Mixing expressed breast milk and formula in the same bottle

[CruCru]

Hi all

Is there any reason you can't put expressed breast milk in the same bottle as formula? Logically I think that it shouldn't be a problem but intuitively it feels a bit strange to do so. I know that breast milk shouldn't be microwaved.

I have quite a few bags of frozen milk which don't make up a convenient bottle size (e.g. Lots of 50ml, 80ml etc) so it would be convenient to top up the rest with formula.

I breastfeed during the day but DS has a poor latch when he is tired (uncomfortable) so his last two feeds are bottles (one expressed and one formula). This has worked out well for us.

Any responses will be gratefully received. I'm going to bed soon (clocks changing) but will have a look at MN tomorrow.

Thanks!

Its perfectly ok to do and I did on many occasions but its often not recommended because any BM left at the end of a feed can be reused and formula can't so adding formula to the feed means that you have to chuck whatever's left at the end. I would often make up a small amount of formula in a diff. bottle and then simply change to that when the BM was all gone.

Why don't you give the BM first then top up with a bottle of formula if need be. That way they get all the BM and are leaving formula if they don't want it all.

I take it you are at lest expressing for one of those missed feed's giving two bottles in then evening/night can effect your milk supply as your hormones are higher then, plus your also going a long streach between feeds.

Have you tired getting help with the latch?

Hi ConvertTwinkle and Migril - thanks for coming back to me. DS is nearly 7 months old now - we started doing the bottle thing when he was about 6 weeks old as evenings were a bit miserable. I used to express twice but didn't get all that much at the second session as my supply gets low at night so we still gave some formula. Plus it meant I was getting to bed very late. So far my daytime supply has been fine but if it does tail off then I'd be okay with stopping BF at this stage.

I think MigGril's right about giving the BM first and then formula - even though it is a bit more fussy because you're carrying two bottles around!

I have actually stuck formula back in the fridge at the end of a feed loads of times CovertTwinkle and DS has been fine. Admittedly I did this less in very early days but after about 6 weeks we imposed a rule that formula could be reheated twice and then had to be binned. I know it says differently on the carton, but I have various reasons for thinking it's safe.

I was actually more likely to throw out BM than formula (albeit very reluctantly) because it had never been really sterile in the first place!

Cerys, the formula was never sterile ! - unless it was liquid you has only just opened. BM is much less likely to breed germs.

Op, give BM separately first - it has all sorts of good stuff in that would be diluted in formula.

Never throw BM away - it's precious

I know formula wasn't originally sterile, but the addition of freshly boiled water (I never left it for 30 min) and swift replacement of the bottle lid made it as good as IMO.

So, how long do you think BM can be kept in the fridge (NOT freezer) for then? It doesn't have an indefinite shelf life you know.

I often mix bm and formula in same bottle if I haven't managed to express enough, I add some premised formula from a carton. This is what we did in the SCBU as well. Whilst I agree that ideally Bm should not be thrown away, it is a real faff to prepare 2 bottles for each feed (I have twins so enough work to do already!) and to be honest I would not want to offer it at the next feed as would not be sure whether it was still ok after being out of the fridge for a couple of hours?

I believe EBM can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days. I usually use same day or next day, if I have expressed a lot more than I need that day, I'll freeze it.