Your questions on breast, bottle and mixed feeding have been answered by MAM's expert midwife, Katie Hilton

[BellaMumsnet]

Whether you’re a first time parent or have had babies before, feeding newborns and infants can raise a host of questions. Katie Hilton, MAM’s expert midwife and nurse, is here to help you find answers.

Katie is a dual qualified nurse, midwife and health visitor. Her experience has been mainly in labour delivery, postnatal and public/family health settings in hospitals and in the community. She has experience working with families in the UK, North America and Asia. Her specialist areas include infant feeding, sleep and child development. She currently practises independently as a midwife and health visitor and provides specialist advice to parents and families on behalf of the parenting press and nursery industry brands.

Here’s what MAM has to say: “Here at MAM we believe in supporting every mum on their feeding journey, whichever journey they choose. We want mums to join us in supporting each other, whether you opted for breast, bottle, or combination feeding, MAM has a solution to help parents feel confident and babies feel good. We know lots of parents end up opting for combination feeding - ie using a combination of breast and bottle feeding, whether with breastmilk or formula milk - and this can be a tricky thing to get good advice on, so if you've got any combi-feeding questions we'd love to hear them. Any question or experience shared could go on to help another mum out there.”

So whatever your question about feeding babies, if you'd like some advice please post your questions on this thread for Katie to answer. Katie will be back between the 25th January and the 5th February to answer your questions.

All who share a question on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky Mumsnet user will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

Completely agree with the above - surely there is someone unbiased that MN could bring in for Q&A instead?

There is a blinding conflict of interest here

FFS

@JassMumoftwo funny how you've only ever posted 5 times on MN and 3 of those posts have been to tell everyone how great Kendamil is

MNHQ this is embarrassingly obvious as a conflict of interest for Katie Hilton and appears to be attracting more Kendamil "influencers" which seems to be their preferred marketing strategy. Not cool.

Is supporting combination feeding not the same thing as undermining breastfeeding?

I'm struggling to get my five month old to take any kind of milk from a bottle. So far he's been EBF. Are there any tips you can share as to how best to encourage him to take a bottle? Time of day, person, trying when he's really hungry or not too hungry etc. I don't know what to do for the best. I'm just aiming for one bottle a day. Thanks

This is so disappointing. An "expert" who is being paid by a bottle company (and is also on the payroll of a formula company) here to give unbiased advice on infant feeding? Yeah right

Please remember that if you require unbiased, evidence based, infant feeding information you can always call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212 even before your baby is born!

Also, First Steps Nutrition Trust provide excellent information on feeding choices (breast, bottle and combi) plus unbiased information on formula brands and types as well as branded weaning foods.

Kellymom is a fantastic website. It’s American so has a lot of unbiased support for expressing and increasing supply if anyone would benefit from that.

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/charitable-objectives/

More great comprehensive advice and support here.

Im a qualified breastfeeding counsellor (volunteer). I would happily do a web talk/chat for free. Including using formula and mix feeding.

I bet there are dozens of other women like me that would happily provide this sort of thing for free.

What is the most common problem with breastfeeding?
Is it physical barriers (with mum and baby learning, such as positioning) or are there behaviours that help more? (eg timing, routines)

[FTM due in a few weeks, hoping to BF]

My sister is due to be induced having twins on Sunday, and already has a 3yo who she exclusively breastfed until 2yo. She is considering whether to mix feed the twins. The advice is always to establish breastfeeding first then introduce a bottle, so you often hear about exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6wks. I wondered if the same applies for twins?

My own experience of trying to introduce a bottle later is that my Dd then refused a bottle. Sleep deprivation was destroying me and I ended up switching to formula cold turkey at 5m after a really bad stomach bug dried my milk up. It was very stressful. With my second child ds, I wanted to mix feed in hope of keeping up bf longer. I introduced a bottle earlier, at 3wks, but went too far the other way and ended up switching to formula at 4 or 5wks. So in my personal experience mixed feeding is a hard thing to achieve. I wish there was more advice on how to achieve it.

@Indecisivelurcher "So in my personal experience mixed feeding is a hard thing to achieve. I wish there was more advice on how to achieve it."

And I think this is a very common experience. Part of the problem is that mixed feeding covers such a broad spectrum. For some families it may mean one bottle given at bedtime and for others formula makes up the vast proportion of baby's nutrition with breast given on top. Breastfeeding counsellors will always chat through your options and give you evidenced based information to allow you to decide what is best for you and your family. These options do include the risks of mixed feeding.

Katie - With my first there was a lot of pressure to try and EBF for the first few (very hard) weeks. I eventually settled on combi feeding for a few months before switching to formula. What is your opinion/advice for combi feeding right from the start? What would an ideal ratio of breast milk vs formula be right at the start in order to maintain a supply? Do you think encouraging combi feeding would ultimately help more women breastfeed for longer (as in it takes some of the pressure off). Thanks!

Why do you think breastfeeding rates are so low in the UK?
We are one of the worst countries in the world which is shocking and sad in equal measure.

Hi, I did a mix of breast, pumping and formula for the first 6 weeks with baby 1 but it was always so painful to do boobs. I’m pregnant a gain and want to try. Any advice of the best and pain green way to do this? My first also loved the mam dummies and bottles. The dummies were super easy to sterilise when in a hurry and also the clips that attach them are so cute!

I am due next week and i plan on breast feeding but was wondering how long I should wait before introducing a bottle. I want to introduce a bottle do his dad can do the nightime feed.

Do I need to buy new bottles for baby number 2 or can I reuse?

I am first time mum, due in June. I want to try breast fed and express for bottle feeding, I have been told to solely breast fed for 5 weeks before using a pump otherwise I won’t produce enough milk. Is this true ? Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Odd/ stupid question perhaps...
It's important to sterilise bottles, pumps etc.
Is there any specific cleaning for boobs? I guess just generally clean is OK, maybe with a wipe first if it's a sweaty day?

Is it OK to use roll on deodorant underarm when breastfeeding?

My baby is 11weeks old and breastfeeds great. During the first couple of weeks he would have maybe one bottle of expressed milk most days given by his dad to allow me a slightly longer sleep in the mornings. Then once paternity leave was over he was just having these bottles of EBM on a weekend morning, so once a week. He always took the bottles happily and I have no problem expressing enough for a feed. But.... this weekend just gone he pint blank refused the bottle! We tried both days and it’s like he has forgotten how to suck from it. It’s not a huge problem as breastfeeding is fine for us, but I did really like having that little lie in and also I’m considering doing some KIT days at work soon. So, any tips for enabling baby to feed from bottle very occasionally gratefully received. Maybe a cup would work better? Would be interested to know if anyone has had similar experience?

Hmmmm why would a formula company want to employ a midwife to talk about all types of feeding I wonder

Very disappointing mumsnet. Mams existence is down to formula, they can't possibly be unbiased.