Mix BF and FF feeding - how much to give???

[ElmMum]

Since late last night have given in and given DD a formula feed (long story - there's another whole post about that).

I plan to express as often and as much as I can so I can mix EBM and formula feeds.

Question is, the formula says for her age (8 weeks) and weight (c11lbs) she should have 5 x 150ml per day. If some feeds are EBM, how do I know how much EBM to give her and how many feeds to do in total??

5 x 150ml a day leaves a gap of 5ish hours between each feed. She's been doing that happily at night on breastmilk but during the day she feeds closer to every 3 hours, and more like 2 or 2 1/2 by evening time. Will she demand feeding as regularly as before or will she just feel fuller so not ask for as much food? I really don't want to over feed her.

Agh, feel out of my depth. At least with BF you know they won't eat too much.

elmmum i have just posted on your other thread. i really think you should try to talk to bfc again to see how you can proceed, there must be all sorts of factors like how much you can express which you can't go into in enough detail here (or you could but do you want to!) and maybe talk about how you are feeling

Ignore the formula pots! That is for a solely formula fed average baby. I think the figures are that a baby should have around 150ml of milk per kilo - 200ml per kilo is too much, 100ml not enough.

Use this as a basis and go from there but do please try and carry on breast feeding if you can at all.

Sorry, meant to say I think those figures are right but it is worth checking them. I got them from a friend who is a pediatrician so probably around on the NHS somewhere!

Thanks. I'll try and Google those figures.

My current plan is express as much as poss through the day and hopefully the majority of feeds can be EBM. I may even BF the middle of the night feed if I can but not if it's still painful.

That way I may get away with only doing FF for the last feed before bed, which wouldn't be such a disaster.

I'm thinking that my milk supply will reduce though, as I know expressing doesn't "empty" the breast as well as a baby can.

But I'm kind of happy with this plan for now. Happier than I was in the middle of the night last night, anyway.

elmmum, how are you doing?

I fed twins by mix EBM and formula. They had about 90-70% EBM for the first 3 months until I wound down (I could have gone on but for reasons that are not relevant here I wanted to stop). I did this on 3 to 5 pumping sessions a day.

This approach suited me and meant that they got some breastmilk.

If you have a good industrial pump then you can produce a lot of milk. My 7am express would produce 4x120ml bottles worth.

Disregard the formula packet - give you baby 3oz to start off with and then an an oz at a time to find the correct amount for your baby and without wasting too much EBM.

Baby will probably feed every 3 hours during the day - and then bigger gaps at night. You want to feed them as much as possible during the day so they dont want as much at night.

The key to pumping for a long time is to find other things you can do while pumping (internet is a good one) as its very timeconsuming)!