SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED

[Calums mum]

Hello,
I need help. I am trying hard to get my 3.5 month old to take a bottle so that I can get a bit of relief or when I'm out I don't have to disappear to feed her. She is not liking it. I have tried different nipples and I'm using breast milk. I get it to the right temperature, everything......does anyone have any tricks? Please? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Joanna

[elf]

Perhaps give her a bottle first thing in the morning when she is at her most hungriest?  I got my husband to give the first few bottles of expressed breast milk and that worked really well.  She takes a bottle from me and I'm still bfing her... 

[Calums mum]

I tried that but its not working. She even screams more when my husband tries. Has anyone tried introducing a sippy cup earlier than 6 months?

[Fiver]

When DS wouldn't take a bottle, the hospital suggested cup feeding instead...they gave us a little plastic cup with a little lip on the edge.  It was pretty messy and DS didn't get very much, but he did try lapping at the milk...guess he had a taste so he could get used to it.  Anything's worth a go, eh?

[VickyB20]

I found with my boys that they wanted milk in a bottle to be much hotter than I thought they would like it.  (A neighbour was even pretty shocked when she realised how hot a bottle was when she was helping me out one day.)  They refused it point blank until one day I left the milk heating in a saucepan for longer than I intended!!  Gradually I have been able to decreases the temperature but they still won't drink it at room temperature!
Just a thought.
Vicky
x

[elf]

Is it possible to keep bfing just the morning feed?  I have been doing this now for a few weeks (dd is almost 10 months) as I gradually cut out the other feeds but this morning she wouldn't feed off me, got quite upset as well so I gave her a bottle.  She didn't drink it as enthusiastically as I would have imagined so am not sure if her refusal to bf is because her two top teeth cut though 4 days ago (she has been fussy in general) or because my milk wasn't there???  Do you think it has dried up?  Should I keep trying, express to boost supply, or just say that's the end of it and congratulate myself on feeding for 10 months?  I was quite happy to keep feeding her the morning feed as although I didn't have any major goals because I was quite close to 12 months thought it would be nice to aim for that for both her and I but am starting to think that maybe she now wants the bottle for all feeds?  Or should I not be put off by one day?  I am quite happy to express to boost my supply...  anyone else had this issue?  Thanks...

[EllenS]

Oh, I'm so glad to see this thread - never noticed it before, don't know why.

We have combination fed since dd was 5 days old due to low milk supply, my lactation consultant was so worried about her low intake (.25 oz in 45 minutes) that she recommended immediate top-ups while I relactated.  Then when I read about "virgin gut", I figured it was already done so I might as well keep a bottle of formula from time to time.

She gets a bedtime "topper" (though often does not drink it) and an occasional bottle of formula when circumstances preclude bf (for example, when I did a part-time job and she refused bottles all day with Daddy, he wound up throwing out all my frozen ebm b/c it spoiled waiting for her to drink it).

She is happy healthy and thriving, though we are now in an odd situation where she is having sleeping trouble (I think it's the 2-1 switch) and wants to nurse to sleep all the time.  I have caved too much recently, thinking she is really hungry, so now we're trying to get that sorted.

[monica lechuga]

Hello everybody,

Ive read all your messages since the beginning and they really helped me out. In the way that I have a baby boy, he is 3 weeks old now and the problem is that he started having a lot of reflux so the doctor said to give him a medicine called Gaviscon at the end of the bf, that helped a little bit, but the problem was that he didn't gained a lot of weight since we came out of the maternity, so we started giving him formula after breastfeeding, it is a special formula AR. He seems to appreciate both, he is not denying the breast nor the bottle, so I think is OK. It is still hard for me to read his cues, as is my first one and it is not easy.
So coming back to the point, I feel as well everyday bad of giving him formula, as apparently my milk is not enough and for me it is like I'm not the best mom because I'm giving him formula. But anyway, at night I give him just my breast and he is vomiting everything, so I think at the end I will continue sometimes to give him my breast combined with the gaviscon and then the formula. I feel like the whole day I'm sterilising the bottles the pump and that back again I'm pumping a little bit of my milk to give the gaviscon and then the formula.

Well, I wanted to share this.

Monica

[EllenS]

Hugs, Monica, I know it is tough, I had to do the same thing.  I'd encourage you to investigate ways to increase your supply.  If you are giving formula at every feed on a long-term basis, you may not be able to keep up with his needs as he grows and eventually wind up on 100% formula before you are ready.  We managed to get it down to 1 bottle a day, and her weight gain has been fine since we started working with the lactation consultant.

Hugs!  The first 6 weeks are so hard even under the best of circs.

[ktmartell]

I have a 4 and a half month old daughter and she has been exclusively breastfed. I am introducing a bottle so that I can work very very part time, etc. I want to alternate between breast and bottle at my choosing. I've been following Tracey's method since yesterday morning, and after much time and resistance at each feeding she will accept a bottle. She has had 6 bottles in the last 16 hours and no nursing, the last 2 bottles being about 5 ounces each of formula. When is this considered a success? I want to be able to nurse her and give her at least 1 bottle a day to keep up the bottle feeding. How will I know I can do this, when she accepts the bottle with glee?

[Fiver]

Sounds to me like she's happy now to take the bottle.  If you want to carry on BF, you'll need to keep on going with that pretty regularly otherwise your supplies are likely to slip...I'm sure there are others who can give you better advice on keeping up with that.

[Wei]

Well, I have twin girls and they are 4.5 weeks old.  I've been giving about an oz of formula at the end of each bf for all their feeds since they were in the hospital because of birthweight.  But, I think my supply had gotten better, the twins have gained a huge amount of weight, and I get the feeling my supply is now slipping again... so I'm thinking I will just do BF only.  I hope it's not too late.  I'm finding it too frustrating with doing bf and formula bottle as it takes long doing both combined.

Well, we'll see how it goes for the next couple days.  I hope this works out okay.

Wei

[Wei]

*sigh*  Just wanted to express that i'm thoroughly exhausted alreayd and it's not past day 1 yet!  The girls woke up every 1.5 to 2 hours looking for food and they sure did seem hungry (hopefully they were... kinda hard to notice the real cues when you're so tired already)   Did anybody successfully go back to just bfing in general (one sided) after doing regular formula top ups?

I keep telling myself 2 more days and then we'll see if there are any results.  If not, then I'll have to come up with something else.

alright, time to nap while the toddler is napping too!
Wei

[EllenS]

Wei, YES!  I had major supply issues when my dd was a newborn and was using 1-2oz formula toppers at every feed from Day 5 onwards.  In order to compensate for my supply, I pumped after every feed, then gradually as my supply got better I could use EBM instead of formula for the toppers, then gradually reduced the amount of EBM given until she was only nursing at about 6 weeks (with the exception we always kept the top-off at bedtime).

I think the feeding on demand method will work quicker, but it is very exhausting.  If you can keep it up those 2 more days you should see major improvement.

Be sure you are drinking LOTS of water (I sometimes have to drink 5L if it is hot or dry in the house), eat plenty, rest as much as possible (let the housework go!).  You can also try taking Fenugreek alone or with Blessed Thistle to help boost your supply.  If you can get help at home and just go to bed and nurse for a couple of days, that would be the best thing.

[home alone]

Hi I've been combining since I found out that my dd lost a lot of weight after only being bf for 4wks.  I topped her off with formula in a bottle but now she takes ebm + formula in a bottle.

I am wondering how does your LOs poop look like when they are combined?
my Lo's poop is yellow runny with white lumps.  Is it formula combo related or something else?
I keep forgetting to ask the PED.