Author Topic: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED  (Read 61141 times)

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Offline newmama12

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #75 on: August 22, 2007, 14:11:27 pm »
How many feedings do you bf and how many do you ff? Does anyone bf and then give some ounces of formula? How much?
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Offline Muriel - Elisa's mama

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #76 on: August 22, 2007, 17:08:06 pm »
How many feedings do you bf and how many do you ff? Does anyone bf and then give some ounces of formula? How much?

well i BF in the morning at 7.00
FF at 11.00 and 15.00
BF at 19.00 and 10.30
so i always do or BF or FF at one time, i know some friends did the BF and if they had not enough milk would complete by FF, they would just do a full bottle and see what the baby take then.

well now my LO has catch a cold so i am doing BF all the time to give her more support! for me the combined feedings is nice for when i work, i did not like so much expressing! but the doctor advised me to BF during week end and hollidays if possible until 6 months, then the babies get a bit stronger and get other foods too.
well i hope it helps!
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Offline Fiver

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #77 on: August 22, 2007, 18:18:00 pm »
newmama12 - When I started topping up after a bf with a ff, LO was about 4m old(ish) and I was giving him 5oz of formula which he was guzzling and 6oz just before bed (that was on 4 bf and 3 ff a day).  Our circumstance was that DS had been losing weight bf alone, so it was to get him back 'on track'.

I guess it would depend on how much your LO wanted!  I just did that because my paed said he should be having 25oz per day of formula, but I was far too lazy to get up first thing and faff around with bottles :)  So, he'd get just bf first thing and then the rest with top ups.  It was trial and error with us.

HTH
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Offline rob1lu2

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #78 on: August 29, 2007, 21:20:15 pm »
New Mama,

I BF my girls first and top off with formula. I let them eat as much as they want -- actually I should say, BF one of my girls and top off with formula as my older twin has decided it's *much* easier to eat from a bottle than from the breast. This breaks my heart a little bit, and I still put her on the breast as much as I can and as much as she'll tolerate.

My girls are five months old -- usually my BF girl takes about 60-100cc after the Breast, but it depends on the time of day. My girl who prefers the bottle has just recently started taking about 180-200cc per feed. She gets half EBM and half FF.  They both take the Similac Sensitive formerly Similac Lactose Free.

Hope that Helps!

Offline alison toms mum

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #79 on: October 19, 2007, 06:58:23 am »
Hi i have also discovered this thread at a good time!

Beth is 7 weeks old and we have been succesfully combining breast and formula since she was 3 weeks old. She has just started to reject the bottle tho so we are now giving her 2 bottle feeds a day. i have had no probs with my supply cos we always gave the bottle at the same time so my body ajusted. Now we are giving 2 bottles in a row tho (10pm and 1.30am) will that effect my supply? I am still BF at 4.30am, 7.30am, 10.30, 1.30pm, 4.30,6.30and 7.00(half a feed before bath half after).

Also do you think she isnt taking much on the 10pm feed cos im cluster feeding before that... should i not cluster feed?

Quote from: newmama12 link=topic=68301.msg991197#msg9

[quote
A little background....she started on Nestle Good Start and last week her dr switched her to Enfamil Lactose free. She is very gassy and seems to have tummy aches all the time. So dr thought maybe it's a lactose/dairy sensitivity. She seems to have the most problems during naps and bedtimes. She's a tummy sleeper and will not lay flat on her belly. She sleeps on her knees with her legs tucked under her. It's as if she doesn't want to put pressure on her belly. Any suggestions on a formula for this issue as well? Think it's a lactose problem?
[/quote]
Yesterday i saw a BF HV and she said she thought Beth could have become lactose intolerant. She also has really bad stomach pains and will only sleep on her side. She will scream all the timne she is awakle on bad days. One of the signs of it is green pooh (also explosive poohs and foamy poohs) so i would guess the green pooh has more to do with the intolerance than anything.  She also told me that my BM was higher in lactose than formuler, so to give something caslled "colief" which has an enzyme in that helps the body digest the lactose better. We only started yesterday, but will let you know if it helps. You can also put it in reg formuler instead if changing to lactose free.
Alison




Offline Samuel's mum

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #80 on: October 19, 2007, 09:49:41 am »
Quote (selected)
Now we are giving 2 bottles in a row tho (10pm and 1.30am) will that effect my supply?

Always hard to predict what will happen to people's supply as everyone is different. I guess theoretically some babies would be beginning to sleep through night feeds anyway and their mother's supply would adjust accordingly. However if this means she gets a lot of calories overnight then she may demand less from the breast during the day.
But you do talk about overactive letdown so you may have an oversupply situation anyway and have a bit of slack. You also have plenty of breastfeeds in the day to kepe your supply up so I don't think you should worry unduly.

I would just see how it goes. If you begin to worry you could always pump just before you go to bed to send those 'milk production signals' and build up an ebm stash but you may well be fine. The older your baby when you start to 'skip' nightfeeds the better - doing it now will have less effect than if you'd started this 2 feeds in a row when she was a few weeks younger.

As for the cluster feeding - it might not be a plan if she has this foremilk imbalance issue. If you do it - I would try and stick to one side for a block of time to make sure it's rich in hindmilk and the volume of milk is smaller. I would follow her cues. At this age some babies really want to cluster feed. Others aren't so bothered.
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Offline VickyB20

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #81 on: December 14, 2007, 11:52:29 am »
Hello ladies!  This is my first time posting on this board, and possibly I should be doing so on the main bottle-feeding thread, so please feel free to move it if necessary!!

Anyhow, my twin boys are 10 months and now only get one breastfeed a day when they first wake up.  They then have a bottle of formula mid-morning 6ozs, mid-afternoon 6ozs and at bedtime 7ozs.  The last couple of days, they have been crying when they finish their bottles - very much giving me the impression that they want more.  I upped their bedtime bottle to 8ozs last night and they drained it and cried again!  I didn't give them anymore and they went through with no more milk till 6:30am.

Of course, I don't know how much breastmilk they take in that first feed, but I feel reluctant to up their bottles in case that means they take less breastmilk.  I'm also thinking that at this age, perhaps they should eat more solids rather than have more formula?  But I'm not sure.

So what do you think I should do?!?!?!  Should I give them more formula?  Or....?

Thanks!!

Vicky
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Offline elf

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #82 on: January 24, 2008, 00:39:20 am »
I have been breastfeeding my dd for almost 8.5months now and in fact she only had her first bottle of formula this week due to me having to go on antibiotics and affecting the breastmilk.  I have been expressing every morning since she was almost born for her6.30pm feed as I never seemed to have enough by that time of night.  LO sleeps through, has done since 7 weeks with a df, so don't do any night feedings...  She is fed at 6.30am, 1030am, 2.30pm and 6.30pm give or take half an hour......  Solids are well established.  I am now considering switching to formula or maybe doing half and half.  I am so over expressing in the morning and the past two nights have just given a bf at 6.30pm followed by the top up formula.  Resaons for thinking about stopping is that I am beginning to feel run down and like the doctor said, no point having baby thriving if mum isn't!  She is probably almost ready to switch to 3 feeds a day shortly as I've noticed her two middle of the day feeds are a lot shorter.  I don't want to completely stop as I don't want my milk to dry up then regret the decision.  If I was to continue feeding what are the best bf's to keep.  I was thinking about keeping the first one in the morning and then using formula.  The only reason I would keep one feed is for the goodness of the breastmilk, not because I really want to keep feeding her (but I do like feeding her).  But then I am worried that my milk will eventually just dry up anyway with only one feed?  Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.  My LO has never been sick (touch wood) and I'm  sure it's because of my milk.  However, maybe 8.5 months is enough and I've given her a great start already.  I've never had any goal for how long I wanted to feed - in fact I'm very impressed and proud of myself for feeding her this long! 

Offline VickyB20

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #83 on: January 24, 2008, 20:31:33 pm »
Hi 'elf'.  Congratulations for breastfeeding for so long.  Similarly to you, I cut to one breastfeed a day when my twins were 10 months old.  I kept the first thing in the morning feed and only just gave it up this week.  :-(  Firstly I switched the bedtime feed for formula for a few reasons - I was normally dehydrated by then (!) so I wasn't confident with my supply.  Also, I wanted to be able to see how much milk they had and to persuade them to have more if necessary in the hope that they'd sleep better!  I then gave up the mid-morning breastfeed then mid-afternoon until I was left with the first thing in the morning feed.

From what I understand, it's perfectly possible to continue with just one breastfeed for a considerably long time if that's what you want to do.  And a baby/toddler apparently only needs about 50mls (2ozs) of breast milk a day in order to still get the immunity advantages!  So it's definitely worthwhile persevering with at leas tone feed if you can.

Hope that helps!  And good luck with whatever you decide.

Vicky
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Offline elf

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #84 on: January 25, 2008, 00:19:30 am »
Thank you Vicky.  I too like to give a bottle (ebm) as well as breastfeed before bed as I too noticed many months ago that  by 6.30pm my milk supply was low as she was always looking around for more after the bf.  I am getting too tired (and slightly over it!) to express any more so it is definitely going to be a bottle of formula before bed and will continue with the rest bf's for a little while longer until it is just that morning feed.  Thanks for the advice.  I noticed since she has had a few bottles of formula this week that she got a bit 'clogged up' with poo, like when we started solids so definitely want to wean her into the formula and give her some prune juice to help her get get used to it...  Thankyou so much for responding - I spent all day yesterday torn between just giving up altogether and just when I think about giving up I think it's crazy as she is still a good efficient feeder (although quite distracted so have to do it with just her and me) and also has no teeth yet so part of me thinks continue and wean slowly....  Thanks again :)

Offline sunnysmom

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #85 on: January 25, 2008, 05:17:13 am »
Feeling soooo very guilty!!!

My LO was EBF till 2 and a half months after which he started fussing at the breast in the evenings and obviously the first assumption was low milk supply with doubts raised by all and sundry in my family. Sooo i started giving him formula feed once a day in the evenings. But after reading all the articles of fussiness in the evenings and the 'open gut', i wish i had not done so and had continued BF..he is 4 months now and i still give him formula before sleeping (around 90ml). But i have never got rid of the guilt completely. Expressing was an option, but it used to wear me down while getting one or two oz only. Just need some support and wld like to hear that it was OK! to have formula fed.. i am now planning on starting solids and getting rid of formula.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2008, 05:23:44 am by sunnysmom »

Offline VickyB20

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #86 on: January 25, 2008, 10:20:03 am »
Hi sunnysmom.  Guilt is not a constructive emotion but it plagues all of us as mothers!!  It's as if whatever we do, we feel guilty in case the other option was better!  I have a friend who outright resisted giving formula but then felt really guilty when baby dropped a few centiles on the weight chart and it was discovered she did have a genuine supply problem (very rare, by the way).  So of course she feels guilty about her decision!  Know that you did your best at a very difficult time.  We don't have to do the absolute best or be perfect in order to be doing well, IYKWIM. 

If you were very determined to get off the formula, you could start expressing in the evenings to re-build your evening supply.  It probably wouldn't take more than a week or so of expressing and feeding before your supply was up again, since you're still doing other breastfeeds.  Express for a couple of days, then breastfeed baby instead and top-up with bottle whilst you express to stimulate the breasts more (even if nothing comes out, you're signalling to your body to produce more milk).

Having said that, your baby is getting marvellous benefits from the breastmilk that you are providing and you've done great to breastfeed at all to 4 months.  You needn't put a black-mark on the great work you've done by feeling guilty.

Hugs,
Vicky
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Offline sunnysmom

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #87 on: January 29, 2008, 05:25:41 am »
Hi Vicky..thanks for the encouragement. I just changed LO's doc and the present doc has supported the fact  that i have enough milk supply as LO has gained very well for his 4 month age. He has tripled in weight from his birth weight and that cld not have happened with a 60 or a 90 ml of formula..so now i am slowly getting down the amt of formula that i am giving him and it has gone very well for the past three days. I am now on 60ml from 90ml topup and LO seems to be fine with that.  ;D also i have decided to delay giving solids for another two months  :) and really work on giving the best of BF..tnx a lot  :-*
« Last Edit: January 29, 2008, 05:29:14 am by sunnysmom »

Offline VickyB20

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #88 on: January 29, 2008, 21:52:54 pm »
Sunnysmom - that sounds great!  Well done you.
Vicky
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Offline elf

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Re: SUPPORT THREAD FOR MUMS WHO CHOSE TO BREASTFEED & FORMULA FEED
« Reply #89 on: January 30, 2008, 11:16:59 am »
Well, I have stopped feeding at 6.30pm and give my (almost 9 month) dd formula but am still breastfeeding the other feeds, 6.30am, 10.30am and 2.30pm...  She has had a few bottles of formula at some of these feeds over the past few days as we were on holiday but she is starting to show signs I think of cutting out the 2.30pm feed as yesterday she drank 100ml but at 6.30pm she didn't really want her bottle and only took around 60ml.  She still slept through the night so was obviously not hungry.  Today I didn't feed her at 3pm but gave her solids as usual at 5pm and she took around 180ml before bed.  She actually took the same amount of milk but just at different times.  Is it best to keep up with 4 feeds or give 3 feeds, making that final one before bed the biggest one?