Mixed feeding and periods

[funtimewincies]

Ds2 (now 16 weeks) was exclusively bf for about 6 weeks and then has had a bottle of formula at about 10.30pm since then. He'll take expressed milk in a bottle, formula and feeds from me quite happily and is an amazingly flexible baby.

The only problem is that I have a prolapsed bladder (from ds1) which is made a lot worse by the lack of oesterogen in my system. The formula feed was introduced to give me a break (formula as I was having trouble finding any quiet time to express enough milk). He's now sleeping through to about 6.30am and I've just started to replace one of his daytime feeds with bottle. Do you think that this will be enough to trick my body into starting my periods again without drying my milk or will I have to accept that formula is the only way?

Bf with ds1 was a disaster, so I was delighted that feeding ds2 has been so much more successful and enjoyable and I'm loathed to give it up completely . My dh works abroad quite a lot and so, for the next 6 months, I'll be doing a lot of lone parenting.

Is there a middle way?

Bumping as am hoping that there are others with some experience of mixed feeding longer term .

I have mixed fed from birth using formaula both my kids.
my son who had 1 ff ,all other bf a day and my periods came back straight after my postnatal bleeding stopped ( like one huge period)
so in my case yes it would have tricked my body.
I continued to breastfeed my son until I wanted to stop at 6 months but could have carried on if I'd wanted to.
hope that helps

Thanks for replying .

It's good to hear that someone has managed to combine both and found a good compromise.

I wasn't helped by a HV comment recently that, as I'd already given formula, I might as well just move ds2 onto bottles as 'he's not getting any real benefit' .

I was under the impression that any breastfeeding was beneficial . Maybe I'm out of date.

DD is 7 months old and was EBF until solids were introduced just before 6 months. My periods came back last week so you don't necessarily have to give up BF to start periods.

my periods came back at 4mo, despite me excl bf dd2

re the hv I have always found them very unhelpful when it comes to mixed feeding they are literally all or nothing its so funny I can understand fully encouraging bf but then telling you to totally switch is just odd.
I'm not sure how beneficial it is in terms of the stomach thing which is what I think the hv is talking about but it was certainly beneficial to my relationship with my son curling up on the sofa doing a feed was a great feeling and with him being dc2 and my time so precious it meant it was time just for us and was most certainly beneficial to our finances as a family .

I EBF and am having my first post-natal period now. DD is 9.5 weeks. Good job we were using contraception! I think it varies from woman to woman when ovulation starts up again and BF or MF may or may not make any difference either way...

My DS is almost 6 months. I ebf for the first 4 months (apart from occasional ff). I then mix fed until now - now prob 50/50
I still haven't had a period yet.
Susiey - Am interested in the "no benefit" comment and reference to the "stomach thing" - what is it? I thought they would continue to get benefit from breast milk even if only 1 bf a day?

the stomach thing is the virgin gut

a baby is born with a unique set of bacteria in their gut. Breastmilk promotes the growth of this good bacteria, and helps provide a good lining to the gut to prevent anything leaking through it

formula milk, or anything other than breastmilk, alters the bacteria and could potentially affect the lining of the gut. this is one reason why formula fed babies are more likely to suffer from stomach upsets and allergies etc

so, yes, even one bottle a day could affect this.

that isn't to say that it negates the other very good effects of breastmilk though! you're still a million times better breastfeeding with one or 2 formula feeds a day than you are completely formula feeding. there is more to breastfeeding than the virgin gut!

and to answer your question op, it might, or it might not! some people find their periods don't come back until they completely give up breastfeeding, others (like me) get them back immediately post-partum despite their demon feeders! and of course there are plenty of peopel in the middle, so it's jsut a casse of wait and see

once your baby is 6 months old though I believe you can go on the pill which has oestrogen doesn't it? would that be something that might help?

I actually think return of periods has more to do with your own body than just excl bf. With DD1 I EBF for 3 months then mix fed to about 5 months before stopping bf completely. My first period was about 5 months after I had stopped bf. With DS and DD2 I ebf until 6 months but my periods returned marginally sooner than after DD1. When did you get your first period after DS1 - you might find it'll be around the same time whatever you do.

Wow, thanks for all the replies!

It's nice to hear that mixed feeding is possible and I think that I've got the balance right with a couple of ff and the rest bf. By 'right', I mean balancing the needs of everyone in the family; dh, ds1 (3 years old), grandparents who are desperate to help and me.

The 'virgin gut' theory is a tricky one and I'm not convinced so far that there is enough evidence one way or the other (not being an expert in the field I might add ). I completely agree, though, that I don't want to lose the less tangible (and beneficial in other ways) part of bf.

thisisyesterday - I'll look into that. I thought that I'd have to have to have progesterone only all the time that I was feeding.