Can you really combine bottle & breast

[Babybeesmama]

Hello 😊
DS now 6 weeks & EBF... I'm using the Haakaa pump at night & building up a freezer stash.. the ideal is that DH could either a) do an 11pm feed so I can get more sleep or b) give him the odd bottle if I want to go out or take the other 2 DC somewhere... how realistic is this? DS1 wasn't keen on bottles & it took a good few weeks of persuasion.

I know even if they take a bottle once it's not forced to be an option every time.. & id probably worry if I was out that he wouldn't take it anyway... 🙈 thanks

[eltsihT]

I combination fed with both my boys. DH gave a bottle at 9pm and I breast fed the rest of the time.

Ds1 was fed this way till 7months. Ds2 till 9.

[RuskBaby]

The sooner you give a bottle the more likely it will be for them to take it.

[Mulch]

I combi fed from 5months, health visitor was adamant he'd get nipple confusion. He couldn't care less where his milk came from he's a hungry baby and will eat anything

[Mulch]

Was a life saver and gave me just a little bit of much needed freedom

[Babybeesmama]

I've bought a minbie bottle as they seem to be getting rave reviews for combining breast/bottle... might get him to try tomorrow! X

[Littleelffriend]

I did for the first four months no problem

[BayLeaves]

Personally I would only give EBM in a bottle and not formula. There are some theories about "the virgin gut" which concern me when it comes to giving formula.

[WyfOfBathe]

I introduced bottles when DD was 3 or 4 months. I always did the night feed though as boobs were more convenient than trecking to the kitchen to fix up a bottle.

[ThursdayLastWeek]

Yep, we introduced a bottle from 5 weeks with both.
DS1 bfed until 16 mo, DS2 until I got fed up at 10mo.
I had very good supply, no issues foe us at all.

[15MinutesWithYou]

I managed it with both of my daughters (DD1 continued breastfeeding until I stopped her at 2.2 and DD2 self weaned around 8 months). But I went against advice and gave them both bottles literally as soon as we left hospital and gave them at least 2 expressed bottles a day.

[ohlittlepea]

Vast majority of women in the uk who breastfeed combi feed. Doesn't work for everyone. My daughter would never take the bottle...we spent zillions snd tried every technique. Every baby is different xx

[Glovebug]

DC2 was a terrible bottle refuser. DH would syringe or spoon feed her the milk instead. I had a hard time with her and really needed the breaks it allowed me to have. DC2 initially wasn't impressed with a bottle but after a bit of perseverance and changing to breastflow bottles she happily went between breast and bottle

[Glovebug]

2nd bit should say DC1

[Nonibaloni]

I mixed with ds. We were blue lighted to hospital when he was 2 days old and they gave him s bottle because it was so stressful for both of us. I carried on with both because I was a bit nervy. Health visitor said I had to chose, I just lied after that. I mixed throughout the day and did bottles through the night. Totally possible.

[museumum]

My ds was tongue tied so had bottles of ebm in the first two weeks.
Then after the tt snip dh gave one bottle a day for a few months but then ds totally refused and by 3mo was a complete bottle refuser and never took one again!
Bf to 13mo with cups of ebm from 10mo. Nursery from 6mo with water in a cup and food (lots of dairy).

NOTHING like I'd have planned but all fine in the end.

[McCheese]

I always though combination feeding was breast feeding and offering a 1 or 2 formula feeds a day? But it seems that you all mean EBM when you say combi feeding?

[Ktown]

I mixed fed from 2 weeks old for over 2 years, and went back to work after ~1 year.
For the first 10 months I used NUK low flow yellow rubber teats which mimic the breast.
They were midwife recommended at st Thomas and meant I expressed sometimes and used formula other times.
The volumes given were much much smaller than recommended as bany remained on breast 80% of the time.
I even worked away for 5 days and went back to breastfeeding.
I switched to avent small bottles when she went to nursery and this worked fine too.
Towards the end I only did a feed in the morning and one at night - a little more if she was ill.
It worked great for me as she didn't get ill at all during the first 2.5 years so it helped my transition back to work perfectly.

[ButtHoleinOne]

One bottle a night only given by your partner shouldn't be a problem but nipple "confusion" is real, though I don't think it's confusion so much as laziness. Don't ever give the bottle yourself.

[Ktown]

Just for info: I expressed a lot for the first 6 months and also drank a lot of water too to maintain volume. After that I didn't both expressing at all, unless I was away for more than 12 hours.

[TheMasterNotMargarita]

Yes.
From about 10 weeks Ds had a bottle of formula each evening.
Now he is almost 1, he has 2x small bottles of formula a day 4-5oz and bf morning and night.
Never been an issue.
Stressed out about it with first so didnt give a bottle til she was 4 months. It was a nightmare I wont bore you with .

[InDubiousBattle]

I mix fed both of my dc. With dd we did something like you're describing, she had a small bottle (I used f)at 10.30-11pm from around 3-4 weeks until 6 months. At 6 months we moved the bottle to 7pm as we started to put her to bed rather than have her downstairs with us in the evening. I just breast fed the rest of the time except for perhaps 2 occasions when she had a bottle. Worked really well for us and I bf her to 11 months when she gave up on all milk except her bedtime bottle, which she ditched a month later.

[LazaUbi]

We did it. I breastfed exclusively for the first two weeks, then introduced a bottle of expressed milk each evening so that my husband could give me a break when he got home from work. Later on this meant I could build up a stock of milk in the fridge/ freezer and go out for the day once or twice. And that my husband could do one or two overnights per week so I could have a nice long block of sleep. It really helped father/ son bonding too.

I then introduced formula at around 5 months so that DS could get used to it slowly before I went back to work, gradually adding formula feeds in the afternoon and then extending back into the morning so that my supply adjusted without it being painful and by the time my maternity leave finished he was having formula all day ready for nursery (I work long days and commute so not practical to express for this), but I was still breastfeeding him at bedtime and if he woke for a feed overnight.

I had several friends who left it until their baby was a couple of months old to introduce a bottle and the baby refused to take it. We were advised by the HV and midwives to do it early on to avoid this so I would start introducing a daily bottle soon if you want to combi feed. They can also 'forget' if you don't do it for a while. All babies are different though as PP have said.

[Nonibaloni]

To be clear I mixed formula and breastmilk. I think I used the avante bottles but I can't remember honestly. I gave him bottles, and he switched between quite happily but I know this isn't universal and I was frequently told it was impossible. The minute we started weaning at six months he stopped wanting to breastfeed and bottles were abandoned soon after.
My point is I swear there are no rules with feeding babies.

[LapinR0se]

From 2 weeks I combi fed.
I did all breastfeeds in the day then pumped at 10pm which my husband fed the baby in a dreamfeed.
Then if the baby woke in the night she got a small bottle of aptamil formula. After she stopped waking at 3/4am we changed the 10pm bottle to formula.
She slept through from 10 weeks

[stargirl1701]

It depends how long you plan to feed for, I think. I don't know anyone who managed beyond 12 months if combi feeding. If you want to reach natural term, you may struggle with supply.