Has anyone successfully bottlefed during the day and breastfed at night?

[miniegg1980]

??

At what age miniegg? (The baby obviously not you!)

DS is 6 weeks. I've posted on here re his feeding and i've managed six whole, long weeks!!

The boy wants to feed all day and all night and its getting me down, my DH down and even my 2 year old is saying 'not more milk mummy' when he wants me to play instead!

I done alternate feeds of breast & bottles to keep up milk supply & stop risk of engorgement. I found this the best way to get the best of both & free up time.

Good job on the 6 weeks so far miniegg. I had one of those "every 45 minutes for 45 minutes" feeders and it is exhausting! Especially with a toddler too.

Sorry, I did bf my 9mo only at night (he wouldn't take a bottle at nursery so he had meals and yoghurts during the day, no milk) but obviously that's a lot older. Worked fine at that age with breastmilk supply and so on.

Hopefully someone with more experience mixed feeding younger babies will be along soon.

I think that it would really jeopardise your supply at this stage, the milk production is still hormone driven and if your baby stops feeding regularly then your supply could dry up.

At around 13 weeks your supply will switch from being hormone driven to being based on supply and demand after this time you could switch very slowly to using bottles in the day by introducing something like one bottle feed per week, keeping them as far apart as possible as they are introduced (for example doing it in this order: 11pm, then 7am, then 1pm, then 7pm, then 10am, then 10pm)

Hang on in there - 6 weeks is still very much "boot camp" territory but you're teetering on the edge of it now. There should be a big growth spurt about now or very soon and after that things should settle down a bit.

If you decide to go for the 13 week thing then the main sign that your milk production is changing is that your boobs will feel softer and "empty" between feeds rather than full and engorged, you will probably stop leaking as well (but not everyone does).

If you really feel you want to introduce a bottle now I'd stick to one or two a day, as far apart as humanly possible, and be really strict with not bottle feeding at other times (unless you're going to be away from the baby or similar) because your supply will adjust for any growth spurts etc, compensating for growth spurts with extra bottles can be damaging to supply in these early days too.

And good luck :) I hope things settle down for you soon.

I pumped and dumped for three weeks while I was unwell in hospital and mess meant I wasn't allowed to feed. Managed to take up feeding once home.
Your body should settle into a supply and demand routine fairly quickly.

Thank you all for your messages and advice. I feel awful even thinking about bottle feeding as managed 6 months with DS1. I just can't seem to keep up with this one. He's fed now for 2 hours on each b and is now crying for more. It makes me feel weak and dizzy and makes me cry when all i want to do is put my other son to bed or play with him. I know its only for a short time of their lives, but feel its also changing my relationship with DS1. But then just feel so guilty and a bit of a failure.

Express EBM to keep up supply & give it by bottle. If need be you can top up with formula. That way someone else i.e dad can give baby a feed while you have time to spend with other child. Do not feel guilty. Far too many mothers are pressurised regaurding b/f. You do what is right for you & your baby at this time. There is always a solution no right or wrong way!

Please don't feel awful or like a failure. You are doing brilliantly. I'm pregnant with my second and with my first I breast fed exclusively until 6 weeks when she began to cluster feed between 6pm and 11pm, basically non stop the entire evening. I was exhausted and felt really down. My DH and mum and sister all gently suggested I try some formula at 6pm and see how it made a difference. I too felt really unsure until one evening I has popped out very locally to see a friend and left DH with 4oz of expressed and instructions to call me should he need more before I got back. I was out for over two hours and when I got in DD was sleeping beautifully. Turns out DH took the exceptionally brave initiative of giving her some formula. I honestly never looked back and mixed fed right up until 6 months. Gave us all a new lease of life - not exaggerating! I know we are all different but just wanted to share my experience and tell you not to feel guilty whatever you decide. These first few weeks are precious so do whatever makes you all happiest x

Thank you bangers, we've been trying a bottle of an evening somewhere between 6.30 and 10pm (when he decides to drink it) and it can keep him for around 3 hours, till around 12-1am and then feeds again aroud 3, 5 and 7am sometimes feeding for an hour at a time. He doesn't seem to sleep alot during the day (only the days i have my toddler so can't sleep with him easily) so am shattered.

He's fed from about 5.30 tonight, is still feeding and wide awake and for some reason refusing the bottle.

Think i'm also scared that with ds1 we waited six months and he then refused the bottle or sippy cup of any sort! That was a helish few months!!!

I think expressing to give yourself a break is a bit of a red herring because all the expressing, sterilising etc can end up taking just as long as actually feeding. Unless there's a convenient time in the day to express I'd stick with formula.

In my experience on mumsnet and with RL friends it doesn't seem to matter when you introduce a bottle, some babies just become bottle refusers at around 4 months. But (also by experience) it doesn't seem to be genetic so it's unlikely you'd get two bottle refusers.

Agree you sound like you're doing great and in no way a failure. It must be so hard with two little ones.