What does mixed feeding ‘look like’ - your stories please!

[iamsuchatit]

So I’ve still been struggling to get 17 day old DD to latch which resulted in a lot of tears and me throwing a nipple shield across the room at 4am this morning. I don’t think she’s ever going to latch and I don’t think I’ll ever get her off formula so I was thinking of mixed feeling but I have no idea where to start or what I’m meant to be doing. Help!

We started with me breastfeeding through the day while DH was at work then he would have a bottle with DH came in and I would feed him before bed and in the night. Then it changes where I would do one bottle during the day as well. I stopped breastfeeding at 4 months so for us it was a gradual shift over.
Do you have any support for your breastfeeding? It might be that you need to work on the latch. Could DD have a tongue tie? While I’m all for combination feeding if it works, I think it’s good to get as much support for breastfeeding as possible

I had my baby last Friday so he’s just over a week old & have been mix feeding.

At the moment he’s primarily on breast for most the feed but topping up with formula if he’s not full - just working out how much he needs as he falls asleep during feed 😂

The night feed around 10pm hubby gives him a bottle of formula so I can catch some sleep before the overnight feed around 1-2am.

I’ve also just brought a pump so hope to express and bring him full onto breast milk.

Just do whatever suits you and baby as long he/she is being fed and pooping and peeing and seems happy that’s the main thing isn’t it 🥰

I’ve mixed fed both of mine due to very low supply issues.
I find pumping/expressing easier as both had issues with latching too.
I have a Medela pump and I pump 3x per day, all other feeds are formula. If you have a good supply (and the time) then you might be able to pump more.
Both mine have been great with it and I find that I feel better being able to give them some breast milk.

@redroses86 - how long do you pump for?

I’ve been trying to to do the 8-12 pumps a day but I’ve got a baby that doesn’t sleep :( 3 times a day seems more manageable. I don’t expect DD to be fully breastfed but if I can get like 3 bottles of breast milk in her a day I’d be really happy.

OP mixed feeding is absolutely fine and works for lots of people but if you want to breastfeed fully or partiallythere is still hope. Why isn’t baby latching? Has she been checked for tongue tie? My now 14 week old couldn’t latch until tight tongue tie was snipped, and it took a few weeks to wean from shields after that but we got there. [[
www.emmapickettbreastfeedingsupport.com/twitter-and-blog/when-baldy-doesnt-want-your-tit-newborn-breast-refusal This]] article is pretty helpful.

I pump for 10 mins on each side, 3 times per day. I don’t get loads off (30ml) but as I said before my supply is very low due to a PPH.
I feel better knowing that at least baby is getting 90ml of breastmilk a day and she managed to get all of the colostrum that way too. It was exactly the same with my first DD.
I’ve tried pumping more and didn’t really get any more for the length of time it too, but again that it more to do with my supply.
If you have the time then pumping can be great, I find it very manageable and a great way to mix feed.

I made a hash of it I think. Baby was losing weight at each visit so after 2 weeks I started mix feeding. Pumping was a disaster - I only ever got 40mls and that was after 3 hours. I bf from each side then topped up with formula. Meant baby was going longer between feeds so didn’t help an already low supply. Did it this way for 5 months then baby started refusing the breast and just wanted bottles. HV was useless as refused to advise because I’d dared to use formula (even though ds was almost hospitalised!)

With DC1 I struggled with supply. Myilk took ages to come in after a C-section and I never really caught up from there. Also, I didn't really have a clue about cluster feeding etc.

After she dropped a lot of weight, I started doing top-up feeds of 1-2pz formula at the end of each breastfeed. I also tried pumping to increase supply. Tbh, I couldn't keep up with this, so I eventually dropped some feeds and replaced them with formula. Initially, I just did one formula feed at night then gradually increased the number of formula feeds over a couple of weeks. By about 6 weeks I did formula only at night and breastfeeding in the day. I kept up a mix of formula and bf until 3 months but she and I both seemed to prefer FF by then so I stopped breastfeeding.

I think it was the night feeding that out a stop to end for me more than anything. She just seemed to want to feed all night and I couldn't get any sleep. When DC2 arrived I decided to co-sleeping so she just fed whenever she wanted at night and I eventually fed her for 18 months.

Mixed feedings didn't work out here. Baby was bf for hours at a time, various problems including not gaining.
Started 3oz formula top ups. Baby started colic symptoms. Tried various ways of mixed feeding but couldn't make it work. Moved exclusively to formula and eventually had a happier baby.

12 week old baby, been mixed freeding since 2 week old as lots of problems with breastfeeding.
I went to see a lactation consultant and she gave me advice for mixed feeding that has worked for me. Basically, with mixed feeding, either the formula or the breastfeeding has to be on a schedule. The other is on demand. I scheduled a bottle of formula at around 9am, 1pm and 7pm. All other times I breastfed. Breastfeeding and latching has now got much easier so I’ve dropped the 9am formula and sometimes he doesn’t have the lunchtime one, depending on how i’m feeling.
I no longer pump as I found it hard work but will hen he was small and sleeping a lot I tried to pump every 4 hours for 20 min. Some I would use instead of a breastfeed (nipples needed to heal from nasty infection) sometimes I would freeze it for future use.
Anyway I hope that helps. I think mixed feeding is great and should be spoken about more!

I mix fed DD and it was great. Started off by topping up the evening feeds at about 4 weeks but over time (i.e. by about 4 months) settled into a routine whereby I BFed on demand during the day, gave a bottle feed in the evening, BFed again just before bed and during the night. It kept up what there was of my supply but meant she was less unsettled in the evening and gained weight steadily (although not spectacularly). If my husband had her for the day when I went to work for KIT days, she had formula all day. I didn't bother pumping. After 7 months I started giving a bottle feed in the daytime, then gradually switched over to full formula during the day by 9 months or so. I still BFed at night initially but then night weaned and supply dried up very quickly. I switched to formula over time because I didn't want to try to wean her just before she started nursery as it would have felt like too much change. All worked pretty well. I had hoped to EBF but like a previous poster I had a major PPH and early supply issues. But actually mix feeding turned out well and meant that she could happily take a bottle when I wasn't there. Good luck with it all OP! X

I topped up DC1 with formula after every bf from day 5 or 14 months! Tried pumping but no joy - I have a medical low supply issue though so was never going to build supply much or achieve ebf. Doing it this way stopped DC getting bottle preference but was quite hard work. Lots of people asked me why I bothered bf with such a low supply but for us it was for comforting DC as well as food. Not sure how well this method would work with a future DC2 though