Any advice on mix feeding?

[NickyEds]

My 19 day old ds was losing weight until today -mainly due to Tt we think- so I was told to top him up with formula around 5 days ago. He has been feeding off me and then having formula if still hungry. Now he's gained weight MW thinks I should go cold turkey with the formula and get him off it to increase my supply. He has fed for literally hours and hours today and I'm knackered-desperate to fill him up with a bottle. Does any one else successfully mix and match or is that just not done?? clueless first time mum here.

We've been sucessfully mixed feeding for about four weeks now also due to weight issues, but we try to do breast first, expressed milk as second choice and formula as third. It was difficult as my LO was also feeding for hours and not seeming satisfied, but my breastfeeding clinic/group has been brilliant...turns out my latch was rubbish so LO was only getting little bits at a time.

He was literally feeding for hours, and at the health visitors advice we limited time on the boob to 45 mins (controversial on here but my nipples were getting wrecked, as well as my psyche!) then offered an ounce of either expressed or formula at a time until he was satisfied. On occassion we have offered just a formula feed (particularly as the last feed before bed, as it seems to settle him better).

Mixed feeding can work but in terms of supply its important to keep expressing for the sake of your supply.

It might be worth seeing if there's also a bf group locally to you as they have been fab and given me fresh confidence in breastfeeding (although they are totally anti formula...).

Its really hard, I'm a first timer too to a six week old and I had no idea that bf would be so difficult, I've had mastitis five times, thrush, milk blisters and blanched nipples. Coupled with the poor latch and marathon feeds, I have felt wrecked, and it was sould destroying that LO was dropping centiles even after feeding constantly on me. Seeing how satisfied he was after formula feeds was also pretty hard as I felt so inadequate, but hopefully more practice with my technique will help.

Hopefully you'll get some relief...definitely try to see someone about latch as it did shorten my feed lengths significantly as he's now feeding more effectively.

i did mixed feeding with ds but I did some feeds formula and some breast rather than topping up. I think the important thing is to decide how much bf you want to do, and what times, and stick to it - as long as you are consistent each day your supply should adjust to meet the demand and you shouldn't have any supply issues. the problem would be if you feel empty one day so decide to give a bit more formula, then you will have less next day too and it could become a vicious cycle.

but generally I feel like so much is made of the risk of your supply drying up but i think our bodies are probably cleverer than we give them credit for!

I think mixed feeding is the way to go really - I ebf dc2 and it has been so much more difficult when I've wanted to leave her with other people which is something I never had a problem with with ds. (or at least not from a feeding point of view!)

Thanks- already caved and given ds some formula- I know what you mean about the temptation to just give him a bit more f each time. It's just so frustrating to have him sat there for hours, hurting me and then still being hungry. I'm getting a bit worn out with MW telling me that my latch is now fine(after TH snip) asI feel like the failure who can't to arsed to feed her son. I really want to persevere with BF but ds had latching problems associated with Tt and now that's fixed MV more or less said that we're back to square 1 and need to build up supply. Now I never really know if he's hungry as there are next to no gaps in between feeds to measure

Please don't be too hard on yourself about this, mixed feeding can be tricky to get into, but IME it really worked. With DS2 i had fewer issues of inadequacy and the advantages of routines, partner helping with feeds, bit extra sleep can make a difference to a fragile state of mind.

I had a great BF support group who were not especially pro-BF, just great advice. I was advised to set feeds as BF or formula rather than top up. This really really worked for me and stopped DS topping up every feed! I bought a BF cushion (which obv you may already have) and set a routine around the formula feeds that made most sense to me.

A 6am feed worked well as BF as did late afternoon with one other during day or early eve. I always gave formula at other feeds, especially at bedtime feed and DH helped with one night time feed. When DS was a few months older we swapped round a bit but it was lovely not only to have extra sleep occasionally, esp at weekends! but DH enjoyed his quiet feeding times too.

I still had supply at 6 months to feed twice daily and once (nightime) up until 9 -10 months. This may not work for you but it was enough for me and the end was more gentle than BF my DS1.

Hope this helps.

lackingideas, glad it's working out for you, but it's simply not the case that the body works out what bf to do and 'permits' this without an effect on supply.

This only happens with very well-established breastfeeding, when the supply is robust and the production line is maintained even without frequent stimulation.

The majority of women, trying to mix feed before, say, six or seven months, need to be very careful to limit the formula, and to be consistent about this.

Otherwise the production line slows down and then becomes insufficient to meet even the limited needs of the baby and formula has to increasse.

The most labour-intensive way of feeding a baby has to be breastfeeding plus formula plus expressed....this makes each feed a time of calculation and anxiety (has he had enough/too much time at the breast? Does he need formula to top up? Is he going to settle without? Do I have enough precious ebm? How much should I use? Does he need formula as well as the ebm? Should I put him back on the breast?). This is the opposite of happy, comfortable breastfeeding, and it becomes something of trap.

For some mothers, it is what they prefer and they feel that bf on its own is not working for them....but others end up in that situation because it creeps up on them. It usually ends up with with the mother switching totally to formula before she planned to.

OP, your midwife wants you to drop the formula, because she sees the scenario I have described around the corner. If you go with what she says, you will need confidence that your bf is working well, and that you are managing to improve the situation that led to the loss of weight. Babies losing weight is not a good thing, and does need addressing - but you have addressed that. If you want to continue breastfeeding for longer, then you do need to consider your midwife's advice, and to get the right help to put it in place.

Any of the bf helplines will give you support in working out what you have to do.

I mix fed by expressing breastmilk and adding it to formula, half and half in the bottle. But u do need to keep expressing every couple of hours or so. I reduced to 3 times a day and lost my supply after a week. Although my Hv thinks my supply was already dropping off before this and causing the bf probs we had. But I'm just letting u know of another way of mix-feeding that can be very successful :-)