Preparing for mixed feeding - advice on bottles etc & what do we need?

[SCDfan99]

Total novice here & confused by how complicated the information on feeding is

I am due mid-January with 3rd baby - having planned C section. I am hoping to breast-feed but have disability which means going without sleep will be hard & i will need help from DH who has 6 weeks off work after birth

I am so confused about how to go about mixed feeding - ie breast feeding some but supplementing with formula & allowing DH to give bottle at night. I read some info that says this is impossible due to supply etc, but then see others doing this & i know night nurses use this technique to so wondering if there is info out there on how to prepare

Also - neither of us ever been around babies & know nothing about sterilising/mixing bottles/formula etc - what do we need? recommendations on steriliser? formula? how many bottles etc

thanks!

Hiya, no advice but came on here to say I am planning on doing the same. I am having a planned c-section too and plan on mixed feeding but have no clue. I exclusively breastfed my now DD4 for 1 year but breastfeeding definitely contributed to postnatal depression but by the time I tried to give her a bottle by 3 months, she refused a bottle and I was stuck breastfeeding and I couldn't pump either (saw a lactation consultant) so had a baby constantly glued to me which I found tiring and overwhelming.

@thingymaboob

Hiya, no advice but came on here to say I am planning on doing the same. I am having a planned c-section too and plan on mixed feeding but have no clue. I exclusively breastfed my now DD4 for 1 year but breastfeeding definitely contributed to postnatal depression but by the time I tried to give her a bottle by 3 months, she refused a bottle and I was stuck breastfeeding and I couldn't pump either (saw a lactation consultant) so had a baby constantly glued to me which I found tiring and overwhelming.

i keep thinking surely there is some advice out there on this!! i'm sorry you had a tough time last time with breastfeeding

I have a 3 week old baby, I've been giving a formula bottle to at night since two weeks leading up to two formula bottles. So from 3 am to 8/10pm I breastfeed.
Hopefully it's not affecting my supply, I'm pumping though not consistently. Good luck with it

There's a book called 'Mixed Up' written by a lactation consultant which is a guide to mixed feeding. It's informative and it does go through a few different ways of doing it. Might be useful. I BF both my babies til 6 weeks (although did occasional bottles of EBM from 2 weeks) and combi-fed thereafter but with my first the combi-feeding was part of a plan to wean her fully on to formula, which she was by 12 weeks, and with my 2nd BF is going better and he only has a small formula top-up 1-3 times a week when I'm unable to pump enough for a bottle as DH does 3 bottles a week in the night for me to sleep more. I do think if there's any way you could EBF for a few weeks initially that would really help with supply, I can see that it could be difficult to maintain supply if combi feeding right from the start but of course some people do.

My DS is nearly 1 and been mixed fed since about 4/5 months.

Firstly, look into formulas you'd like them to have. Majority of well known brands have the same ingredients. I use kendamil which is made in England and I've never had any issues. Bottles you'll find the ones that work best for you and baby. MAM anti colic is what I use.

You will be told to wait until 6 weeks of breastfeeding before introducing a bottle to establish supply. I breastfed mostly up until
4 months. He had a bottle occasionally but just be aware that you may struggle with milk supply if you do use a bottle before that. You might not but it's something to think of. Lots of skin to skin and putting baby to the breast as much as you can will help.

I planned to exclusively breastfeed but it took almost a week for my milk to come in due to losing a lot of blood during my c-section. We ended up supplementing our baby with formula. Luckily we took some of the pre-mixed bottles with us to hospital just in case.

A Tommee Tipee perfect prep machine was an absolute lifesaver, especially in the middle of the night with a screaming hungry baby. We also have the tommee tipee steriliser which has been fab. We found our little one struggled with the Tommee Tipee teats so we have used MAM throughout. MAM bottles are anti-colic but our little one still struggled with it. We found Infacol a lifesaver for her.

I pumped with a MAM pump and tried to breastfeed as much as I could but I found that my supply never got up to what she needed and it dropped to very little around 3 months post delivery.

No one prepares you for the fact that breastfeeding can be bloody hard work - I ended up feeling useless and beat myself up a lot. I had a lot of guilt that she ended up on formula but at nearly 8 months old, she's only just had her first cold/ bug and she is growing beautifully so formula is doing her very well.

We use Aptamil by the way, but as a previous poster said they're all very similar. I honestly can't remember how many bottles she was on to start. I was just like you, had only held nieces and nephews for the briefest time (very awkwardly) before handing them back. The side of the formula container will have a feeding guide, so start there - trial what works for your baby, they will soon let you know if they want more!

Hope this helps! You've got this 💪🏼 x

Having just had a c section and needed to give topups of formula for the first couple of weeks, I would suggest looking at what brands are easily accessible to you. Our shitty provincial high street has a boots that only manages to consistently stock aptamil and Tommie tippee closer to nature, so that is what DD has had as I can’t drive for a while yet and have had a limited walking range! (She’s been absolutely fine on these)

I’d say don’t set yourself up for an obscure formula or bottle brand that you can’t just nip out for, unless you are a hyper-organised never runs out of anything type of person!

thanks so much everyone - super helpful!

@Tigerlily08

I planned to exclusively breastfeed but it took almost a week for my milk to come in due to losing a lot of blood during my c-section. We ended up supplementing our baby with formula. Luckily we took some of the pre-mixed bottles with us to hospital just in case.

A Tommee Tipee perfect prep machine was an absolute lifesaver, especially in the middle of the night with a screaming hungry baby. We also have the tommee tipee steriliser which has been fab. We found our little one struggled with the Tommee Tipee teats so we have used MAM throughout. MAM bottles are anti-colic but our little one still struggled with it. We found Infacol a lifesaver for her.

I pumped with a MAM pump and tried to breastfeed as much as I could but I found that my supply never got up to what she needed and it dropped to very little around 3 months post delivery.

No one prepares you for the fact that breastfeeding can be bloody hard work - I ended up feeling useless and beat myself up a lot. I had a lot of guilt that she ended up on formula but at nearly 8 months old, she's only just had her first cold/ bug and she is growing beautifully so formula is doing her very well.

We use Aptamil by the way, but as a previous poster said they're all very similar. I honestly can't remember how many bottles she was on to start. I was just like you, had only held nieces and nephews for the briefest time (very awkwardly) before handing them back. The side of the formula container will have a feeding guide, so start there - trial what works for your baby, they will soon let you know if they want more!

Hope this helps! You've got this 💪🏼 x

so glad to hear you found a way that worked for you!!

any chance you can explain to a total novice what the perfect prep machine does? thanks!

Perfect prep makes a bottle up in 45 seconds. Put formula in it puts a hot shot of hot water in. You shake bottle back on stand and cool sterilised water to cool bottle down to temp suitable for feeding. Think coffee machine for babies

As @Whatelsecouldibecalled said!

We went a couple of days without and my god it was a pain in the arse! Having to wait for the formula to cool enough to be drinkable feels like the longest wait ever when they're screaming hungry 😫 x