50/50 breast feeding.

[1stmumma]

Hi all,

I learnt today that some mummies split formula and breast and was wanting to get more info on this.

I'd love to know how it actually works, daily routine etc, and if anyone has seen any benefits of this?

I'm kind of stuck on what to do, I'm happy to go with formula but am worried about going breast only as I'm quite shy and don't want to be getting the girls out in public all the time, but then don't want to disappear every time baby needs a feed.

Tia xx

I combined fed my dd for many reasons (one of which was I wasn't comfortable breastfeeding in public). I basically ebf her for about a month or until my milk was fully established then I divided feeds. I alternated between bottle and breast throughout the day (nighttime would be breast only). I continued this until I weaned her at 6 months. For me it was what worked best as it meant dh could help out with feeds and also bond with dd.

We combination fed for a different few reasons! I was planning on just breastfeeding but it didn't work out that way so we just went with the flow.

I also exclusively bottle fed so I expressed regularly throughout the day and fed him through the bottle - day feeds formula, and night feeds breast milk.

He's three months now and is mostly on formula. I would say though that it's best to establish breast feeding first though and then introduce formula as it will effect your supply - it did mine but as we were combination feeding it didn't matter so much to me.

Perhaps you could try establish breastfeeding in the early days and then express milk once or twice a day and store that milk in the freezer - and build up a good supply in the freezer that you can use and defrost when you go out on days out and you don't want to breastfeed in public!

I wasn’t planning on feeding formula it had to due to weight loss. Initially topped up after every feed. Then it was one formula feed per day the rest bf. This carried on for 4 months then it was bf only, until 7 months and back to one formula feed a day.
I was nervous about feeding in public at first but don’t worry now. I always wear a vest and pull my top up and vest down so I don’t flash anything, also pick your spot such as tables in cafes tucked in a corner or sit in the car and feed. Once ds was 4 months old it got a lot easier.

I mix fed both of my dc. With ds (first baby)we had a terrible start to bf and I had to top him up with f, this meant that my supply never really met demand and although I bf him for 6 months (when I chose to stop )he needed topping up a lot, so some feeds were just bm but most he would need some f, some were just f. I wouldn't recommend it tbh because I lost some of the convenience of bf. However ,having seen the issues friends who ebf had I actively decided to mix feed dd. With dd we had a much easier start to bf and we introduced a bottle of f at about 3 weeks, from then on she had one bottle a day except for the very, very occasional bottle if I wasn't there for some reason. It worked out very well for us.

Thanks everyone, you've given me a lot to work with here I appreciate it.
X

It depends how important bf is to you.

Mix feeding doesn’t always work. It can compromise your supply, babies can prefer bottles and refuse the breast. I had a baby who once they got used to ff absolutely wouldn’t bf.

Issue is there is no way if knowing if it will or won’t work until you try. If it doesn’t, you will usually have to switch to full time ff- it is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to switch back to full time bf.

So, if you really want to bf, bf. Leave off the bottles until you have it established and are confident.

But if you think you might ff anyway, give mix feeding a try. Usual is to replace bedtime feed with a bottle. Be warned- night feeds are vital for supply, if you ff at night instead your supply will likely drop very quickly. The more formula you give the more your supply will drop, and babies do tend to find bottles easier as they don’t need to wait for let down.

Mix feeding didn’t work for me at all. Everyone I knew who tried it were ff within a couple of months. It does work for some people long term, which is fab, but again if you really want to bf you may need to prepare yourself for ff if mix feeding doesn’t work.

I tend to feed in private if there is an option to do so as mundistracted baby feeds better this way. Also when she was a newborn and we had flurries of visitors it was a great way to manage guests and in some cases turf them out as I had to take baby up for a feed which would take 30 minutes or so every few hours. As stated above if BF is important to you I would focus your first 6 weeks solely on BF (no expressing and no bottles) as this is the safest way to establish milk supply and not risk nipple confusion for baby. Once you've got through those 6 weeks see how you feel. I wouldn't worry too much about it before you start as once baby is here there will be so many factors that push you into EBF / FF or combi

Also to note anyone I have known who have combi fed has eventually dropped BF within 6-8 weeks or so as baby preferred bottle and it as a quicker way to feed and have mum more independence (4 friends)

I combination fed as she wouldn't wake up to feed! Then slowly weaned her of the bottle but always gave 1 body a day and if we went out would take a bottle. Will be doing the same with this baby as I don't want him to get to 6 months and refuse a bottle, giving formula at bedtime helped with night time feeds to x