Mumsnet users share their combination feeding experience and tips with MAM

[JustineBMumsnet]

While some MNers find breastfeeding as easy as falling off a log, others say it can be a big challenge, especially in the early days. One MNHQ survey showed that 53% of MNers were exclusively breastfeeding at six weeks (itself lots more than the national average), and 19% at six months. Whether sticking exclusively with breastmilk or not, it seems that lots of MNers discover that combination feeding as a solution that works for them.

With that in mind, MAM would like to hear from those who are combination feeding or have done so in the past.

Here’s what MAM has to say: “Here at MAM we believe in supporting every parent on their feeding journey, whichever journey they end up taking. We believe in parents supporting each other, too. Whether you breastfeed, bottlefeed, or use a combination of the two, MAM wants parents to feel confident and babies to feel good. Today we want to open up a discussion about combination feeding, which means feeding bottles of expressed breastmilk or formula milk to your baby alongside breastfeeding. There’s very little information out there on combination feeding, so if you know the ropes, or would like to share your story, we want to hear from you. Every drop of wisdom could go on to help another parent out there.”

What has your experience of combination feeding been, and what led to your decision to combination feed? Do some styles of bottle work best for your baby when combi feeding? Perhaps you have tips on encouraging your baby to continue to latch on to the nipple once they’re used to a bottle? Or for getting them to accept the occasional bottle?

Whatever your experience or tips, share them below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

My twins were born via emcs and taken straight to NICU. They only had IV nutrition at first, then had colostrum which I expressed via tube. I wasn’t able to try to latch them until about 10 days in and they never managed it successfully but kept trying. I pumped every 2 hours until they were 7 months old, but by 8 weeks old I couldn’t get them to latch at all.

I wish there were more information about combination feeding out there - I think a lot more babies would get breastmilk for longer if there were.

I had no choice but to combie feed when my daughter was 4 months old. My supply sadly reduced to a sudden medical issue with both of my breasts, I had to have lots of scans and tests. I was very stressed and my supply reduced. I was fully supported by my local breastfeeding specialist at a local childrens centre, I changed my diet through my own research and I cooked all of my meals and snacks from scratch, I managed to up my supply a little more and top up with formula. I fed my daughter this way until she was 17 months old. She is now a happy, healthy, tall, strong and bright 3 year old with no allergies or intolerances. There is a huge stigma attached to combi feeding, that it's because your lazy and it will create all sorts of digestion issues. Although my feeding journey started through stress it ended on happiness for both of us, I will do it again if I have to and this time I will feel no shame!

With both my boys, they have been introduced to a bottle really early on - at a few days old. First was unintentional but he had jaundice and needed top ups but he was able to take any teat, breast, dummy, anything. He then happily dropped his bottle in replace of a beaker before he turned one. Because he combi fed so well, we decided to do the same for second DS and so far he has been great at taking either bottle or breast too.

We combination fed from birth as DD wouldn't latch on me till about 4 weeks. We were on a feeding plan to feed every 3hrs.

Our DD was the only one out of our peers who had no problem taking a bottle and boob. Many of my mum-friends ended up stuck breastfeeding when they would have happily combi fed because of babies who wouldn't take a bottle at all and they spent a fortune trying different bottles.

Despite the challenge we had, if we have another baby I would 100% combi feed from birth and ignore the advice to keep off the bottle till 6 weeks.

It was absolutely exhausting when I was expressing: each feed + expressing would take 1-2 hours, then it would be another hour till the next feed was due all around the clock for 8 weeks. But it was great that my husband could do the odd feed and allow me a few hours sleep so it balanced out.

1st DC was exclusively BF for 9 months then FF with MAM bottles (all others were refused).
DC2 was tongue tied and had trouble BF so was mix fed from 3 days old with MAM bottles, managed to BF for 18 months though.
DC3 BF for 6 weeks then mix fed from 18month. Every baby is different, and family dynamics change with each baby.

With my first child, I had a very traumatic birth and was just exhausted. I was breastfeeding and trying to express which just wasn’t happening! I tried to introduce bottles and formula but again, dd just refused. It was very difficult but looking back I do think if I’d persevered it may have happened. Sorry this isn’t a success story!

I combi fed my DS from the word go. He took to MAM bottles straight away which was fantastic as it gave my partner chance to bond and feed him. DS has always been a very hungry baby. We have him a bottle every night before putting him down and it really helped him sleep a bit better.

Because he was such a hungry baby some days I felt like he was constantly latched on. Days like this were hard until my partner got home then he'd take him for a bit and feed him.

We literally started off with one bottle at night then just progressed from there. It also helped days out as we are very outdoorsy and it meant DS could be given a bottle in the warmth of his push-chair rather than me having to try and BF in the wind and cold.

I combination feed daily and have done since DD was about three days old - sadly I had a return to hospital and do I started her on formula as I couldn't pump during that time. I actually use MAM bottles too for formula as I find the flow and nipple isn't too fast (an ongoing issue with mixed feeding as the milk comes out the bottle much easier and I think she prefers it). I have tried pumping to give her via bottles but I struggled to find a suitable pump.

Top tips are to persevere - I had real trouble establishing enough milk to make it a viable option but have really pushed to get DD as much breast milk as possible. And to enjoy it - easier said than done but I love knowing that when DD is having a difficult time or is upset that nursing her soothes her - even if she is getting most nutrients from formula. And don't stress - fed is best at the end of the day.

I just didn't have enough breast milk to keep mine fed enough. I was stuck in an era of 'breast is best' and 'of course your body can provide all your baby needs'.
My daughter was very skinny before the health visitor reluctantly said to introduce a bottle to top her up.
After that she was happy with both and didn't refuse either thankfully.

I combination fed DD from about 6 months. Plan had always been to combination feed but I think I left it too long for her. It made it really stressful trying to get her to take a bottle. In the end she did and it was fine but it tools months. If I had another child and I wanted to combination feed I would do so earlier.

I had to combi feed my first DD, I had hellp syndrome so was very ill and she was tiny born at 37weeks (5lb).She didn't have the energy to breastfeed so we had to top up her attempts to keep her weight up. We had to wake her every 3 hours day and night to do this, until 4 weeks when we went every 4hras at night and 3 during the day. I found a lactation specialist at that time and she got me to fully breastfed her from about 6 weeks.

It nearly broke me doing both but I had very little advice from anyone until 6 weeks.

I’m a first time mum and I really struggled with breastfeeding to begin with, it was agony! I felt robbed that it hadn’t come naturally to me, nobody told me it could be so tough. I struggled on for the first month and ended up with mastitis, I didn’t think I would be able to continue breastfeeding. Then my friend popped round with a breast pump and my mum brought me some bottles, formula and a steriliser, and I reached a turning point, it was such a relief! I fed my baby formula and expressed twice a day for the next month, until my body had healed, then I tried breastfeeding again and fortunately my baby went straight back to breastfeeding, except this time it was painless! We used the mam self sterilising bottles and they were brilliant, still use them now if I have to express milk for whatever reason. I don’t know why I suffered on for so long, when I should have combination fed from the beginning, it would have taken a lot of the pressure off. Fed is best!

I used the Mam nipple shields when bf my son, this helped enormously as when I gave him the teat of the mam bottle he didn't react any differently to it, he just suckled as normal. That was great as I could swap breast for bottle and back again with no 'nipple confusion'.
I got the mam breast pump too which I found excellent for expressing at a variable speed and strength depending on tenderness, fullness etc. Meant I could pour bmilk into the formula feed ti give it a boost. The mam anti colic bottles were a good job too, I've now moved my son on to the bigger 12oz bottles now but I wish they came as anti colic (instead they are just normal solid moulded bottles) as he's still very windy when feeding.

My first took to combination really quickly
meaning dh could help with night feeds. My second was having none of it, she refused a bottle completely. They're all different.

I breastfed my son for 7 weeks before switching to formula as he wasn't gaining weight and I was miserable.

I'm now nearly 8 weeks into breastfeeding my daughter and it's going well this time. She wasn't gaining well at first so we topped up with formula for one feed when I went to bed, to give me a break. It lasted about 2 weeks because my daughter wouldn't finish the bottle and then wanted to feed from me afterwards anyway, and we didn't find that she was sleeping for any longer. So we went back to ebf as I wasn't getting a break anyway! I agree that there's just not the information out there for combination feeding and I was so worried about when to time the feed/how much to give without damaging my supply, and it caused a lot of worry. The breastfeeding sites like la lèche leave and Kellymom lead you to believe it'll be the beginning of the end, so I was surprised that it made no difference to supply when I stopped the top up.

I'm now pumping a little in the mornings using a haakaa pump (they're so good, I really recommend them for those like me who don't get on with electric pumps) to build up a little stash, in the hope that we'll successfully get her on the occasional bottle when she's older.

Slightly off topic but I tried a few nipple shields in the early days when I was in tears with the pain and close to giving up (I only didn't because the local shops were shut on the worse day!), and the MAM ones were the only type my daughter would accept. It saved breastfeeding for me - it both gave my nipples a break and seemed to teach baby to open her mouth wider and correct her latch. Eternally grateful!

I switched to combination feeding a couple of weeks ago on my midwifes advice because DD was losing weight.

It’s taken the pressure off and saved my sanity so far! DD’s more chilled too because she’s fuller. I bf the majority of the time and top up with either pumped milk or formula, depending if I’ve pumped enough that day but usually have a break for one of the evening feeds and give just the bottle.

My DD hasn’t had any issue so far switching between breast and bottle so I’m hoping that continues as she gets older.

And if anyone from MAM reads this, thank you for the self sterilise feature on your bottles, it’s been a life saver!

We combi fed from the start, as my little jaundiced baby needed every drop and I wasn't producing enough.
The next trouble was tongue tie, and I found breast feeding incredibly painful, particularly on one side. Thrush made matters worse.
Throughout it all it was a relief to be able to use a bottle when needed, usually first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
We tried long teats and short/wide teats and he took to both. I didn't know you could get self sterilising bottles! That would have been helpful.
My advice would be to pay attention to what your baby is trying to communicate and never ever just push the bottle into his mouth. Feeding needs to be a two way street.

We were slightly pushed into combi feeding by the midwives as DD had lost a lot of weight. I did try expressing but nothing really came out despite trying for ages. DD had a severe posterior tongue tie which was diagnosed at three weeks and made it so much easier after once snipped. Possibly we could have breastfed from the beginning if it had been sorted earlier.

We had three months where I would breastfeed DD and then she would have a top up of formula after each feed. She would then have one bottle in the evening which DH could do.

At three months old she went off breastfeeding and loved her bottle. Since I had to go back to work at 4 months then the consultant told me that it wasn't worth forcing the issue and just to go bottle fed.

If I had my time again I would have done a few things differently...

1. Pace fed DD her bottle so it wasn't so quick a meal
2. Woke her up in the night to feed, she is an amazing sleeper but obviously meant we only got two feeds in during the night.
3. Not done a bottle after every feed but kept a couple of larger bottles for either side of the day.
4. Bought the Dr. Brown bottles earlier as they were so much better than the Tomee Tippee ones.

I didn't do this myself but friends have had success with it in the early days but then switched fully to formula.

I combo fed my son for the first few weeks. I actually used MAM bottles as after much research (first child 🤣) we found it was meant to be as close to breast as you could get and anti colic. I EBF for a week and then started pumping so my partner could bond with the baby over deeds.

He really enjoyed feeding the baby and to this day always likes to do the night time feed and book in bed. I feel so grateful that we got a few days skin to skin bonding whilst I EBF but to me I swapped so that my partner could also have that connection.

I introduced formula for evening feeds and with the MAM bottles baby took to it straight away and now he is FF all the time at 4 months. I didn’t use nipple shields but I have heard from friends this helps if you’re wanting to combi feed as baby doesn’t struggle as much between shields and teats x

I had a horrible experience with my first baby. She was slow to feed and only did so for a minute or so at a time. The visiting MW said she wasn't putting on weight fast enough, my BF was 'totally inadequate' and I should 'top up' There was no attempt to give help with BF.
I went out and got all the bottle feeding equipment and decided I would give up BF.
That was a sad shopping trip.
However I did persevere and put her to the breast every time before her bottle. Another MW or HV recommended nipple shields to help DD latch on and slowly but surely the BF got easier and more successful until the FF was stopped.

Second baby I was sad but not surprised to be told to top up again although she was a great feeder.

Third baby I was determined to BF exclusively but that didn't happen as she agin was a terrible feeder and I had breast pain which made BF hell.

So my advice would be
Investigate any problems your baby has feeding. Read up, post on MN and firmly ask for health professionals to help.
Armed with this knowledge fully involve yourself in any decision to combination feed.
Do not feel guilty! Combination feeding can work really well and has some advantages. Make it a positive decision.
Accentuate the positive-partners can give FF to give you a break, get more involved and do some night feeds.
Try nipple shields if your baby is fussing at the breast. Or anything else that works for you.

I combi fed until a breast abscess wrecked everything. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced but before that combination feeding was ok. Milk came in surprisingly early and DP at the same loved having a role in being able to feed DD during the night while I got at least a few hours sleep.

I combi fed with my first as I was paranoid about his weight gain as he was 8.5 weeks early. We started just giving a bottle at night so my husband could do a feed and I could have a head start of sleep! Then because I was still worried about weight gain I added another bottle so I knew how much milk he was having. It was reassuring knowing he was definitely getting a certain amount of fuel into him but I also feel that it I was reassured more I probably would have continued just breastfeeding for longer. With my second I exclusively breast fed until he was nearly three as j was much more confident.

I was quite ill after having DS1 and ended up having to give him the odd bottle feed, quite early on, after having half a day of not being able to touch him due to investigations I was having. It took me a long time to fully recover and DS1 was, for reasons we didn't discover until he was a few years old, a very slow feeder and never did have a good latch (even before that first bottle)

So, we bottle fed twice a day, maybe a third time if we were out all day, and I persisted with breastfeeding the rest of the time, even though it was often painful. We actually made it to 18 months before he bit me very hard and we stopped. He stopped having formula at about a year old because he didn't need that any more as he was eating pretty well and still getting supplementary breastmilk. He'd also had a few issues with lactose intolerance after a stomach bug which, naturally would put him off if he got tummy ache from it.

We used fairly bog standard bottles and teats because there wasn't all that much choice, 16 years ago.

My baby had a posterior tongue tie that wasn’t found by any HCP (because they didn’t think to check...) despite my bruised nipples and her inability to latch properly. I started to express and bottle feed for a few days while we waited for the tongue tie to be snipped, and once we had paid privately to speed the process up I stopped combi feeding (such a faff) and went back to exclusively breastfeeding, which we are still doing now with the introduction of foods at 6m!