Combi feeding by choice from birth

[m4rdybum]

So I've been mulling over breastfeeding for a while and have decided that I don't want to do it solely, for a number of reasons- mainly relating to my mental health.

DH is supportive whatever I do and we've decided we'll do breast and formula, so I have a break from breastfeeding (mainly night feeds).

I just wondered if anyone has combi fed from birth by choice (I know sometimes there's poorly babies, milk supply issues etc.) and how you found it/any useful information you can give?

I know it may mean there are issues with my supply establishing if the baby is not always offered the breast, but in all honesty I'd rather my supply not establish and have to go onto formula full time after a while, than struggle.

My DD is now 9 days old and I have been combination feeding her for the past 4 days. When I was exclusively BF I found it sooo hard! It was extremely overwhelming and I got no rest.
DD has had no trouble changing between the two and enjoys being bottle fed. My OH enjoys it too as it gives him chance to bond.
The only advice I was given was to make sure I do the 3am feed as a BF as that's the important one to keep your supply going.
He will give her a bottle in the morning and occasionally in the day too.
It really has helped me, I couldn't have carried on BF if I didn't.

I did it. I found breastfeeding exclusively demanding and very upsetting as I couldn’t get any rest. My baby eventually (after about 4 weeks) grew a bit impatient on the breast and I then fed pumped milk and formula until 4 months. This worked well. I gave up the breast a bit earlier than I wanted and in retrospect I think I’d have gone a bit longer. Was partially due to summer heatwave which I found made breastfeeding particularly hard. If I was to have another I’d try again. I stopped pumping a week ago just because baby is so much more demanding time wise and I find it too hard to squeeze in the amount of sessions required. Breastfeeding purists would criticise this approach but my baby got a good deal of breast milk and I’m proud of myself for trying.

I would advise:

-Start each feed with the breast if possible then give formula. This will remind the baby how to breastfeed

• if you miss a feed pump to keep your supply up or get it to a level you are happy with. I pumped enough to provide 50% of my babies food as breast. So I pumped 4 times a day and basically trained my boobs to produce 60-100ml a time.

• look to American websites as they have more info. British websites are useless and only promote exclusive breastfeeding.

Midwives can be a bit unsupportive. Don’t listen to them. They should praise you for wanting to give it a shot. Babies will thrive on formula too of coarse so even if it doesn’t work your baby will be fine.

Good luck x

Reading this with interest as I am topping up the evening feeds with formula. Sometimes after this, my baby has a very big dirty nappy. It's as though having the formula top up makes her go. Anyone else experience this? I can't find anything online. Thanks

Just keeping my eye on this too as I have been having latch issues with my 3.5week old and have been getting so upset at myself for “not doing it properly”.
I have been trying to feed in the day but she gets really grizzly in the afternoon. My the evening my nipples kill!!!
So at about 9-10pm we give her a 120ml bottle of formula. We weee also told not to do this due to “nipple confusion” but it does seem to satisfy her. She sometimes goes back to the breast after this formula feed. I have punished myself self over this so I would love to hear what other women are doing?