Just been told if I supplement with formula there is no value to my breastmilk. Is this true?

[newmummy100]

My little boy is coming up 3 weeks old. I've been exclusively breastfeeding during the day, but by 8-10pm I'm knackered (have toddler to look after too so can't sleep or rest during the day) and my breast milk is running out and I have a crying/hungry baby. So I've been giving one bottle of formula this time of day, to give my breasts time to restock and then I feed during the night.

I'm doing everything I can to increase the supply (expressing after each feed - though I get very little), good diet, lots of water, fenugreek etc etc.

Anyway, midwife signed me off yesterday and has told me that I am ruining all the goodness of my breastmilk with this formula top up.

Is that true? Thought I was doing well with the bf and now feeling dispondant.

Thank you

This midwife is in urgent need of some training - what on earth does she mean? That breastmilk turns to dishwater because you give formula??

Formula does temporarily change the gut, and not in a good way....but this does not 'ruin' the goodness of breastmilk.

Giving formula will not help your breasts
'restock' - giving formula reduces the amount of milk you make because the only way the quantity of breastmilk can be boosted is by removal of milk from the breasts. Leaving the milk in there slows down production.

I think if you are breastfeeding the rest of the time you will prob get away with this one bottle a day - but can you think of other ways to make that evening time a bit easier for you? Expressing after a feed sounds like hard work, and your diet and your fluid intake will make no difference to your supply....

Could you give one of the bf helplines a call and talk through your options? They will also set you right on the 'ruining goodness' myth

She is talking nonsense.

You are doing well

Another HCP saying things in an 'off the cuff' way and confusing a patient.

It's a valid question newmummy one I'd wondered about too.

Congrats on your new baby

fwiw I did formula as last feed for ds2 when he was little (ds1 was 18 months and sometimes he needed mummy to do bedtime so daddy gave ds2 a bottle) I did the same for ds3 (another 18 month gap) I too was knackered and there are quite frankly not enough hours in the day to express. I did get round it in the early days by expressing after ds1 was in bed and dh dealing with ds2 so that I had a bottle of expressed for the next night and then if dh was away I could just feed as my boobs where used to having milk at that time

its only my opinion but you are doing a great job to be feeding with a toddler around and if one bottle of formula helps your ds and you then it won't harm, happy baby = happy mummy, ds is still getting loads of the benifits of breast milk from you. I know loads of mums who have successfully done mixed feeding with one bottle a day - I 'justified' it to myself by knowing that breastfeeding second and third time round wasn't all about ds2/3 it was about the family, to me it was really important the older ones got some quality time with me at bedtime in the early days.

congrats on your new little boy and remember to take everything a MW says with a huge spoon of salt, you know best x

I echo what Tiktok says in terms of advice about formula top ups.

With regard to there being no benefit to continuing breastfeeding its a bit like saying if you eat lots of fruit but then eat a bar of chocolate that you have ruined all the good work of the fruit. Nonsense - you have taken in more calories, fat and sugar but all the good stuff from the fruit it still there.

I am not comparing formula milk to chocolate by the way just giving an example that something with a lower nutritional value does not remove the good of the higher nutrition.

Breast milk has ingredients (sounds like the wrong word!) in it which cannot be created in formula so every feed still counts

There are reasons why giving formula top-ups in the evening isn't ideal, and tiktok has explained them well. But "ruining all the goodness of your breastmilk" emphatically isn't one of them.

I could have written OP's post. For the first two weeks I spent from 5-9pm with a baby on my boob, whilst in between trying to get a toddler to bed - didn't work. My breasts were not producing enought milk at this hour (stress maybe?!) so DS was never satisfied and if not BFing was going purple from crying. So out came a bottle and some sense of sanity was restored in the evenings. There is nothing wrong with this, indeed, my heath visitor recomended the bottle when she saw what was going on.

A stressed out famiy, parents at each others throats, resentment towards new baby, toddler not getting any attention during his once loved bedtime routine etc... does more damage than 120mls of formula a day in my mind.

As for your body always producing enough - I'm battling with this. Despite doing everything a lactation consultant has recomended I still don't seem to have enough milk in the evenings.

So newmummy100 you're not alone on this one. I was rather relieved to read your post and know I'm not alone too!

MW probably means that if you skip the night feeds your quality will lessen because the night feeds are richer and bring in the milk. She probably has seen so many give up a few weeks in that her expectations are low.
At least that is what I have noticed with both my births the visiting health nurse and mw at the clinic always say so few bf and so few are still doing it a few weeks in. I completely understand with a toddler to keep you busy too. I would just try and forget about her, you have enough on with a newborn. The exhaustion is extraordinary.