Help with combination feeding 7 month old

[Klou87]

Hi everyone!

My (just about to turn) 7 month old has been exclusively BF from birth, however is now taking a bottle of formula each day in preparation for me returning to work.

Our breastfeeding journey has been full of ups and downs, for the last few months, I express during the day and bubba feeds from me directly at night; each bottle of expressed milk is usually about 4.5 ounces and he'll often leave a little (sometimes all, sometimes wanting 5 ounces).

So my question is, how much formula should I be giving him for his one formula feed a day? I've been offering him 5ounces a time and he'll usually only take 4...so a similar quantity to when he takes his bottle of expressed milk, however I know the recommended amount is 7/8 ounces a time of formula.

Has anyone got any experience of combination feeding at this age or can offer any advice? To add, baby seems happy and is gaining weight at a steady pace. Sleeping through the night is still a long way off 😂 he still wakes 3 times on average which is fine as I know this is keeping my supply up now he is eating solids too, I'm just intrigued to see what other combination feeding parents did at this age.

Thank you so much in advance!

Hi @Klou87 My experience is a little different to yours in that I combination fed from about two weeks, as I was quite ill early on and needed to focus on recovering, but by three months I was mainly bf-ing and using a bit with formula. That carried on to 9 months when I stopped breastfeeding.
I sought a lot of help from a breastfeeding counsellor and her advice was that with combination feeding, you need to have a strict timetable for either breastfeeding OR (ideally) formula. So, in your head decide how many bottles of formula you want to give a day. As you've decided on one for the moment, my advice would be to go for it in the evening, either 7pm or just before you go to bed. I know people say its a myth that formula fills them up but...that myth proved true for us. Waking three times a night is quite a lot, I reckon a good formula feed before bedtime might help!
In terms of quantity ours very rarely ever had more than 6oz at a time. So I'd prepare that, and then they know when they're full and have had enough. You might feel a bit uncomfortable until your body adjusts to missing a feed at that time.
Then if you decide to increase to two bottles of formula, you could time one to be when would suit you, say mid morning or early afternoon. But then apart from that, bf on demand. Hope that makes sense.
Although it wasn't what I planned, a really liked combination feeding and plan to do it with no 2.

I haven’t expressed but I’ve ff and ebf with different kids. The rule of thumb for both is allow them to let them know when your done. So don’t let them finish a bottle, if they do it means you need to offer more. DD1 was ff and would take 12oz at a time over night but she reversed cycled and wouldn’t feed during the day so wasn’t your average baby. Don’t forget to pace feed with the bottle.