combination feeding

[peepsiesmum]

my little boy is 16wks and i have been giving him one bottle of formula in the afternoon. initially this was to help him get used to the bottle before i went back to do some part time work, but has become part of the routine now. i am breast feeding the rest of the day and at night. but now i am concerned that my supply will go down.
i don't quite understand how this works. i mean, when he gave up his 10p.m feed my supplys didn't go down just readjusted to what he was having so, now he his missing his 4 o'clock feed, there will still be enough milk when he needs it right?

any advice on how this works would be great. thanks

I did exactly the same as you, and I found that my supply adjusted. I think that while there is an undeniable risk to your supply from adding a bottle of formula, it is greater the earlier on you do it - by 16 weeks your supply should be fairly well established. I started DS on a bottle a day at (I think) 10 weeks, and I was able to go back and forth between giving the bottle and skipping it (if DP was away, since the whole point of the bottle was to let me sleep) without any problems.

I think the important thing (if you want to keep BFing) is to make sure you don't give into the temptation to give more bottles during growth spurts etc, otherwise your supply won't be able to keep up. I didn't give more than a bottle a day until DS was around 6 months, when i didn't mind so much if my supply started to dwindle. I BFed till he was 10 months with no problems, and could easily have continued (abandoned it when he drew blood twice with his shiny new teeth!)

thanks for this, just what i needed to hear, i'll continue as i am.
thanks.