly 4 month old since the start due to a whole bunch of issues and I am slightly agonising over giving him a faster teat now (his formula Nutramigen seems to clog the slow flow teat so I don't really have a choice) as I worried that he might start rejecting the breast (we do go through patches though where he won't go on the breast and then weeks where he only wants it - but then stops putting on weight - so it is tricky).

If your baby is fine on the slower teat I would hold out as long as you can as even after 1 day on the faster nipple he is being a little bit fussier at the breast....

.... but, like everything to do with BF and feeding in general, I guess it comes down to the individual baby.

[heidipi]

Hi - I mix fed til nearly 6 months and stayed on the no 1 teats the whole time. I still haven't changed in fact - DD (now 7 months) takes about 5 mins or so to take 180ml and seems happy. Each BF used to take at least an hour so I think she developed a strong suck then that is still very effective!

If your LO seems happy as you are I wouldn't bother changing, the cynic in me wonders if bottle manufacturers might just be inventing reasons to make us buy more stuff.

HTH

[TK24]

I'm mixed feeding my 7 month old (he only breast feeds in the morning now) and tried the faster teat because he wasn't taking much of his bottle at night before falling asleep and thought maybe the teat was too slow. However he can't manage the faster teat at all, he ended up coughing and spluttering and soaking wet as most of the milk spilt right out of his mouth! Will be staying on the slow teat from now on!!