Mixed feeding. Is it possible to bottle feed during the day and BF morning, eve and night?

[AmberRose17]

I have an almost six week old baby that I’ve been mixed feeding from the start. Initially he was on formula top ups of about 30-40ml after each feed (due to a combination of my own choice after a hugely stressful and traumatic BF experience with No1, and him having a tongue tie which was clipped at 2 weeks).

I gradually moved to three bottles a day - 90-120ml first thing, a small one (60ml) in the middle of the day and 120ml last thing at night. The rest of the time I’m BF and he has been feeding a lot during the day and night. I’m pumping twice a day to increase supply and am managing to get about 100-150ml a day. So up to half his bottle amount is EBM.

But over the past week he has become extremely fussy during the day to the point of point blank refusing the breast at least once a day. I realise this may be a consequence of him preferring the faster flowing bottle over the breast and know that my decision to mix them from day 1 risked this. I can sometimes coax him to feed from me by ever more elaborate methods (feeding in the sling while on a bouncy ball, feeding in the bath, lying down listening to classical music etc!) - but it’s exhausting and starting to really grind me down especially as I can’t reliably feed out and about anywhere.

But for evening, night and early morning feeds he is very content on the boob and I enjoy the convenience and closeness.

So I’m wondering if I can give myself a break during the day and give him his feeds via a bottle (whether formula or EBM) and then keep BF when he is more chilled and cosy during the evening, at night and first thing in the morning.

I ended up a very happy bottle feeder with my first and kept enough supply through pumping to give my first baby some bottles of BM for four months. So I’m not going to be devastated if we end up the same way. But as this child actually can BF unlike his brother, it would be nice to avoid the midnight pumping session and to Kee the closeness and comfort element of BF as well.

What do people think?

Based on my experience, yes

I mix fed exactly like you describe. Stopped BFing at 8 months

Thanks @bugeyedbarber that’s reassuring to hear. Were your daytime bottles formula or EBM or a bit of both? And do you remember how many bottles you gave during the day?

I’m thinking of switching to BF for the morning feed, bottle for mid-morning and early afternoon feeds and then trying to BF the rest of the time.

Formula. And my pattern was very similar to the one you're planning.

Although often if I was out I wouldn't arse about with the bottle and BF do I wasn't rigid about it at all. I found that supply just adjusted.

*so not do

Thanks @bugeyedbarber. Fingers crossed I can make this work. It has been so disappointing that he has basically refused boob during the day recently but hopefully it’s just a phase.

Go for it. You're already putting in a lot of effort and doing very well.

He's getting best of both worlds

Don't see any reason why you can't. I mix fed for whole of first year -3-4 BFs a day (she was sleeping thru so no night feeds by then) by about 12 weeks and 3-4 small bottles at predictable times. No problems switching between breast and bottle - she recently stopped BFing at 3.25 yrs!

They go through a fussy phase at about six weeks - growth spurt, so more likely to be that?