Breastfeeding baby but considering some formula feeding, can it work?

[hereagain99]

Still pregnant but we are thinking how to feed the baby once it is born. With DD1 I exclusively breastfed her as she wouldn't accept a bottle and I didn't seem to be able to express any milk with a manual pump even though I was a cow. I breastfed her until she was 2.5 years old.

DD1is 8 years old and she would like to be able to feed the baby once breastfeeding has been stablished and so does DP. My question is, would this be possible? We are considering getting an electric pump this time round but we don't want to spend a fortune if I will not be able to express any milk again. We are thinking to give the baby the odd formula bottle once in a while so DD can feed the baby and DP too.

Have any of you tried this? Does it work? I don't want to confuse the baby or to have problems with my milk supplied, although my experience with DD1 is that I had plenty of milk supply

Thank you in advance

I combi feed and have done since day 1, by choice. It works brilliantly for us, she now only has 2 formula top ups in the evening (about 300ml total) and apart from that is EBF at 5 and a half months old.

We never had any problems with nipple confusion, bottle preference etc but that's not to say it can't happen of course, only that my baby is a bit of a greedy guts and will latch on to anything with milk coming out of it.

I have always breastfed first and only topped up rather than give whole feeds.

Good luck!

I know several people who have successfully combi fed. It absolutely is possible. I was planning to combi feed but my 7mo decided to be a total bottle refuser until very recently! I would introduce a bottle fairly early on (even if it's just an oz or 2 so you don't mess with supply) and then keep it going every day. My mistake, I think, was waiting until 8 weeks to introduce a bottle. Good luck!

I combi fed my DS (now 2.5) as we struggled with bf.

With DD now 3 months I actively set out to combi feed for the flexibility. She did need some formula top ups to start due to poor weight gain, but could’ve been ebf from about 3 weeks old if I wanted to. We currently do one bottle of formula per day and the rest bf.

Thank you very much ladies.

@caterina99 how do you decide which feed you do with a bottle?

We are not thinking of doing it everyday, it would be more the odd bottle so they can both be part of feeding the baby.

What do you do for the baby to accept the bottle? DD1 never accepted one although we may have left it until too late to introduce a bottle

I just picked a feed. It wasn’t always the same one each day.

At the very beginning we were bf each feed and then topping up with formula for some of them because of her jaundice and low weight. Especially the cluster feeding on an evening which was exhausting. I wanted to get bf established as I had so many problems with my DS and also my boobs couldn’t handle a big gap between feeds.

Eventually we got into more of a routine and for a good few weeks she’d have her 7pm ish feed from a bottle and then I’d feed her around 10. Mil was staying so she normally did the feed. Our current routine is that I bf all day and DH gives a bottle about 10/11pm so that I get more sleep as I’m dealing with the baby and toddler all day and can’t nap.

Neither of my kids ever had any issues with accepting a bottle. But this may be because they had them from a few days old. I’d say start early and do it every day. In an ideal world I’d express enough for that bottle, but I don’t, so she gets formula.

Thank you @Caterina99. We will try and see what happens. DD is very excited to be able to do it so I guess it is worth a try so she can be more involved if she wants to

Thank you @Caterina99. We will try and see what happens. DD is very excited to be able to do it so I guess it is worth a try so she can be more involved if she wants to

Another vote here for getting the bottle in ASAP to ensure they take it and once per day or couple of days... Just preserve your supply first and foremost. Good luck!

Also I have a haaka type pump. You can pump one side whilst feeding off the other. I’m a big fan and it was pretty cheap from amazon. I use it on the morning feed as she’s been asleep for a while and normally get an ounce or 2, without any additional work on my part.

My DS is 3 weeks old. I had read to wait till bf was established but I didn't want a bottle refused and I know I don't want to bf much past 3/4 months as I'll be returning to work.

We introduced a bottle a few days ago. He cluster feeds from 7ish and then a bottle at 10:30/11. We started with 2oz but he now has 4. He doesn't wake again till 2/3am. My boobs are usually pretty engorged by then, but it is settling down and I'm less uncomfortable now after following this routine for a few days.

Agree the haakaa is a godsend, especially if you couldn't get on the a standard pump.

DC1 was mostly breastfed with an occasional bottle of formula from 3 or 4 weeks if I went out. I stopped bfing around a year.
DC2 was ebf until 8 weeks then had a formula 'dreamfeed' at 11pm every night. From 4-6 months we built up to 50-50 breast/formula and I stopped bfing at 8 months.
DC3 was ebf until 15 weeks but had expressed milk in bottles if I was out/asleep from 2 weeks. From 15 weeks she has had one 3-5oz formula feed a day, either at 11pm or if I am out somewhere.

Ds1 was a bottle refused. Ds2 had a bottle offered daily from about 5 days old. Once a day at "bedtime". Firstly with ebm but once he was taking more than a couple of ounces, he had formula. I struggle to express too. It's worked well for me.

I think you may need to keep up the bottles more regularly. My DS took it very now and again until after around three months. We left it too long and when we tried again he point blank refused and never took one again! A real PITA. 😒 next baby will have regular bottle either expressed or formula so I can have a little more freedom! And sleep!
Sorry if I’m repeating what others said.
Good luck!