Combination feeding problems - no routine

[PandaSpaniel]

My DS is 14 weeks old and I pretty much exclusively breast fed for 11 weeks with just the odd bottle of formula given.

I have combination fed for the past couple of weeks - given formula most of the time and BF for first morning feed and around 9pm.

He seemed quite happy with this but he still doesn't have a good routine and only goes 3 to 4 hours between feeds day and night. I am thinking of upping the breast feeding at night mainly cos am too tired to be arsed getting his bottle ready.

Has anyone got any hints or advice of getting him into a routine and getting him to go longer between feeds?

3-4 hours sounds quite good/normal to be honest for 14 weeks, whatever feeding you do. I do combination feeding and at that age DD was the same as your DS.

generally formula makes them go for longer, so the last one at night I would give formula. But 9pm is mid evening so try to get out of that feed. Do you have a bedtime routine? Ideally you want DS to feed and go to bed at 7, then a last feed when you go to bed (10/11). A suggested routine (what me and friends aimed for) is something like feeding at:

7am
11am
3pm
7pm
11pm
3am

It doesn't matter if you go a bit either way, eg DD is a late riser so she feeds at 8.30 then 12, but then the rest of the feeds were the same. DD fell into that routine when she was 12-16 weeks, although she's 22 weeks now and it's still approx, which I like for the flexibility.

You can't leave a baby if he's hungry. I think the only thing you can do is offer milk at the time you want them to feed, even if they've fed a couple of hours ago, and try to encourage them to feed at those times.

I agree it is a total pain doing bottles in the night! I kept a flask of hot water by my bed so I could mix the formula and warm it without getting up. Brestfeeding is much easier at night but formula takes longer to digest so babies sleep for longer.

Good luck - it can be tough doing combo feeding and not much info about how to proceed with it. That really annoyed me!

3-4hours at this age is ok... He sounds like the3-4 hours is a routine? Sorry!

littleweed10 yes it is sort of a routine, but then he will bugger it up by doing only an hour between feeds or 6 hours between a feed with no pattern to it.

I don't mind that he is doing 4 hours between feeds during the day as like you both say that is normal, however he does no longer at nights. DS1 was sleeping through by now (bottle fed)

He doesn't do any longer with a bottle of formula than he does breast feeding which is really frustrating. I guess I will just have to put up with the night feeds for now. :(

When did your LO's start sleeping through or at least going a bit longer at nights? And is there anything at all I can do to encourage this?

xmasbaby11*
Thats a good routine you had there, and a good tip to try and feed at that time every night. I think I am going to try the 7pm feed and ask my partner to do it and settle him down for the night as he tends to mess around more with me.

I didn't have a problem getting DS1 into a routine, I put him on soya formula at 8 weeks (problems with his milk) and he just slipped into a routine within days and was sleeping through by 12 weeks ish.

I think I will try offering a feed every four hours during the day and see if he settles into a routine as its not too far off what he is doing now, just want him to sleep at night zzzzz

Don't wait 6 hours - just feed after 4 if he will take it, any at all.

DD slept through at 21 weeks and that's sooner than most of my friends. Think you were lucky with DS1!

It happened when we put her in her own room and got blackout blinds.

HTH

My 9 month old is still feeding every 3 hours at night. Bloody bottomless pit!

Thank you, yes it helps just knowing that it is normal. I used to wake DS1 for a feed if he had gone for too long but I havent done that with this LO. I don't know why not because it obviously worked for DS1 lol.

My twins are 7 months old today and still only go 4 hours between feeds,they're mix fed too. Same schedule as Xmas except we were able to drop the 3am at 12 weeks and the 11pm at 5 months.

I usually always wake/feed them at the scheduled time even if they aren't showing signs of hunger (or earlier of course if they are!) - not at 3am though, just let him wake of his own accord. I didn't bf during the night as I didn't want them to get used to it and also I had help with night feeds.

What kind of quantities are you feeding?

I always used ff for 7pm and 11pm feeds, then EBM during the night. The 3am feed would be never more than 120ml (4oz), whereas their daytime feeds at that age would be 6 or 7 oz.

Belmo Oush! My lil one had better be sleeping through before that or I am leaving home lol. Does he eat well during the day? I assume he is weaned.

It's so frustrating that babies can be so different!

Yes, get DP to feed him as late as poss at night - you don't even need to wake DS, just dream feed him. DD still woke at 3am ish for months. It got pretty tedious and I think I will forever associate 3am with a knackering night feed! I am so so happy it stopped. It will happen for you .. sounds like you are doing well!

He doesn't generally take that much from the bottle, even if its expressed breast milk. About 4 and a half ounce is average for him, however he did take six ounce tonight at around 9:30. He is just under the 25th centile so he is a petite lad really.

How do I get him to dream feed? Again DS1 would do this no problem, but this little monkey wont have it at all. He just clamps his mouth shut and if you try and force it he wakes up and cries and still wont have it.

Oh no! Have you tried putting a finger in first and let him suck it?

My DTD was below the charts and has crept up to 2nd centile and DTS is 25th. I used to write all their feeds down until 12 weeks.

DTS would have 6oz and DTD had 5oz, 4 bottles a day (plus morning bf, plus any night feeds)

6oz is excellent! DD on 75th centile and she usually has 5oz, only takes 6oz at night now at 5 months! Hopefully he will be sleeping through v soon.

Will try that xmasbaby11

He was 7lb 10oz at birth and has steadily put weight on, he is obviously getting enough milk but it would be lovely if he had a bit more and then slept at night but I suppose his tummy is still very tiny.

ceeveebee sounds like my LO is doing very similar to your daughter, thats reassuring, my DS1 was massive in comparison to DS2, on the 97th centile so no good comparing the two in respect to feeding quantities.

Ah thanks for all your advice. I get a bit flustered and start thinking my baby isn't doing very well in comparison to my friends babies (who are all perfect lol)

I just need reminding and reassuring that he is normal and is doing well. Think I had better get to bed now for 10 mins before he wants feeding again - groan.

I will update in a few days how things are.

Wow, 97th! Ouch! DTD was 3 lb 13 at birth, 10lb 1 at 13 weeks.

Tbh they'll only drink what they want to, but if bottle is being drained then I'd up the feed the next time. Hard to know overall quantities when mix feeding though.

DS1 was 8lb 4oz at birth so not massive but he just drank loads of milk lol. He was on 5 or 6 9oz bottles at 14 weeks but he needed it as he was very long too. He is now nearly 7 and is tall and lanky. He still eats for England and never puts any weight on, am sooo jealous.

DS2 is 12lb something now, a good 3 or 4 pounds lighter than DS1 at this age lol.

Yeah hard to know what he is having when breast feeding, maybe he has loads then and I just don't know??

Hi op, my experience is that 3-4 hours - day or night was good, plus we had period of quick top ups - that annoying thing as you say, of having an extra bit of milk an hour after a feed, or a couple of hours of cluster feeding in the evenings. I didn't mean it to sound so matter of fact!

A routine to your DS might just be what he's doing- I appreciate that makes it a pita for you!
Have you mapped out when he feeds over the course of a few days, it there more of a pattern to it than perhaps it first appears? This might help you 'accept' this is his routine for now. He might be changing this natural feeding pattern which could be throwing things off kilter.

Are there times when he's having a comfort top up rather than a real feed? Could you trying other things,not feeding, at these little feeds, if that is your hunch. Eg settle with a dummy(shoot me down in flames) if possible give DS to someone else to settle- they sniff milk and you at fifty paces. If they don't settle in a minute or two after that, then you feed...

As for combo feeding, I've not done it, I was just boob, but I would imagine he is getting different things and a feeling of fullness from different feeds. This might affect over the course of 24 hours how he feeds?

Lastly with the bottles, if you worked out how to get the best of both worlds, is the convenience of boob feeding in the day, instant milk, no sterilising etc, better? Then your evenings/ night could be formula - sterilised bottle, carton of pre prepared milk. Then you might be able to share the night time load a bit?

First feed of day, boob - i seem to remember being told this is the best quality milk of the day...

littleweed I am trying to breast feed at 7pm and 7am or thereabouts. I also express once during the day and add it to a formula feed.

Part of me wants to put him on the bottle completely but then I think of all the goodness he would be missing out on. I think he had got a little confused between nipple and bottle and he was protesting at taking the bottle but I have some good teats now that he seems to like so he is taking the bottle a lot easier now.

I do settle him with a dummy and if he is just tired rather than hungry he is happy with that.

I find it easier to BF at night really as my partner works and doesn't like being woke up at 3 am lol. However I think my milk supply is down a little so am trying to stick to just 7am and 7pm and giving formula at other feeds.

It is much easier to BF at night. I always had to give the bottle at 3am and it always disturbed DH - he started to sleep in the spare room a lot! I couldn't find a solution as you need to turn the light on with a bottle. Don't worry, the night feeds won't last forever. Just try to get DS to take as much formula last thing as possible.

I found Tommy Tippee bottles and teats very good. Every so often you need to change the teats as they learn to suck more efficiently.

You are doing really well to keep up combo feeding. I felt same as you - tempting to go completely onto bottle as it's a faff doing both - but I do feel glad I stuck with it. It's not easy - be proud of yourself!

Thanks xmasbaby I am trying a routine with him of

6.30pm BF
10.30pm bottle
2.30am bottle
6.30am BF
10.30am bottle
2.30pm bottle

I have brought it forward half hour from 7, 11, 3 as he is naturally hungry around those times and also it fits in better with picking up DS1 from school lol.

Last night wasnt good, he was up at 11pm, 2am, then woke up and wasnt hungry around 4ish and then up at 6am for another feed. To make it worse he only had 2oz at 2am so he didn't really need to be up.

He has done really well today, fed at 6am and then 10.40 so hopefully he will like the routine and even though I am still getting up if its only once a night I will be very happy. Really hoping it works out.

Am quite proud that I have managed to breast feed so far, DS is nearly 15 weeks and I know a lot of people who give up at 6 weeks or just don't bother at all so every week is a bonus. I am off for a nap now as my mum has baby for a couple of hours. ZZZZ

That's a very similar routine timewise to what we did, and it's worked for us. Well done on persevering, I think combo feeding is the hardest of the lot as you have all the hassle of bottles as well as the challenges of bf!

Feel really disheartened today, he was up 3 times last night, I was / am that tired I just breast fed as the kitchen felt like a trek. So tired and weepy. He only took 2oz at his afternoon and evening feed, he wont take much from the bottle at the mo, dont know what is wrong