Combination feeding

[denbyellie]

When did you introduce bottles? And also what did you find was the best routine? To breast feed in the day? At night? Just needing some guidance really x

What makes you want to combination feed? It’s recommended not to introduce any bottles/formula until 6 weeks when your supply should have settled. At night your body produces different hormones in the milk (including ones that help them sleep) so you’ll miss out of that if you bottle feed at night. Your supply can also be affected if you’re switching between the two, as breastmilk is a supply and demand product. If you’re just thinking one bottle feed a day so you can get some extra sleep that’s a big different to splitting 50/50 for example. But some women do manage.

@BuffaloCauliflower combination feeding is a very popular thing, I'd like to combination feed for many reasons of which I feel like I needn't explain? In my antenatal class many women felt this way and the midwife said it's an amazing way of taking the pressure off yourself whilst still allowing your baby to have the goodness breast milk provides.. she also said to u can begin to combination feed around 4 weeks ..

@BuffaloCauliflower I'm wanting it more as a top up option, in which my midwife said would work as you said supply and demand product your breasts get used to the routine of when they'll be used and when they won't x

I'm a big fan of combination feeding!! My first turned into a bottle refuser at around two months as we hadn't bothered to do a bottle for a couple of days, and that was that. Being unable to do anything for myself for longer than 2 hours at a time, including sleep, really took its toll on me.

My second had a bottle every day from birth, breast fed rest of the time. Bloody brilliant. Absolute best of both worlds.

This is just my own experience but I combination fed from the start with my daughter (and she had a dummy!) So maybe from day 2 she'd have a bottle. I would only have done one bottle every day or every other day but it was formula and not expressed. In fact it made me feed much longer because I felt like I was choosing to breastfeed, not that I had to because she wouldn't take a bottle like a lot of my breastfeeding friends found. I know it's not what the advice says but it worked for me.

Most midwives don’t actually have great lactation training, lactation consultant advice is pretty much always to wait at least 6 weeks for supply to settle. 4 weeks is too early. Yes they will get used to what is required after a certain amount of time. as for when you want to switch between the two it’ll likely fluctuate over time and you’ll switch around.

You don't have to justify your reasons, but it will probably determine your feeding pattern. That and your baby.

The more bottles you give and the earlier you give the m, the more they'll be needed.
Start of f just breastfeeding, give a bottle when you want a break. You'll soon have a routine.

@Notlostjustexploring that's amazing! This is why I'd love to combination feed! Xx

@mrslol do you started straight away? Did tour milk still come in okay? ❤️ xx

My LO was in special care when born so was on formula as my milk hadn’t come in yet. I also had a really nasty bout of mastitis and was told my the midwife and the doctor not to nurse from that breast as I’d given myself nipple trauma! I now breastfeed in the day, my husband gives her a bottle of expressed milk around 10pm and then she wakes twice in the night and we give her formula (initially to help with keeping up her weight and the jaundice as well). I pump between 3-5am for the next day’s bottle and to keep my supply going. She’s happy, is gaining weight and currently no nipple/bottle confusion either! You do what makes both you and LO happy and keeps you both healthy. I know it’s a crap time with covid, but I called my midwife who helped me with how much mls/oz of expressed milk to give so please reach out to them or your HV if you need any help xxx

I combi fed, and DS quickly refused the breast so for us it meant I had to stop breastfeeding far sooner than I'd wanted to

I know it’s not recommended but I started on day 3 as I was struggling with a poor latch and was really sore. The midwives in the hospital and after I was discharged were really supportive. They said they’d rather the baby had some breast milk than for me to struggle and give up. It really reassured me that my baby was getting well fed while I got the hang of feeding him.

I’ve gradually reduced the amount I bottle feed and now at 3 months, my partner gives our baby a bottle every couple of days. I thought about exclusively breast feeding now the baby is going longer between feeds but I don’t want to end up with a baby that refuses a bottle if needed / when I decide to stop breastfeeding.

I gave DC a bottle from birth, for every feed. Formula for the first few days until my milk came in then I would express and top up with formula. Done this for over a year with both and plan on doing the same when DC3 arrives.

I'm a fan, for a few reasons. DS1 lost a lot of weight due to my crap boobs and four days after his birth we were back in hospital. I was to give the boob first at every feed and then top up with formula from a bottle while I was pumping. I also had to wake him up to feed every two hours, no matter how long the previous feed had lasted, but that's besides the point. Don't do that. It's hell.

Anyway... when we got home a few days later my boobs were in a better state, having been kicked into action. At that point I breastfed and pumped round the clock, except for about 8pm-midnight, when I would hand him over to my husband. He'd give him the tiny amount of breastmilk I'd managed to pump, then use formula until I'd had a decent lump of sleep. There was no nipple confusion, no issue at all, but I was constantly warned that he might prefer the fast-flowing effortless bottle to my boobs, hence why we didn't do any more than that.

At five weeks or so we cut out bottles altogether, as I still couldn't pump anything near a full feed and he seemed to be having problems with dairy (it either cleared up or wasn't that at all).

Short version: combination feeding is a life-saver, a sanity-saver and gives someone else the chance to bond during feeding, but it probably best used sparingly and tactically so that you can get sleep. And pump! Lots!

Sorry, I droned on for so long I forgot my main point: we will ABSOLUTELY be combination feeding again this time unless DS2 is one of those mythical babies who likes sleeping for a four hour block in the middle of the night. Actually, even if he does do that, DH really wants to do more feeding, so we'll still go for a bottle (pref with breast milk, but whatever) between 8 and midnightish.

I think combination feeding does work but it’s hard to get right, my baby completely refused a bottle so I ended up EBF, my plan was to express one bottle a day but alas that plan went out the window, this was at 3 weeks, she’s never taken a dummy and is only just starting to accept a cup with weaning. Are you planning to use formula in the bottle or expressed breast milk? If it’s formula then you need to think about still emptying your boobs when the baby is having a bottle otherwise you’re going to get really sore and really full and risk engorgement and mastitis which is so hideous. Your supply needs to be well established and things like cluster feeding in the first few weeks really helps this so if your baby appears to be cluster feeding, don’t offer a bottle at that time as it could affect a supply. It you’re planning to express then maybe express a bottle in the evening for the next day whilst the baby is having the EBM from a bottle, it does work but it’s really hard to get right. Wishing you the best of luck with it

I think I’ve had a much easier journey than some of the pp here, so just for balance here is what I did:

I started by EBF and had intended to do this through out but was probably a bit naive about how emotionally and physically draining this would be! At around 6-7 weeks I was producing enough milk to express around one feed a day, so my DP gives this mid-afternoon/early evening and I’m able to have about 4 hours uninterrupted to myself! I can’t tell you how much happier that’s made me.

My DS has had no problems going between breast and bottle (although he does gulp down the bottle milk super fast and needs a lot of winding).

We’re also lucky that at night he sleeps from 9:30 to 2am most nights So I feed him at 2 and usually again at 5am. I’m an early riser, so that’s no bother but a lot of friends save the bottle feed for DP to do at night. I’d personally rather have some free time in the day, but like I said we’re lucky to get so much sleep.

I express using a Hakka, so it really isn’t too difficult and definitely easier/less equipment and expense than other pumps or formula.

But you’ll know your baby best and you body best, hopefully you’ll find what works best for the two of you! Good luck

We ended up doing the reverse to most with our first as she had a tongue tie so was bottle fed with expressed milk before we introduced the breast again at 2 weeks old. OH was able to do night feeds right from the start which was awesome and a lifesaver frankly.

I would recommend making sure you use a slow flow teat and research paced bottle feeding so you don’t make the bottle so easy for them that they then don’t want to feed from you.

I’d also recommend a silicone pump which you can use to collect milk from one breast whilst you feed on the other, it’s effortless and amazing how much you can get out!

I started combination feeding before dd was even 24 hours old!
She was born at 2am and by 11pm she was screaming for food, had been on the breast for a good solid hour and I hadn't slept in almost 48 hours, so I have her 1 of the little pre made formula bottles with the sterilised teat, and once she was full, she fell straight to sleep for a couple of hours.

We continued to combination feed until she was 4 months, when I then chose to formula feed full time.

We've never had any issues with nipple confusion or DD rejecting boob or bottle in favour of the other

Should have said Haakaa, not Hakka! It’s a silicon pump as a pp mentioned

Forgot to add, she has always been a good sleeper too.
She was breast fed on demand, but had formula as her midnight feed and first morning feed. The others were all breast (including 1 feed around 3/4am) and she settled into her own feed routine early on, which we took from her lead.
Since she has been on formula, she has never cried for a feed, will happily feed to sleep when she's tired or feed and then play if not. (She's now almost 6 months)

I had no choice but to combi feed as my supply was so low ( did everything I could and had private lactation consultants advice throughout) initially I tried to think of the formula I had to give as medicine to help weight gain as it was hard for me to accept and I felt guilty like i was a failure! Baby had top ups for first few weeks of formula and any tiny wee bit I could express. Had a few weeks of very little too ups maybe 1 bottle a day and then by 5 months was having more as weight gain was still a big issue- off the chart low , at that stage I think I had certain times a day which were bottles and breastfeeding the rest, never did a bottle at night as was so much faff but looking back would be nice for partner to be able to help at night! Breastfeeding caused me so so much stress and anxiety Iv vowed This time round I will be more relaxed ( I hope!) all being well with birth I will start breaStfeeding and have a supply of donated expressed milk from a relative to give baby if needed as well as formula, my last baby had no problem going from boob to bottle so hoping same this time. I think it certainly is possible to get into a combi feeding schedule if that’s want you want as your milk will be supply and demand ! Good luck and hope all goes well !

My baby is 3 weeks and I've just started some top up feeds. He has been spending so long feeding and then falling asleep but waking up quickly still hungry so I decided to give a little bit of formula to help settle him. Not something I want to continue long term but I will if I think he needs a bit extra and my nipples can't take anymore!

Yip! I made a conscious decision to give her formula as soon possible because I hated expressing with my eldest DD and didn't do it at all 2nd time around.
I never ever had a problem with my supply. Came in totally normally and never had any problems with nipple confusion either.

I didn’t want to combi feed, but midwives gave my son formula (without my consent) from a syringe on the 2nd night.
We were readmitted on Day 8 due to my little ones weight loss. So had to do formula, breast, expresses breast from then onwards.
Ideally I wouldn’t have introduced it quite so early as I think it impacted my milk supply. I’d recommend waiting a little longer, but see what works for you once they’re here.
Breastfeeding is hard, but so worthwhile in the long run xxx