How to do all types of feeding in one day, every day... HELP!

[RosesAndCustard]

I find myself breast feeding, formula feeding, introducing purees (which she loves and has finally got her sleeping again), expressing... basically everything. Any ideas where I can go next with this to simplify my day while not completely giving up breast feeding but not doing more either?

I was thinking either do the 6.30pm feed as total bottle, or drop the expressing and give formula at 11 am (but I like that being breast milk because its so easy to take out and about - less likely to breed nasty bugs!).

My feeding day...

7am breast feed
11 am expressed bottle feed and solids
2.30 pm formula milk
5 pm small breast feed and solids
6.30 pm breast feed and formula feed top up (4 oz max after breast feed)
9.30 pm express
10.30pm formula feed (by Dad)
3 am ish breast feed

In trying to have it all I am doing everything. Some sanity needed. Any ideas?

I'd forget the expressing and either BF or FF at 11am. If you're worried about hygiene of FF, get a 7oz readymade carton. They are about 60p.

You don't say the age of your DD. Is she nearly ready to move to 3 meals a day?

Hi, thanks, she is 5 mths. We only just started baby rice last week and she is having some pear now, but it is all very new so wont be on to 3 meals for a while. Although she was 2 wks late and I think has been ready for solids for a while. I didn't think she would be before the magical 6 month mark but she really can't get enough!

Roses I'm encouraged by your post. We have not had any decent sleep for three months now!(DS is 6 months on Weds). Have you always mixed fed? has it altered your supply?

I'm considering switching to a similar routine so would be interested to learn more.

AHi monkeyblonde, funnily enough we were having a really bad time with sleep until last week, when we introduced the solids. I'm guessing you might have started though? DD went from being a good sleeper to waking hourly through the night and last thurs morning I gave her just one tea spoon of baby rice and she transformed back into my sleeping baby, having her first proper lunch time nap for over 2 weeks.

But your question was about the milk really... When we first gave her formula it did make a difference. We gave it first at 11 am to check how she'd cope with it but then hardly had any milk at the next feed as she was still full. Once she got used to the formula I don't think it really helped her sleep. I have sometimes given her formula at the 6.30 feed to help her through till 10, but it didn't really work. The reason i give some formula there now is that she is often too tired to take a full breast feed and will fall asleep at the breast really quickly. Its more using the bottle that is easier to drink from for a tired baby, so she drinks more than she would at the breast so she can go longer before the next feed.

As for supply I still manage to express a full feed and I think that is a good indicator of supply. I also think its a slippery slope, one bottle of formula leads to another. Can happen at my own pace though. I hope i'll still have at least 1 bf at 6 mths and beyond!

Sorry for long reply. A lot has gone into my oh so complicated little routine!

I'd stop expressing.

My DD is 5 months too. We've had the same routine for a couple of months, BF except for 4oz FF late morning and 3oz before bed, so that's one of those little cartons each day. I haven't tried expressing since she was a month old, and I only got 2oz so figured it wasn't worth all the faff. Might try again just out of curiosity to see if I can produce more now!
She's sleeping better now after a bit of a blip (4mth growth spurt? snotty cold?) and has one or two feeds during the night which I don't really register as I'm half asleep when I feed her (bedside cot). I don't think she's quite ready for solids yet though - can't sit unaided, tongue thrust still there.
monkeyblonde - FF hasn't affected my supply with DD, as I kept it to initially one feed per day, then 2. It did affect my supply with DS, but he was a poor feeder initially, I topped up a small amount every feed and he went on nursing strike at 9 weeks old. So my advice if you want to mix feed would be to give one larger bottle a day rather than several small ones.

Read your title and thought, Ah, can relate totally! Found the stage of weaning about 6-8 months really hard - bf, formula, purees and tears at having face wiped, breast milk supply going down, food everywhere, frustrations... It'll be over before you know it and she'll be on 3 meals a day :) Agree with loopy I'd cut out the expressing. That is, if you're happy for your supply to go down a little... I was also doing about 4 bf's a day at 6 months. As the solids increased I slowly cut out the breastfeeding.

What about droping the topup at the 6.30pm feed?

If you want to carry on with some breastfeeds' then droping those feeds or expressing is the last thing you should do as this will drop your supply. Epicaly as you are giving formula at 10.30pm as it's the night time feeds which are really improtant for supply.

Just somthing to bear in mind.

If you feel she need's more milk at the 6.30pm feed then offer more then two side's at that feed. You should catch up in a day or two.

If it were me I would BF more often and cut out the formula. I know you don't want to BF more though. Is this mainly because of baby falling asleep? Forgive me if I've missed another reason.

that you can express a full feed in one go!

Thanks for all the replies!

capecath - thanks for the support. Its nice to hear that I'm not the only one! It just seems so ridiculous sometimes, goodness knows how I'm meant to introduce a sippy cup at the same time, poor girl never stops drinking!

MigGril good plan on cutting out the ff at 6.30. Not sure she really needs a ff top up. I have been worried about reducing supply. I know that we are on the way out of bfing really but I do like knowing that she has that little boost to her immune system.

LadyWidmerpool I wanted to use bottles in the day because of feeding out and about. That is why I kept the expressing going after replacing the 10.30 bottle with formula so that she still had mainly breast milk. She only really feeds efficiently in the rugby hold and so unless there is a sofa with handy pillows while I'm out DD just doesn't get a good feed and ends up unsatisfied later. Yes we could have worked on this to make it better I suppose, but I just felt exhausted by the whole thing and she seemed to be quite happy with the bottle.

This is why I'm asking for advice, because there are reasons behind each complicated little bit of my day. Realised today that she is now drinking less milk at 11 because of having solids then too, so it may not be the best time to give the lovely breast milk anyway.

So following the advice from everyone I'm thinking:

7am breast feed
11 am ff and solids
2.30 pm ff
5 pm solids/ bit of bf (maybe eventually sippy cup when I get round to it)
6.30pm bf
10.30 pm ff (until she gives it up)...
then night time bfing

Seems simpler...

Ah yes, forgetting the sippy cup too!! It really will all come along in no time at all, you'll see... nice new schedule. Hang in there :)

Just a point on the solids thing, you should be giving milk before solids untill they are one, as milk is still supposed to be there primary source of nutritian at this age.

Of course with formula you can replace this with food as it's only a nurtinial susbistute but breastmilk contains lots of other goodness that formula doesn't and can't be replaced with solids.

If you still wanted to improve feeding no reasion why you still couldn't do this, sometimes older babies are easier to learn new technices as you can direct them a bit more. If you have a local BF group you could go alonge to they could help you with this.