Help me start mixed feeding.

[NoTeaForMe]

As some of you may know I have been really struggling with breastfeeding and have now decided that I need to call it a day. I would like to try and carry on breastfeeding a bit and introduce formula too. I just can't do all the feeds any more. My baby is 3 and a half weeks old. So where do I start, what feeds are best to give as formula? Should I express while she has formula? Should she then have formula, expressed breastmilk and breatfeeding or just formula and expressed or no expressing. As you can tell I really don't know where to start!

Thanks in advance!

If you do want to continue to breastfed then you need to get some RL help. If you are struggling and introduce formula to a baby this young its likely you remaining milk will dry up v v quickly.

If you are happy to stop just introduce formula, and breastfeed when you feel full.

agree with muminnwlondon

it's definitely worth you seeking some real life help!
any supplementing can have an effect on your milk supply, so if you do want to continue to breastfeed as well then you need to be quite careful.

expressing when she has the formula will help, tho many mums find it much harder to express because a abby is more efficient at draining the breast.
if you don't stimulate it enough your supply will drop

also, if you are expressing while she has formula then i am not sure you're any better off really cos it's more work than just feeding her!

what area are you in roughly?

My gp suggested breastfeeding and then giving formula when ds was still looking for more at the end of a feed. I found it more effective to replace one feed with formula. You will need to find what works best for you, whether that being expressing, formula or mixed feeding. I would suggest not dropping the night feeds because they really boost the supply.

Sorry you have been struggling, NoTea :(

Agree that RL help is what you need - any of the bf helplines should be ok, but they will explain that it's going to be hard to maintain any breastfeeding this early on - but explain you are aware of that and are ok about it (if you are). You'll need to intro formula in the most comfortable and easy way, otherwise life will be hard (expressing, direct bf, and ff is the most hard way ever to feed a baby).

It is esp pointless to express when she has formula - you might as well just bf then. Instead, one option is to give a bottle of formula instead of a bf and keep that up once a day for a few days, and then give another bottle so she has two bottles, and do that for a few days.

The key to maintaining some bf as long as possible is to keep the gaps between bfs as short as poss - so that 2nd bottle should be a few breastfeeds 'away from' the previous one, IYSWIM!

Keep the night feeds as bf if you can.

Hope this helps.

I was under the impression that I could mix the feeds and carry on with some breastfeeding or expressing and add in some formula. Is this not the case then?

the problem is that milk is made on a supply and demand basis. so for every feed you miss out by giving formula your body learns it needs to make less
so your supply drops.

in the early days your baby needs to feed frequently to establish an adequate supply. if you start introducing supplements and as a result baby is feeding less from the breast then your supply WILL drop.

if we couple that with the fact that often you are able to express less than a baby would take when it feeds then you're on a slippery slope.

I have mixed fed from week 2 with only a few minor issues. DD2 has 2 or maybe 3 formula feeds per day. My suggestion is to introduce 1 feed at a time and give yourself 3 days to adjust before adding the next. I worked for me but I agree RL help may be a good idea.

DD2 is 15 weeks old and we're still ok and she's on the 90th centile for weight so it clearly agrees with her. I make up 150ml bottles and is varies lots as to how much of it she drinks.

Our routine is as follows (but that's not to say this is what would work for you!)

Breakfast feed - BF
Midmorning - FF
Lunch feed - BF
Afternoon - FF
Bedtime - BF (now!)
Late feed - FF
Middle of the night - BF

This works for us but I've done this through trial and error. I also take fenugreek as I've found it helps with supply. The other thing I've found is to make sure you do at least 1 of the night feeds.

There are odd nights where DD2 has not woken from 8pm until the early hours and has therefore missed the late FF. My logic is if she wakes before 2am she gets FF, if not BF.

As DD2 is a bit older now it tends to help with the 2 FF during the day as she is too nosey whilst out to BF well. Plus, on some days I need her to be fed by a certain time so I can collect DD1 from nursery and FF is faster.

For what it's worth one of my friends is a doctor at our local hospital and she has met loads of mums who have mixed fed to 6 months so it's perfectly possible.

it might be possible to mixed feed, but equally with a baby this young esp if you are struggling you might find your reamining milk dries up. also many babies reject the breast once offered a bottle.

I am mixed feeding now (DS2 7 months) but I EBF intil 5.5 months, now back at work, DS2 has 7am, 6pm and 10pm from me, 10.30am and 2.30pm plus 3oz top up at 10pm from a bottle plus 3 solid meals.

I think he takes more from a bottle, because he'll down 6oz of a bottle and then refuse to let the teat (or breast) in his mouth as he's so full but after a breastfed (and i offer each breast several times) he'll still drink 3oz or so from a bottle if offered. basically because he has other source of food he can't be bothered to work to hard to generate breastmilk, and gives up when it gets a bit slow.

why are you struggling?

if you are happy to move to FF then fine, but if you do want to continue to BF then you should try and get some RL help

NoTeaForMe - I've had a quick look at your other threads, and I'm gathering that you are suffering a lot of pain and nipple trauma. Some of your posts could have been written by me a few months ago (and probably were if you were to search under my nickname!) Given what you're going through I can totally understand why you are talking about expressing rather than feeding directly.

Firstly, I want to make a suggestion to you which is to try nipple shields, if you haven't done so already. There are all sorts of caveats about potentially reducing supply, teaching baby bad latching habits etc. etc., but they are definitely definitely worth a try before introducing formula. They take the edge of the pain and allow your nipples to heal. They have saved me twice.

I have some experience of the type of mixed feeding you are suggesting. My DS (now 4) had tongue tie which went undiagnosed, and feeding him was total agony. I'm sorry to say I did not last as long as you have before I had to introduce a bottle. I did a mixture of EBM and formula, with some direct feeding. The only way I could feed directly was with nipple shields.

I can tell you that it did work - DS continued getting some breastmilk for 4.5 months - BUT it really is the worst of both worlds. I have a very very detailed feeding diary in which I recorded how much EBM, how much formula and how long on the breast - some feeds comprised all three. Later on I separated the feeds out so that some were breast and some were formula. I think the latter method was probably better.

With my DD (20 weeks) I have had similar problems and was nearly forced into the same position. I was not going to go down the mixed feeding route again and nipple shields prevented me from having to do this. I did give formula overnight though for 12 weeks - not generally recommended because of the impact on supply but for me it was that or give up. We're now breastfeeding exclusively again and DD is nearly 21 weeks.

WRT to mixed feeding specifically, if you want to maintain your supply then do make sure that as your DD's appetite increases you try to match that with more EBM/extra breastfeeds if you can manage it, and not more formula.

Any questions feel free to ask. It's hard to remember now, but specific questions might jog my memory!

Sorry, that was very long!