Combination feeding

[Newmum12344]

Hi everyone,
im currently 21 weeks pregnant with my first baby. I have decided if possible I would like to combination feed.
Which items would you suggest buying for combination feeding?
Thank you!

Congrats! I have combi fed baby boy who is now 6m. I didn’t start off with that straight away - I breastfed only for about 6 weeks then started combi feeding, so I don’t know about that very beginning part - the only little knowledge I could share on that is if you do want to breastfeed a bit you still will need to build up supply and if you bottle feed formula from the start it may be hard to have a good volume of breast milk even if you wanted to do combi feeding later.
anyway things that I’d recommend:

• spectra breast pump (it’s the best hands down)


• the slowest flow tests you can find. I say this as many babies who are combi fed struggle to accept the breast after a while as bottle is easier for them - certainly the case for us! So I’ve only ever used slow flow teats ever even now because otherwise he’ll go right off breastfeeding.

Those would be my top tips. Good luck & congrats xxxx

Slowest flow *teats not tests!! X

Congratulations @Newmum12344 !

Our DC is 5 months old now and is primarily breastfeeding but we do some top-up formula feeds and some feeds with expressed milk. The combination works well for us as it gives us flexibility (eg if DH and DC want to go out for a walk and I need to get some work done, it's not a problem) and means we can share night feeds. We started feeding this way from only a few days old, as DC was ill and needing more than they could get directly from breastfeeding.

Things I've found helpful are...

• Nuby RapidCool: Probably the best thing I've encountered for making up formula! When you're making formula, the safest way is to make each bottle with freshly boiled water. Systems that use a 'shot' of hot water aren't as safe as not all the water in the drink is hot enough to kill any bacteria in the formula. The RapidCool system can make a fresh bottle from just-boiled to ready-to-drink in about 2 minutes, and is really easy to take out and about. DH uses it a lot when hillwalking. Basically, it's a cooling flask, and you just take an insulated flask of just boiled water, a small pot of however much formula powder you're going to use for a feed, and a bottle.

• Medela Flex pump: It's been the best one for me and it's portable so I can take it out and about with me (I'm planning to express at work when I go back, so portability is important for me!).

• Cheeky chompers Multi-Muslins: All muslins are useful but these are my favourites. They make a really useful breastfeeding cover (useful for when you want to avoid an over-distracted baby at feeding time), sunshade, teether... They have removable teething rings which double as clasps for hooking onto prams etc.

• A UV steriliser: Sooo much easier than the microwave ones!