Combining Breast & Fomula Feeding

Hi Girls,

Just looking for some advice from anyone who has successfully combined breast and formula feeding.

My DS has been exclusivly breast fed from birth, having EBM when I'm at work 3 days a week. Whilst at work I've been expressing about 180ml which is then used for DS feed the following day.

I also used to pump at night as DS has sleept through from 6 weeks. However in the last month I've found it increasingly hard to get more milk when expressing. Therefore our supply of frozen EBM has dropped and we no longer have a "buffer" of milk. We've tried increasing our feeds, dreamfeeding and basically popping my boob in his mouth anytime his awake, using warm compress and massaging when expressing however nothing seems to increase the amount I can get whilst pumping.

Myself and DP are weighing up are options at the moment, eg; lactation cookies, medication to boost supply. However If this is usuccessful we're thinking of substituting those 3 feeds a week with formula.

Has anyone sucessfully done this before? what problems did you face? Can you recommend a specific brand of formula?

Any info or tips you can give would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance everyone

xx

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I haven't done this but I know many women who FF part time. My aunty went back to work full time when her son was 8 weeks old and he was FF all day during the week but BF overnight and on weekends. I would think by this stage you have established a good supply so missing one feed a day for a few days a week wouldn't muck up things too much... but I'm not an expert so would hate to tell you it's okay for sure and then it's not. I guess the thing to be aware of is most babies have a growth spurt around 4 months and many women claim they "dry up" at this point, but in actual fact the baby just needs to feed more often and boost your supply up to another level. If you are mindful of this and feed on demand when with your son I'm sure you would be fine.

I do know many babies who refuse formula so if you are thinking you'll get to a point where you HAVE to use it then perhaps try and start introducing it slowly to get your son used to the taste and ready for the switch.

I had to top up dd1 with formula after breastfeeding to keep her weight up, as she was never a strong sucker, I then had enough ebm to feed for a while but like you it dropped off. She was fine having formula if I needed her to as she was used to having both bf or a bottle.

I think you would have more problems if your ds had never had a bottle before. Maybe try ebm or a bf then give a bottle to see how he goes. Dont feel bad about it, It's a better solution than having to give up bfing all together.

Why don't you pop into the expressing threads and see if you can get more tips on helping you to express? If you could give us some more info on how much he's drinking during the day when you aren't there, it might give us an idea of how much of a shortfall you have too. Remember, after six months you will also be able to supplement his diet with some solid food, so you might find that helps with his needs during the day.

I did it. I breast feed tank exclusively until approx 4 months. I to use to express for night time feeds but my supply seemed to dwindle down at night as he had began sleeping through so we introduced formula for his last feed, which allowed me to express 20ml for emergency day top ups. It took a bit of the stress of me personally and allowed Jed to feel useful. I breast feed tank until 8 months when he decided that a full diet was more then sufficient...broke my heart :cry: but hey we got to that point at least.

I used organic formula..not sure of the name now but every baby is different and formula reacts differently with all children.

ETA - Jen MCHN's are now telling mum's that solids can be introduced between 4 - 6 months. Studies have shown that the longer you leave giving your child solids the higher the potential that they will have allergies?? (apparently)

I did it with DS. Had to start topping up at 3 months due to weight loss and weak suck. The stress of that meant I couldn't express very much and my stash quickly got used up.

My aim was to get rid of the comp feeds which we did at around 9 months and continued breastfeeding until 14.5 months.

I did:

Express after each feed
Top up with EBM or formula after each feed using a supply line. This meant he was still at the breast stimulating my supply. I used a supply line for about 3 months until his suck improved.
Always gave breast first, then bottle. Every 4-5 days reduce the amount of formula by about 10mls. If he still wanted more, I gave him breast again. This took ages and we sometimes went backwards. But we got there in the end.

HTH

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ETA - Jen MCHN's are now telling mum's that solids can be introduced between 4 - 6 months. Studies have shown that the longer you leave giving your child solids the higher the potential that they will have allergies?? (apparently)

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The WHO hasn't changed its guidelines, it still recommends exclusive bfing for 6 mths and the introduction of other foods after this time. MCHNs are notorious for changing their advice, depending on who you get and where you are. ;) But the international health organisation hasn't moved on this one. Discussion will always abound on this!

your spot on hon. I just think its a mad case of wanna be's who think they know better then others :ROFL:

Wow thanks so much for your help & ideas girls it's really appreciated.

So far I've tried lactating cookies, fenugreek, extra expressing & extra feeds...all have helped to boost my supply slightly. I was previously pumping 180ml in one sitting whilst at work and around 150ml at night. I can currently get 80-100ml whilst at work and maybe 20ml at night.

DS is currently having a small amont of puured fruit & veg at night (one teaspoon maybe). DS generally only has about 150ml of milk whilst I'm at work, So I've been thinking today that maybe we could just top him up with some purred fruit & veg after this bottle to get him through untill I get home? WDYT?

I'm really not concerned about my supply in terms of when I'm home feeding him as he's very settled feeding, sleeps well, has lots of HEAVY wet nappies and is steadily gaining weight.

Thanks again ladies, it's so nice to be able to draw on all the bits and pieces of advice! xxxxx