Any advice on mix feeding a 6 week old?

[bananabump]

Does anyone have any advice on mix feeding? How much formula should an 8lb 6 week old be having in a day?

Currently breastfeeding all day/evening but giving a bottle last thing so we all get a block of 4 hours decent sleep. I have tried going without this bottle a few times but he just kept me up all night feeding/crying two minutes after being put down, and none of us could function properly the next day.

He also has a bottle in the afternoon usually because he has fed off me all day and hasn't slept so I haven't managed to eat/get dressed/have a wash/tidy up at all. Sometimes has one if people visit who seem uncomfortable with me feeding him (my dad for example) or if we're in the supermarket and he starts screaming. It's not practical to take him to a mother and baby room, cos he feeds for hours and only in the football hold supported by a few cushions, which no I can't take everywhere with me!

So I have given up on exclusive breastfeeding. Sod it, he's getting as much bm as time, practicality and my sanity will allow, and I'm done feeling bad about it. James is a very unfussy baby, happy with all forms of milk, at any temperature, as long as there's lots of it!

So are there rules to mix feeding or do you just do it to suit you and your baby?

((((James the unfussy baby ))))

banana, the only 'rule' with mixed feeding is to keep a lid on it

Once you have decided this is the way to go, it can be tempting/seem easy to use a bottle more and more (and I think I pick this up from your post)....and that can have a growing impact on breastmilk supply.

So the risk is that it goes from being truly mixed to predominantly formula, and from there to full formula feeding.

Hope this helps a bit.

Have you tried expressing BM and then topping up with formula, i.e. in same bottle (say 2oz of BM and 3oz of formula). At least that way, you know he is still getting the goodness of BM but is also being filled up by formula IYKWIM?

It worked for us plus it meant that others could help with feeding so I could rest.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I've mix fed for the last 11 months. At first I pumped and pumped because breastfeeding wasn't going so well. In hospital he was mostly ff because I had a c-section, he was jaundiced and I developed an infection. I was persuaded to ff and didn't have the energy to fight it.

At home I could do what I wanted and stubbornly set about building up a supply. I pumped and pumped and some days managed to exclusively bf. Later I gave a bottle during the evening to get some sleep. He never slept through though, that wasn't why I did it.

At 11 months I am bf during the morning and the evening but am also working full time, so he does get formula as well. I work fairly flexibly so when I am working at home he does feed from me and I haven't noticed any problems.

It has worked for us but I am very stubborn and was/am determined to bf for as long as possible. If we ever have babt no 2 I will use my stubborness to exclusively bf I hope.

Good luck with it: you will need to perservere. It also helps if you MIL doesn't bang on about bottles and forumla at every opportunity. Mine even bought me some as a hint.

Sorry for typos, he is a very wriggly feeder at 11 mohntas1

I would agree with mishymoo, try expressing to bottle feed.
With just a couple of formulas, otherwise your supply may depleat.
But don't take my word for it get some more advice if you can. - I'm still having trouble myself!
Good luck.