Baby no 4 - Mix feeding from newborn??

[vix273]

Hi,

I'm expecting my fourth child in 9 weeks. I successfully bf my other 3 children. My youngest will only just be 1yr old when this one is born. I am considering in mix feeding from the beginning as I don't think I will manage exclusive feeding aswell as looking after my 1yr old. (other 2 are at school). I have been given different info as to when you can do this from, either 2wks or from 6-8wks. Has anyone any ideas or done this?

Thanks,

Vicky.

my mother did this: same reason. She had three older kids, the next up being 20 mths.

she waited until week 2 and used breast milk & baby rice - he yummed it down. Otherwise he' been glued to her boob rom day 1 -it was the only way she could get any time to do all the housework my father was creating

I'd suggest waiting to see how it goes, you don't know how hungry baby will be (my litle brother was extremely hungry.) I started baby ricing mine at 6 weeks, but then stopped as i found it easier just to bf him.

oh and, don't tell your HV unless you enjoy being lectured.

i'll admit i was very worried about having a 17mth age gap, 1 year !!! respect.

Hi Vicky - had my second baby 3.5 wks ago(I take my hat off to you for having four!!) and I mix fed from day 10 as was completely exhausted from looking after my very active four year old and had lots of complications after delivery meaning I was quite poorly and just needed the rest. Of course was told by bf councillor / health visitor not to do it as would cause nipple confusion etc but havent any probs. I prob wouldnt replace more than 2 feeds with bottle or you might lose your milk supply (unless you express but I found that kind of defies the point of mix feeding!) I have found that my body has adapted to producing milk for the feeds I do (arent womens bodies amazing!!)Hope this helps! x

vix, no one can predict what will happen in any individual case, but the research done on thousands of women is clear - introduce bottles and you risk ending breastfeeding completely, sooner than you planned to. Coffeechat, glad you are finding something that works for you, but it may not work long term....them's the facts!

The risk is not so much 'confusion' but the way giving bottles impacts on the milk supply...always negatively.

It's debatable how much time mixed feeding saves anyway - the milk has to be bought, the feeds have to be made (and if you do it safely, this can be time consuming), the bottles and so on have to be cleaned, and the baby still has to be fed with it

It is unsafe to give baby rice to a young baby as well as nutritionally inappropriate - sorry for the lecture, oneopinionatedmother!

Thanks girls. Think I will wait and see how the baby is and how I feel after the birth. My OH will be off work hopefully for 2wks after I have had the baby so I should be able to exclusively bf up until then. I was only thinking of maybe introducing a couple of bottles anyway. My youngest has never been that great on a bottle so will just wait and see.

Vicky.