Advice on breastfeeding

[Bakedpotatos]

Baby isn't here yet, due Jan. But I remember being told by the midwife with my first 7 years ago that I couldn't feed formula and breast milk, it had to be either one or the other and couldn't supplement formula with breast. He struggled with latching so I tried pumping but wasn't able to produce, but hoping this time round I'd be able to. Just curious as to how true it was that you can't feed breast milk and formula. She also said that once you start using a bottle their mouths form differently from it so they can't feed on the breast, is this true also? Thank you in advance

You absolutely can do both. My LO is 3 months now but as my milk took a while to come in properly, we mix fed for the first 5-6 weeks. On midwife's advice, I would offer breast first, then top her up with formula if she was still hungry. We just used small amounts & I also expressed as much as I physically could & did lots of skin to skin contact to try & increase supply. Gradually we were able to drop the formula but we didn't experience any problems with using both when we needed it.

Brilliant, thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to do but they were adamant it was either one or the other. Trying to be better informed this time round!

Not true at all. We did a combination of both for the first 3 weeks with DS whos now nearly 6 weeks. We ended up dropping the formula bottle at about 3 weeks but you absolutely can do both.

Well that's not true. The danger of course is that they fill up on formula, don't breastfeed very much and the milk supply dries up as a result (happened to 2 women I know). But if you naturally have a big supply and/or ensure baby feeds enough to maintain your supply it's 100% possible.

You can do both but it can mess up your supply. Better to get breast feeding established first. Have a look on the UNICEF Baby Friendly website. Lots of advice

Lucy Ruddle had a book on combination feeding called Mixed Up. She’s an IBCLC so knows her stuff about breastfeeding

You can do both, mine had one bottle a day from about 6 weeks with no problem.