advice on supplementing with formula please!

[hotcrossbun]

i am the proud mum of a 3.5 yr old boy and boy girl twins aged nearly 6 weeks. until a week ago i breastfed exclusively and was keen to continue (older son bf til 10 months). however, mastitis, thrush and a tongue tie left me exhausted and try as i did to feed and pump my tired body started telling me that i was knackered (3rd urinary infection, ulcers, herpes etc) i am healthy and resting when i can but not easy! so after they started taking ebm in a bottle and i realised that expressing was completely exhausting we started supplementing with the odd oz here and there of formula. i need advice on the best way to approach this whilst maintaining some milk supply. currently am feeding on demand and offering about 2oz after a feed or if my toddler needs something. all the advice states that supplementing with wreck my milk supply and i just want some sensible advice that acknowledges what im trying to do without telling me that i am jeopardising everything! any tips (and sorry for the epic post!) x

bumping for you

well tbh, supplementing DOES jeopardise your milk supply. I don't think that anyone here will tell you any different.
that doesn't mean to say you CAN'T mix feed, because some people do so very effectively.

the thing with supplementing after feeds is that most babies will down a bottle after a feed. they just do. partly because of how a bottle works and the sucking reflex, partly because it's easy food.
it can in some cases also result in babies "holding out" for the bottle instead of havcing a good feed, which again can have the result of lowering your supply.

If you do want to mix feed I would advise breastfeeding without supplementing at each feed, and then offering a bottle feed once or twice a day (perhaps the night feeds?)

oops, meant to say, well done for breastfeeding twins! and especially with all the probs you've overcome

hotcrossbun, you could post this in the breastfeeding and bottle feeding folder, and there will be mums of multips there, too.

You've done wonders to battle with all those probs....

I am a breastfeeding counsellor, lots of exp. with mums of multiples and twins in the family, too. You're asking not to be told you are jeopardising everything....difficult not to be honest here though. If you continue doing what you are doing - supplementing after feeds - your breastmilk supply will run down. This may happen slower than a mum with a single baby, as 2 babies will keep the show on the road a bit longer, but if you are wanting to get to that wonderful stage where bf your twins is actually easier than bottle feeding, then what you are doing now is working against it. That's not to minimise the difficulties you have at the moment.

I think it will help you to talk to someone in real life about this - try the breastfeeding helplines tomorrow.

I dont have twins but just wondering if you can get help in other ways, ie someone to help with your toddler when you are too tired to see to him, or to take the twins out for a walk when you need a rest?
Just wondering if extra practical help would allow you more energy to breastfeed them, rather than topping up which will have an adverse effect on your supply?

thanks to you all for support and advice. am getting a bit of help but not enought to guarantee the rest i need. we run a business from home as well and money just needs earning unfortunately! have taken on board comments about not supp after feeds so will give a bottle today late afternoon and trying to put them both to breast as often as possible in the meantime. bf helplines i have spoken to so far are supportive but anti any supplementing so going to try a few more this afternoon. just got to battle on! thanks everyone! x

I did both for six months, also got knackered after the birth and various infections and found it hard to produce enough milk/eat enough/drink enough with no help.

I got into a routine of either bottle or breast at each feed. As far as I remember! this was:

7-8pm (after eating dinner so getting a bit of energy up) i sat down when DH home to help and I expressed milk

10.30-11pm - girls had bottle of formula

3am onwards breastfed

7-8am after hopefully having had a spell of sleep and recharging a bit - breastfed

10ish girls had expressed breast milk from night before

lunchtimeish - formula

2.30ish breastmilk (again after lunch and they'd hopefully had a sleep as had I)

5ish formula

7-8ish formula

Sounds complicated but I think when you get into a routine it helps. People did tell me that as soon as I gave formula that would be it, but if I hadn't given formula I would have given up breastfeeding totally. By about 3 months, I managed to build up the breastmilk and was doing 3/5ths breastmilk and 2/5 formula - just because my girls were such voracious feeders that it gave my body a chance to recover and build up some energy again

Good luck - you're doing really well

hotcrossbun, just had another thought, not re the feeding itself, but just that you could post this question on the multiples topic
you'll probably get a lot more practical advice from all the other twin (and more) mums who have breastfed

thanks fingerwoman, will do
hattyellow - your post is really useful so cheers for that. so encouraging to know it can be done. i have found a health visitor who is totally supportive as well which helps! x

I mix fed! It was the way forward imo. You just breast feed as much as you can and then bottle feed when you're knackered. And you do still make milk so don't worry about that.