Combining breast & bottle feeding from birth

[Pheebs234]

Does anyone have experience/good resources for success with implementing both breast & bottle (either pumping or formula) from birth? I have disability which will make it difficult for me to be up at nights doing the feeds alone & then coping on no sleep during day & midwife has suggested husband could do one of the night feeds - but I understand this can be difficult to implement. would love to hear any advice/suggestions

I really recommend getting a Hakka, they're around £13 on amazon. It's basically just a little silicone cup that you can suction on to your other breast while breast feeding and it collects any milk that leaks out during the feed. I usually get 10-30ml per feed and put it in the fridge so by the end of the day there's enough for my husband to give at least one full bottle, from milk that would have just been lost in to my breast pad or clothes. I hate pumping and find this much gentler.

Formula is totally fine too, ours was a neonatal baby so he was on mixed breast and formula the first few days but once I started used the hakka I found it so easy and economical that we stopped needing formula at all. We got a mini fridge for the bedroom to keep things easy at night.

My DH learned how to latch a baby so I didn't have to wake fully for every feed. No need to faff with bottles or pumps, but it is a system better suited to the summer months as you need to sleep topless!

I'm hoping to combine BF with expressing for my partner to do some feeding. Is this possible? Will I be able to express as well as feed? Will it send my supply into overdrive? I figure if some women can bf twins then I should be able to express and feed, but this is my first so no experience of it at all.
But both of us would like to help with bonding between my partner and the baby with her being able to do some feeds.

@Zibidee

I'm hoping to combine BF with expressing for my partner to do some feeding. Is this possible? Will I be able to express as well as feed? Will it send my supply into overdrive? I figure if some women can bf twins then I should be able to express and feed, but this is my first so no experience of it at all. But both of us would like to help with bonding between my partner and the baby with her being able to do some feeds.

Short answer is yes. A pump like a Haakaa will be easiest if it's just the odd bottle.

However I would say don't get too hung up on daddy feeding baby to bond. My husband never fed our daughter (until she was on solids and he fed her food of course) they have a great bond. In the newborn days, while me and toddler napped he had a skin to skin cuddle with her, she usually slept in his arms and he loved it.

I think because my wife is not the biological parent, and she wasn't able to have her own, she wants to be able to do as much as possible from as early as possible. I'm sure they will have a good bond anyway but she wants to do it and I'd prefer not to use formula if we don't have to.

@Zibidee

I think because my wife is not the biological parent, and she wasn't able to have her own, she wants to be able to do as much as possible from as early as possible. I'm sure they will have a good bond anyway but she wants to do it and I'd prefer not to use formula if we don't have to.

Sorry, totally missed the her in your post.

My point still stands though. Express if you can but don't get too hung up on it if it makes life harder. There are loads of ways to bond without feeding.

Haakaa styles make it easier in that you can express while you feed the baby. They are also much easier to clean.

You'll have most milk at night and in the morning so use the Haakaa at this time and you'll have enough for a feed later in the day.

You'll still need to express any missed feeds until supply and baby settle a bit. Then you can replace one feed with a bottle at the same time each day.

All 3 of mine have been mix fed since about a week old. I didn’t express, I just used formula. I started with one night feed at first. It meant that I could get a good chunk of sleep 5-6hrs quite quickly. With one of mine I eventually dropped this feed when she was sleeping better and she went back to being only breast fed and is still feeding at almost 2. The others I gradually increased how many bottles they were having until they were no longer breastfeeding-around 12 months.

I cup fed expressed milk from birth. You don't need bottles. Much quicker sterilising a little hospital grade cup. Cup feeding is better as it is designed to facilitate the kitten lap motion of breastfeeding, as opposed to the spaghetti suck motion of bottle feeding. The baby won't get confused by cup feeding from birth, whereas this is a potential risk of bottle feeding.

You can then take your time learning to latch baby and establish your own pattern of the different types of feeding.