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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Can someone explain mixed feeding to me and if it can work?

14 replies

peggotty · 29/06/2007 21:08

Hello
I am pregnant with dc2 - I ff dd1 as years ago when I was a young teenager I had a condition that resulted in an abscess in each breast. These were lanced and left me with two reasonably large scars on each nipple (but not all the way round them iykwim) The consultant at the time said I would not be able to bf ( we're talking 16 years ago). When I got pg with dd1 I decided not to even try bfing as I was your normal first-time-mother paranoid and uptight about everything. The midwife at the time did say why don't you give it a go but I had already made my mind up in advance tbh. This time round I think I would like to give bfing a go - my midwife had mentioned mixed feeding, which I can guess means breast and bottle, but is this possible and can it work?

OP posts:

muppetgirl · 29/06/2007 21:11

If you mean mixed feeding as bottle/ breast it worked for my ds1 until i switched to formula.

I b/f his as soon as he was born but was too tired to finish and dh gave him a bottle of colostrum in the delivery room which he took as he was starving (son not dh!)
From then on he would take either expressed breast milk in his bottle or b/f from me.

I don;t know if mixing early is an advantage and i know some midwives would say don;t mix as it confuses them but it didn't my son....

cece · 29/06/2007 21:14

I introduced one bottle of formula at about 5-6 weeks old. Prior to that I breast fed only. I think you need to extablish your supply first.

I am not an expert though, I am sure someone more informed will be able to tell you more.

muppetgirl · 29/06/2007 21:17

i found once i started expressing my supply really increased..

PrettyCandles · 29/06/2007 21:19

You'll get lots of good advice here, as well as personal experiences, but I think the most important thing for you to do in preparation is to see some breastfeeding counsellors. There are several organisations (I don't have links, but you can find them all by Googling) and I'm sure there will be someone in your area that you can talk to, now in preparation, and face-to-face once the baby is born.

IMO you shouldn't plan to mix-feed from the start, but, as your mw suggested, give it a go. As for mix-feeding, I did it for 5.5m with ds1 and he never rejected boob for bottle or vice-versa. But there is always the risk that giving formula will diminish your supply and lead to you going over to forumla completely. But you'll see how you feel about it when you're actually doing it. IME, I think the key to my supply not diminishing was that I breastfed ds1 at every feed, whether or not he was going to get formula afterwards.

PrettyCandles · 29/06/2007 21:20

Oh I meant to list some of the organisations (in case you don't know them):

National Childbirth Trust
La Leche League
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers
Breastfeeding Network

HTH

muppetgirl · 29/06/2007 21:24

I'm sorry -have i miss-understood mix feeding?
I thought it was bottle (expressed milk)
and b/f?

Original poster

peggotty · 29/06/2007 21:26

Thanks everyone. I am really hoping that I will physically be able to bf. With dd1, my boobs did fill with milk and were leaking slightly, so maybe that indicates it will be possible? I have also heard that bottle and breast feeding can cause confusion to the baby, but if it means I can at least try to bf for even a few weeks it's maybe worth a go. Will look into it further. Still relatively early days in the pregnancy so have plenty of time.

OP posts:

Original poster

peggotty · 29/06/2007 21:27

Muppetgirl - I'm not sure either! I thought it meant ff, or maybe it can be either?

OP posts:

ruddynorah · 29/06/2007 21:28

it's not so much the confusion to the baby that's the issue it's that giving formula will interfere with your supply.

have a look at kellymom.com for info

CountTo10 · 29/06/2007 21:30

I mix or combination fed with ds after 2 or so weeks after struggling and it caused ds a lot of difficulties. I think if you are bf and then expressing and feeding with a bottle fine, but when your bf and then bottle feeding with formula, that's when the difficulties start imo. Ds couldn't handle the two different types of milk and had a very unsettled stomach etc. Once i totally gave up bf and just ff he was a lot better. If i had soley bf it would have been the same effect. Me personally I would say that if you decide to mix between bf and formula, it is not an easy option and would stick to one or tuther regardless of how it's being delivered. Once you start though, do seek the advice of th bf counsellors etc because I didn't and wished I had.

muppetgirl · 29/06/2007 21:33

I can totally understand the baby's confusion over mixing feeds (breast -formula)and I never mixed in that way as I didn;t think it would be good for his digestives system -he was colicky anyway!
I thought the issue was breast v bottle ie the baby wouldn;t like breast after a teat...

Original poster

peggotty · 29/06/2007 21:34

Ok. good advice here, thanks. Will definately look into bf counsellors in the area. Makes sense that babe having breastmilk and formula could get upset tummy. As my dd had absolutely horrendous reflux, and there's a good chance this one could have it too, I'm not risking extra upset.

OP posts:

PrettyCandles · 29/06/2007 21:45

As long as you are aware that bm is digested faster than f, I don't see why combining the two should cause upset tummy. Fully bfed babies can be colicky, too.

How it worked for me:
When I started giving ds1 f, at 2w, he immediately went into a routine of six 4-hourly feeds. He first had a breastfeed, a burp, then a bottlefeed. It took forever as he was a very slow feeder. At 6w I decided to try and increase my bm and see if I could get away from formula. Within a few weeks ds1 was taking two breastfeeds without supplemenation, he took half a bottle at the thrid feed, full bottles at the 4th adn 5th feeds, and had dropped the night feed. The morning feeds without bottles were 3-3.5h apart, the afternoon feeds, with bottles, were 4h apart.

I used Avent teats because they were wide, and made sure that he gaped his mouth around them as much as possible to mimic breastfeeding, rather than just sucking on the end of the teat.

Lyndag · 29/06/2007 22:20

I have been mixed feeding from day 1 - I had probs establishing bf in hosp and they suggested top up with formula which for the first week I did cup feed but it was very hard to cupfeed (taking ages)....anyway I still haven't been able to get bubba to latch on now DH has gone back to work I can only express twice a day, sometimes I get enough to make 2 partical feeds and top them up with formula ....

I have been unable to get bubba to latch on, and before DH went back to work I was able to express more....after a week of cup feeding I changed to bottles and I have once since then got her to latch on..... which is a start but now I have mastitus which is going now ;-) ......

I would defo give it a shot you have nothing to lose and at the end of the day it is cheaper as no formula to buy

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