aibu to mix bottle & bfing?

[inneedofsomehelpplz]

I ebf for 6 months until weaning started & as I'm due back to work, have introduced a bottle of 6oz before bed. LO is also on vitamin drops.

But i've been told I should ebf or ff! Mixing is not good for their tummies :-(

My DS never had tummy problems. He was mixed fed from 16 weeks.

Yours is already on other foods, so why shouldn't you FF on top of bf?

However, why the bottle before bed? Why not during the day?
And why the vitamin drops?
If your LO is drinking plenty of milk he shouldn't need vitamins, nor if he's having a range of foods.

Who told you that?

No you can. I did it with my first.

he is fine. Almost 15

yanbu

Absolutely fine. I did this with both of mine with no ill-effect at all; with my first - premature - baby, she had this mix from birth as my milk production was a little lacklustre...!

As Feminine says!

Mine is now a strapping 6', 23 year old and he was fed both

Everything I've read from LLL says that any breast milk is a bonus due to the antibodies etc your child will get. The advice would almost certainly be to limit the amount of formula (if you can or are prepared to), but if you're going to use formula then of course you can and should bf too.

Of course you can, I think everyone I know mix fed at one point or another. It's entirely your choice.

You do whatever you need to do because its right for you. Dont even concern yourself with what others think. BUT FWIW at 6 months I dont think you have to worry too much!

I tried mixed feeding but made ds vomit. However, every baby is different and may work for your baby.

Lweji, the Department of Health recommendation is that all babies from 6 months to 5 years receive a vitamin supplement. (For exclusive ff, enough vitamins are added to the formula, so long as DC has 500ml a day).

I don't see why it should be a problem? Especially since your DS is 6 months old! this link to NCT website might help.

My DD is 4 months old and we just started this - BF in the day but formula bottle at bath time. Now instead of BF for 2-3 hours she settles after about 45 minutes! I finally get some evening!

I was advised to mix feed by a paediatrician when DS was a week old as I had an EMCS and no milk came in for a few days. DS got two wee bottles a day as his weight was stable but not gaining. He continued with mostly BF and the two bottles until he started weaning at 6/12, wherein he weaned himself off the bottles and just has solids and breast milk now (no sign of him weaning himself of that yet).

At no point did anyone in paediatrics mention mixed feeds being bad for his stomach.

I did this with all three of mine. I had my milk well established, first. But it was easy.

Mixed successfully from four weeks! I got sick and couldn't bf for a few days so in the meantime baby was given bottles and when I got back we just continued mixing the two which enabled me to continue bf'ing for well over a year. (had only managed exclusive bf'ing with dc1 as never considered mixing)

I mixed fed and it was fantastic. I had to get newborn out to do school run for 5 and 7 year old. Couldn't guarantee how much newborn would have and couldn't stand him screaming his lungs out in playground especially as 5 year old was Reception child so needed some hand holding. So I gave baby one bottle of formula a day before school drop off and it worked really well for me. I knew he was full so I found his crying less stressful. Do what works for you and try not to worry too much.

I don't see any reason not to - you EBF for six months as per guidelines and now your baby has lots of different food sources thanks to weaning. Formula will just be another food source unless you replace all breastfeeds with it.

I planned to do this strategy with DS1 but he hated formula and wouldn't even have a mouthful so only had food and breastmilk, ultimately weaned off bf at a year and a half.

DS2 is five months and EBF. However, he has already tried stealing other babies' bottles at playgroups () and since I have to return to work when he is seven months old, I hope he will eat solids, have formula in the day too from a bottle if needed and then breastfeed evening/night/morning.

By the time a baby is six months, I think the concept of a virgin gut is well and truly over. My DS2 is currently licking the floor in a hopeful way....his gut must be full of total rubbish!

thanks - its my family & friends commenting :-( i started giving a bottle at night as she does sleep longer rather than wanting to still be bf every 2/3 hours so selfishly wanted some sleep. for some reason i cant express so when not here she will have a small bottle. she is on drops as advised by the hv as not getting the full amount of formula.

At six months DD was eating carpet fluff and book corners, I don't see that formula would hurt. The 'helpful' comments may be from people who have misinterpreted the virgin gut theory.

What? Do I need to put ds4 on drops then, he won't take any formula and noone has mentioned vitamin drops

its from 6 months moonins.

Vitamin info here

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/vitamins-for-children.aspx#close

He's nearly 7 months! I hadn't even thought about it, the others were on formula by this point. Thanks I'll go take a look at the link