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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Help - stories from successful mixed feeders after slow weight gain - how to maintain some BF?

4 replies

SWLondonmum111 · 27/03/2011 12:10

DS2 is 14 weeks old. He was born on 91st centile but is now below 25th with sporadic weight gain after an inital loss - some good weeks (8 oz) and some dreadful weeks (2 oz). (I posted about this at 3 weeks and we had a really good run after I relaxed about things but it appears that the good run was a blip rather than the start of good things). He hasn't been weighed for a month but will be weighed this week. Based on my scales, he has only put on 4 oz a week for the last 4 weeks and is therefore dropping down the chart further. I've had lots of RL help (v expensively with a lactation consultant and seen a cranial osteopath) as well as BF counsellors. He has a bubble palate and small mouth gape. His latch is (from what they have said) pretty good all things considered. And my supply (domperidone and fenugreek notwithstanding) is not fantastic - I think with a different baby it would be fine but the combination of him and me isn't ideal. We feed very often but it is slow and sometimes he isn't very effective - also doing switch nursing and compressions. I would keep going like this if I felt he were happy but he has been increasingly unsettled (with half hour very happy patches) and I don't think I can continue to worry that he is unhappy/hungry. Yesterday he kept crying and refusing the breast for about 2 hours in the evening and during the night he was getting very frustrated as he wasn't getting anything (I can hear him swallowing when there was milk and there weren't any).

So in the interests of my good mental health, my relationship with DS1 and DH, I think I need to supplement him a bit but want (a) to keep BF ideally so that I drop formula after he starts solids and (b) to do it in the most time efficient way. So from others experience shoudl I (a) replace another feed with formula (e.g. 9:30 am) or (b) do top ups of an ounce or so every time. Would love to hear success stories of mixed feeding and how you did it.

Thanks very much

OP posts:
RitaMorgan · 27/03/2011 15:07

I have mix fed with a bottle of formula a day since 4 months, though I had no problem with supply/feeding/weight gain. Anecdotally from people I know, those who introduced one bottle of formula a day had no problem, whereas those who introduced more than one bottle or topped up at several/all feeds ended up moving completely to bottles sooner than they would have liked too.

I did the formula feed as an 11pm dreamfeed, as with this feed I could go to bed early and DP could give DS a bottle. Also it's been easier to cut down this feed by an oz every now and again with a view to dropping it than it would have been if it was a breastfeed. By 6 months DS was downing 250ml at this feed, now at 7.5 months it's 100ml and I want to drop it completely by 8 months.

fluffywhitekittens · 27/03/2011 17:33

DD used to have problems latching on initially and then would feed for ages and then want another feed within an hour or so. It was exhausting and I found it difficult and stressful to get out of the house and her weight dropped to the second centile.
I started giving one bottle a day at different times, so sometimes if I knew I wanted to go out she would have a bottle in the middle of the day and at other times I would give her a bottle at around 8/9 pm and generally could get a few hours rest.
Then after a while started with 2 bottles at various times of day.
It seemed to work OK and also meant I could leave her with family when she was a bit bigger and I knew she wouldn't starve!
I would just try different options and see what works best for your situation.

SWLondonmum111 · 27/03/2011 20:51

Thank you both. I didn't mention that I'm already doing 1 bottle a day (1 day in three formula, 2 days EBM) as that had seemed to be the difference between good weight gain and not. But it doesn't seem to have worked in the last couple of weeks...

OP posts:
BatFlattery · 27/03/2011 22:29

DS (11 weeks) lost a lot of weight after he was born and we were given a feeding plan where I had to bfeed and then top up with formula - he also had EBM, although I didn't continue with that once we were out of hospital as it was too time consuming for not much reward.

This worked really well for us, and we have now weaned him off of the formula pretty much: he has a 3oz top up if he doesn't settle at bedtime. I would definitely recommend doing it that way, so that he he gets all the breastmilk he can before having the formula.

DS does now on occasion have a bottle of formula if we are out and I haven't had time to express the night before.

A word of warning though - the MW did say that a lot of people who do it this way end up formula feeding completely, so I think your heart does have to really be in it for it to work.

Hope you find a solution that works for you and your family.

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