Combined Feeding - What's the best routine?

[clairetrinder]

Hey Everyone - I'm 30 weeks and prepping for baby. Thinking about combination feeding to enable my partner to feed and provide a little more flexibility with the benefits of breast. The thing is I'm not sure what sort of routine is best for this...Should I plan to breast feed during the day and bottle at night and first thing in the morning (this will allow me and partner to share night feeds and allow another carer to look after her overnight if needed). Once I start the routine will baby always expect breast during day and bottle and night or can I switch it up?

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

Claire x

[eva026]

Watch out with skipping too many breastfeeds early on, you need to get your supply going and both of you need to lear how to bf, so lots of practice is needed.
Also keep in mind all babies are different and you may need to adjust your expectations. My DD1 took to the bottle easier and we ended up struggling with bottle preference, while DD2 was attached to my beast 24/7 for the first two weeks and flat out refused any kind of bottle.
With DD1 I had DH do the dream feed and that gave me a good 5-6 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep, then I’d bf during the day and one night feed. I tried to do the same with DD2 but she wouldn’t let the bottle anywhere near her, lol. Other babies move from breast to bottle without batting an eye.
Read up about bottles that simulate drinking from the beast, I know Medela has the calma bottle but I’m sure there are others too. Also remember that you are only exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6 months and that goes by really fast, later you introduce solids and sippy cups and it gets easier to leave baby with someone.
The first few weeks put everything aside, have someone (or you) freeze lots of meals you can defrost,ignore the cleaning and snuggle down in bed with baby for lots of naps, cuddles and breastfeeding. And probably a bit of crying on your part as the hormones go nuts, lol.

[Katet]

Best laid plans are not always what works with a baby.
If you want to BF you are best to use pumped breast milk in the first 3-6 weeks to establish a good supply. If you use formula regularly right from the start even for 2 feeds you may not have the option of BF as supply needs to be around the clock
You may also have a baby like my DS2 who flattly refused to take a bottle...even though my DS1 happily swapped between breast and expressed milk in a bottle DS2 didn't.
So I don't want to say you won't be able to do it but you really need to meet your baby and work with your baby and your ability to produce milk before you can know what will work. Both my babies were big, but fed so very differently. DS1 fed 8+ times in 24 hours and would take at least 30mins each feed (he/I  needed help from a lactation specialists to establish supply etc, and he took a bottle of expressed milk from early on as my nipples were torn) on the flip side DS2 fed for about 10-15 mins about 6-7 times in 24 hours, but would never accept a bottle. He drank from a sippy cup from 5 months (unusual) so I could be away from him longer at that point, but he didn't drink for 5 hours one time when only offered a bottle.

[clairetrinder]

Thank you both so much for sharing! It's great to have your experience to factor in! Yip - No doubt baby will have her own views on how things work! 

[*Ali*]

I've no experience of mixed feeding but my third baby had a bottle of expressed breastmilk every bedtime from 4-10mo. Either my DH or I could give her that bottle and then I'd pump for the next night before I went to bed about 11pm.

Personally I would hate to do bottles at night cos you've got all the bother of getting out of bed to make the bottle which needs to be made with boiling water to kill the bacteria in the formula powder itself. So you either need to boil the kettle or get one of those prep machines and wait for it to be ready with a screaming baby. Plus if you miss a feed it's recommended to pump so it doesn't damage your supply.  So you probably won't get any extra sleep.

I'd also recommend you research paced bottle feeding to avoid bottle preference and also look into the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and risks of using formula cos many of the benefits of breastfeeding are negated by giving even one formula bottle a day so it isn't quite the best of both world as you might think.  Eg formula changes a baby's gut flora and increases risks of things like diabetes and obesity later in life by causing them to lay down additional fat cells

Have you considered getting your DH involved in other aspects like bathing, dressing, changing nappies, cuddling, playing or singing etc.? Lots of opportunities for dads to bond with young babies without feeding if you decide mixed feeding isn't for you.

Good luck whatever you decide 🙂