Mixed feeding .... how to introduce it without stopping b/f completely?

[Ghosty]

Hi there everyone ...

My DD is nearly 5 months old. As some of you may remember I was very very determined to breastfeed her for longer than I breastfed DS (6weeks for him) and so I am very very proud of the fact that we have got to this point and still going strong. I have added a bit of solids to fill her up a bit more and so far so good with no problems with reactions or affect to the breastfeeding ... ...

Anyway ... I am thinking ... I'd like to make one of her feeds a bottle feed soonish ... in the next few weeks or so.

The reason for this is that I need to have a bit more flexibility now in the daytime in order to run my business and sometimes I need to go out without her ...

But I obviously don't want to give up the b/fing completely ...

So ... how does one mix feed? ... how would I drop a feed? Cold turkey or gradual? How can I ensure that it won't bugger up the rest of my supply? Just haven't got a clue on what to do ... she is very much a 'routine' baby ... has set feed times in the daytime ... (she did that, NOT me ) ...

Expressing is not really an option ... too much of a PIA to be honest ...

Ta ...

G xx

PS ... she will take a bottle ... but not very well from me ... only if she is starving and someone else is giving it to her ... if it is me she just laughs at me as if to say, "Come on Mummy, stop mucking around and give the real stuff!"

bump

Well done you for keeping going so long.

I just replaced one feed with a bottle leaving about a week before doing the next one. Think I expressed a bit the first couple of days at that time to prevent engorgement (had a had a blockage earlier on and was really anxious not to repeat it) and found my supply was not affected at the other feeds. By 6 months we were down to a morning and night breast feed and two bottles during the day. ds was breastfed until he was around 17 months, although by then it was night time only. Things were more erratic with dd who suffered from reflux and could only take small amounts, so I guess they can all vary.

good luck

Hi Ghosty, I guess you can either just skip the odd feed when you need to and give her a bottle, or decide to drop one of the feeds every day and substitute it with a bottle. What you choose will probably depend on how predictable you like things to be, and on whether you have a problem with engorgement if you skip a feed.

Since ds2 was nearly 5 months I started doing the odd half day at work - dh would give him a bottle and I would just feed him when I got home. Now he is at nursery 3 days a week, on those days he has one bottle in the morning at nursery (but hardly takes any) and I feed him at lunchtime - on nursery days he gets 3/4 breastfeeds and on days at home he has 5 (no bottles). It makes no difference to my comfort or his feeding behaviour - but then I've got to the stage where I never leak or get engorged, I suspect he doesn't have loads of milk (he eats a LOT of food) and I could probably stop bf tomorrow if I wanted to. But I also feel I can probably carry on like this for as long as we both want to as well.
Sorry that may not be very useful, but I'm sure you will be able to do it

I suppose I should add: with ds1 I found that once I added in daytime bottles, things went downhill very quickly and I stopped bf (is that what worries you - did you have a similar experience?) With ds2 I think the difference is that I have decided only to give him bottles when necessary, so he feeds more often and I can keep going for longer. I also give him a bottle with a spout rather than a teat so he doesn't find it all that easy or comforting!! I'm still not sure how long we'll manage to keep going once I'm down to morning and night only, but hopefully that won't be for a couple of months and I'll be happy with that (he's nearly 7 months now).

I did this at about 7 months when there were only 2 daytime feeds to replace. I expressed for a while but ended up dropping the daytime feeds a few weeks later. DD was OK with bottles but I had a psychological block about giving a bottle after bf so long, so gave a beaker with a spout instead (Boots 4 month +, it still fits in a bottle carrier or mug of hot water). At 13 months I was still giving a morning feed and comfort feed at bedtime.

i've been mixed feeing since ds was 4 months (8 months now). ime the way to do it whilst maintaining breastfeeding is to decide on a feed that you're going to swap over to bottle and stick to that, like has been said for at least a week, before you do another one. if you replace feeds erratically i think you may run the risk of your boobs drying up. i replaced the last feed (6pm) with a bottle at four months and my boobs have been merrily producing milk at the other feeds...i would warn you tho, that feeding time may reduce drastically and on top of that i have no sense of being full.. but ds seems v satisfied/putting on weight etc...so

hth

oops yes, I meant to say that I replaced the daytime breast feeds with formula, just 4-5 oz each time as I don't think I was producing any more.

I introduced mixed feeding when ds was 5 months old. Like other posts, I decided which feed to drop first and simply gave ds a bottle at that feed for around a week. Following week dropped another BF and replaced with a bottle, then again the next week and so forth. Found it played less havoc with my milk that way. I'm still BFing ds (now 6.5 months) just before bed and first thing in the morning, although my boobs have shrank considerably since I stopped BF throughout the day!! .

dd had 2 daytime bottles from 4 months when I went back to work. I dropped one feed at a time. I used ebm, but didn't really express a lot as I was mainly using up stores. You should be fine to continue bf as long as you are giving at least two good feeds a day - when I dropped to only one feed (not until 11 months) I did find that I dried up quite quickly.

Good luck, and well done for getting this far - you really should be proud

Hi Ghosty

my dd is much the same age as yours. I started giving her a small bottle of formula when she was about 3 weeks old - really just to get her used to taking milk from a bottle. At first she was fine but a few weeks later to my great annoyance (because I thought I was so clever getting her used to a bottle early ) she started refusing it.
After a few attempts I gave up.I tried again a few weeks later as I had go go away for a few hours without her and she was fine.
She now gets a small bottle of formula (abour 4 or 5 oz)- like you I could never be bothered with expressing - usually, although not always, in the middle of the day and (fingers crossed ) I've had no problems. I'll be going back to work in a couple of moonths and ideally I'd like go give formula during the day and breastfeed night and morning.
To be honest I think you should just go for it and stop the feed you want to change for a bottle. I don't think you are likely to have problems with your supply because by 5 months it will be well established.
Good luck

Thank you so much for your replies ...
I guess Elliot's idea is a good one ... I have done that a couple of times ... and to be honest, I don't have to go out every day, just once or twice a week to go to a meeting.

If I did drop a feed completely and replace it with a bottle I thought that the 10.30/11am one would be best as that is when I tend to need to be out and anyway, doesn't that one turn into 'lunch' when solids are more established after 6 months? So I would eventually drop that feed anyway when she is on protein, wouldn't I?

Message withdrawn

Thanks Bloss, will have a look ...