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

Dd2 was exclusively bf. I wanted to introduce a bottle early on so I could have a bit of freedom and a bit of sleep! She had a tongue tie and that was only cut at around 12 weeks, and until then was difficult to feed. So we only tried a bottle at around 4 months old - by this time she just plain refused, whether expressed breast milk or formula. I tried at least three different types of bottles - she just wouldn't take them! So I'd say try and introduce combination feeding earlier than I did to make sure it's successful.

I had a bit of a mare with breastfeeding! With daughter number 1 I gave up after a week and she was straight on the bottle. With my second daughter I did the same. By the time I had number 3 I really wanted to give it ago, unfortunately she was tongue tied and it proved really tough. I combi feed her for a few months until she preferred the bottle.
I did the same with both my boys (yes I've got five lol) but both were tongue tied and even after having it snipped they still never put weight on so I mixed fed them.
The guilt was immense! However they needed to be fed - that is the main thing and they are happy and healthy now.
Combi feeding gives the best of both worlds as Dad (and Nans can help out) and you still get that bond with you baby

i only fed my baby from the bottle

it was too painful to breastfeed and my baby won't latch on so i ended up feeding my baby formula.

i did both, breast fed and bottle fed. i had no problems.

I successfully mix fed my second child for 5 months and used MAM bottles from day 1 with him. With my first I was very uncertain, struggled on with exclusive bf for 7 weeks as my DC’s weight plummeted then tried to mix feed (and had rubbish bottles!) and ended up with just formula a fortnight later.
With DC2 I was prepared. I had MAM bottles which were fab and definitely a better shape. And we gave a bottle feed every evening. Meant I knew he had a full tummy and I could go straight to bed after pumping and get some sleep before the night feeds began. As time wore on, and by 5 months, he breastfed at night and had bottle feeds in the middle of the day. It felt like a great combination for us.

My child wouldn't latch and was given formula in the NICU. I expressed for ages and supplemented whenever I needed to.

I have an 11 week old and combination feed; my advice is to always put baby to the breast first before offering a bottle. This helps keep supply up, and I also liked to express to help keep that supply up too

Our first child was 3 weeks premature. We had lots of issues with BF'ing he would latch but never seemed to get enough from me. The midwives told me to try and express some milk but it just didn't seem to work - at one point I was using an industrial hospital pump for over an hour and only getting 20ml of breastmilk in total from both boobs. He kept losing weight and after 2 days of constant struggling and crying (me not him) my husband and I decided to top him up with a bottle - it was the best decision we ever made. I felt guilty like I had failed him but we had tried and tried and tried and it was just my boobs weren't producing enough milk.

With our daughter I said I wasn't going to even try and BF her after my previous struggle, I couldn't bear the feeling of letting another baby down if I could feed them. Eventually I decided to at least try and the moment she had her first newborn feed I could feel it was a totally different experience, I could actually feel the milk coming down into my nipples, something I never experienced when I had our son.

It's important to remember that not everyone can breastfeed and please don't feel bad or like a failure if you are one of those people. If you are finding it difficult and it's becoming super stressful there is no shame or harm in topping your baby up with some formula to ensure they are getting the amount they need to flourish. You don't even need to fully move over to formula you can do part and part feeding if you still want them to get the goodness of breastmilk.

Having a baby is a stressful, emotional time enough without additional worry about breastfeeding. There are other options and if you do struggle talk to your partner and healthcare professionals and get assistance and advice. Do what is best for you and don't let anyone make you feel that's a bad thing to do.

I really wanted to breastfeed both my children but I have inverted nipples and really struggleed to get a good latch with both children. I gave up and bottle/formula fed with my first but as I was prepared with more information on my second I tried harder using nipple shields and in the end got an electric breast pump and expressed. At first it was ok because I really wanted to make sure I have my son breast milk but in the end I realised that I couldn’t express, then feed on demand all the time. I needed to have some time to rest and just spend with my baby so I decided to use some formula as well. It worked well for a while but ultimately I decided to move to formula full time as I didn’t feel that there was a massive benefit to continue, I want able to get that bond by breast feeding it was all bottle so instead of adding to my worry and stress I just let it go and moved on. I wouldn’t ever rule out breast feeding I just think you have to go with your own instincts and do what is right for you and your baby as opposed to what society dictates.

I combination fed my first from 6 weeks when I had a really bad case of tonsillitus. I found my days suddenly became calmer as my daughter wanted fed every 40 minutes for 20 mins during the day. When I was pregnant with my second I decided to combi feed from the start it it went si smoothly, I felt better doing both and felt I could still give my eldest the one on one time she also desperately needed!

dd3 was combination fed from when she was a few weeks old, until around her second birthday. She has Down's Syndrome and struggled to breastfeed - she just got too tired. Feeding from a bottle was a bit easier for her, so I started off by expressing milk. She still couldn't feed enough and lost weight, so was prescribed high calorie formula. We mixed the formula (which came in a liquid form) with breastmilk. I desperately wanted to express as children with DS tend to have compromised immune response and I wanted her to have the immune benefits of my milk. I also wanted to breastfeed directly as much as possible as we were told this would help her develop muscle tone in her mouth, which could be important for speech later on.

Our health visitor, the paediatric consultants & the dietitian were all very supportive but didn't really have enough experience about lactation to help with the breastfeeding part, so we were lucky to find a brilliant lactation consultant. It took a village! And feeding used to take up most of the day, as I was either expressing or feeding most of the time. But, she started to put on weight, and is a happy and healthy little cat now.

Mixed feeding worked for me as it meant that my baby and I weren't chained together 24/7. I thought that my husband bottle feeding baby was good for their bonding.

What has your experience of combination feeding been, and what led to your decision to combination feed?
I started off with exclusively breast feeding but started to giving him formula top up as he was not gaining weight much. My experience has been good so far. He is still mostly in breast feeding but never had any issues with formula.
Do some styles of bottle work best for your baby when combi feeding?
I tried two different brands and he seems to be comfortable in one of them.
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?
Initially I would give him one ounce of formula a day and continued with mainly breastfeeding. Later on I increased the formula so he did not have any nipple confusion and my supply did not decrease.

Mixed feeding was an absolute life saver for me. Neither DC could latch properly, DC2 was diagnosed with severe tongue, and in hindsight I think DC1 had one that was missed. DC1 was losing weight, so we had to top up with formula and DC2 mangled my nipples so badly in the first 48 hours, the breastfeedong clinic advised me to stop feeding and express for a couple of days to let them heal. Both DC only ever latched with a nipple shield and this could be why they never showed any signs of nipple confusion and because they had formula from early on, they had no difficulty switching between that and breastmilk.

We ended up sticking with a couple of bottle feeds a day for our convenience and I ended up breastfeeding to some degree for over a year with both, which there is no way I would have managed if exclusively BF.

Tongue tie!

Combi fed my first die to lack of understanding and pressure from family.

Second was a purist and would never take a bottle.

Third I decided not to pump early on and happily gave a carton of formula if I was unavailable to breast feed.

Always used mams bottles. Advice to friends is combi feeding off you are pumping is hard work and more work. Don’t feel bad giving formula if you need to but be aware of impact on milk supply. Worse ones to drop are the late evening and nighttime feeds

O waited about 5 months before trying to combination feed my daughter. It was very difficult to get her to drink from a bottle and took about 6weeks to get it established. I really wish id done it sooner and would definitely do it sooner if I had another child. I loved combination feeding

Breastfed till they were 6 months and then as they got a bit older decided to express so they could some time in daddys lap. It was a tricky transition put lots of perseverance helped and keeping it consistent. Didn't enjoy the expressing tbh, but I got used to it. Looking bk I would definitely do it all again.

I exclusively breastfed my first 3 but with my 4th. He just didn’t seem to like it that much so we tried a bottle and he loved it. I carried on breastfeeding but only at night when he was more calm. He was too nosey in the day.

We tried combination feeding due to DS's suspected allergies (reacting to the proteins coming through in my milk). We were prescribed Neocate, so I expressed milk and we worked on weaning him off me by introducing bottles of breast milk, then gradually increasing the ratio of Neocate:breast milk until he was finally fully FF after about 2 weeks.

Took the pressure off me completely so was very helpful for us to try.

It made a big difference not having to do all the feeding myself but it took a while fro him to get used to it, I nearly gave up at one point but I'm glad we kept going.

Thanks all for your comments! The winner of the prize draw is @TheCatServant

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