Advice needed on combi-feeding

[Babushka]

I would appreciate any advice from mums who are combi-feeding or have in the past.

My daughter is 4 weeks old & is always wanting to nurse. She averages about every 2 hours but sometimes every 1 hour and occasionally 3 when I'm lucky. She also suffers wind so we spend most of the night awake with her in agony whilst I wind her, walk around the house & spend time bouncing up and down on the fit ball. She will then sleep but it happens again the following morning. I have a really good milk supply & she is gaining 250g a week, she has a very very healthy appetite! As a result I am extremely tired and am finding it harder to deal with the crying at night.

Obviously I don't want to interfere with my milk supply but am considering my OH giving her a formula bottle at 9 or 10pm whilst I'm nodding off to sleep & hopefully this will keep her a bit fuller for longer. Also, my OH is able to do Saturday night feeds which I will express for but she guzzles expressed milk so am thinking he could top her up with formula.

Does this sound workable without interfering with my milk supply?
Does formula create other problems such as constipation and more wind?
What is the best formula money can buy?
What routine do you use or have you used (i.e times when you have fed formula).

I really hope this makes sense, I'm getting 3-4 hours of broken sleep a night so aren't thinking too clearly

 

[staralfur]

I would say that replacing feeds anytime before 6-8 weeks or whenever your supply starts to settle risks interfering with it.

Formula very well could make the wind worse. I found that my LO was more unsettled after giving her formula.

Pretty much all formula is the same. I'd actually just buy the cheapest brand you can find as they have a short shelf life once you've opened the can, and if you're only planning on giving the occasional feed you might not use it all.

We didn't have much of a routine, we just topped her up when she seemed fussy after nursing. If you're set on combi-feeding I would definitely establish certain times of the day when you always nurse or you always give formula. Your supply will adjust accordingly. Since we had no routine it caused a LOT of problems for me (blocked ducts, recurrent mastitis).

I'm usually one to warn against combi-feeding as it almost cost us our breastfeeding relationship and was generally just a lot more hassle and pain than it was worth. But I do understand the need to just take a break and get some sleep. Have you tried cosleeping at all? I found that to eventually be the answer for us... I could EBF and doze off while she nursed, and I barely woke up when she had her night feeds.

 

[Vanilla77]

Hiya. I really feel for you as I was in the same situation as you a few weeks ago. I was convinced she was always hungry as she always wanted to feed. She would sleep 45 mins at a time and woke up and wanted to feed. I was knackered and was desperate for sleep.

I did start combine feeding with formula and it made no difference at all for us. She'd only take 100ml from bottle, refuse more and want to be fed an hour or two later.

I spoke to my health visitor and she said I might just have a sucky baby so we started to use a dummy and she's was happy with that sometimes and didn't really want milk but wanted comfort instead.

Good news now is at 6 weeks she can go 2.5 hours between feeds before getting grumpy in day and does 4 hours at night!

Good luck honey. Hope it gets better soon x

 

[feedindy]

Does this sound workable without interfering with my milk supply? Yes this sounds fine just try to make it the same time of day each day giving the bottle.
Does formula create other problems such as constipation and more wind? No. My kids were probably farting more from the foods I eat in my milk than formula. lol
What is the best formula money can buy? The cheapest one. They are all so similar. I buy store brand because it is the same exact ingredients as the expensive stuff.
What routine do you use or have you used (i.e times when you have fed formula). I usually gave a bottle in the middle of a cluster feeding, so I could get a little break.
QUOTE]

I combi-fed both of mine, just giving 1 bottle per day. When they were newborn and clusterfeeding in the morning and at night, I gave 2 bottles. My milk supply has always rocked. In fact for my first, I combifed for 7 months, and was able to pump an extra 3000 ounces in a deep freezer and then bottle fed her my frozen stash from 7 months to 14 months.

 

[kitabird]

I started combi feeding very early on and haven't had any problems with supply. My OH would give LO a bottle of formula around 10/11pm so that I could get a couple of hours sleep. It was always at the same time and I BF on demand the rest of the time, so my supply was fine. I think where problems can happen is if you sometimes give one bottle and other days give two. Then your body would get confused. My LO started to refuse formula after a while, so we are now back to EBF We'll be going back to combi feeding when I go back to work.
My LO had bad colic/wind problems, but they were no worse when combi feeding than when EBF. We used aptamil, but as others have said, it doesn't make much difference which you choose. You could buy a ready made carton to try and if it seems to cause your LO trouble you won't have wasted a tenner!

 

[marymoomin]

I combi fed post hospital discharge, however if you can express bm I would stick to they if you want time off. I really think it added to my twins colic/ reflux issues. When we moved to ebf everything cleared up. Coincidence ? Maybe but if you can express I would go for it. X

 

[megrenade]

The CHEAPEST formula usually has more bad ingredients and less of the "good stuff" (whatever good stuff is in formula).

My son nursed at LEAST every hour. I don't see why everybody thinks it's normal for babies to go HOURS between feedings! Their tummies the size of a MARBLE when they are born and they have fast metabolisms.

Do what's best for baby and just let her/him nurse as often as they want to!

 

[marymoomin]

The CHEAPEST formula usually has more bad ingredients and less of the "good stuff" (whatever good stuff is in formula).

My son nursed at LEAST every hour. I don't see why everybody thinks it's normal for babies to go HOURS between feedings! Their tummies the size of a MARBLE when they are born and they have fast metabolisms.

Do what's best for baby and just let her/him nurse as often as they want to!

Agreed on the frequency. Tbh I could have pretty much constantly fed my twins for the last 16 weeks. I can't remember if we have ever gone 3 hrs apart from at night.

 

[Nervous_1]

I was struggling with my little one after about 2 weeks, I felt like I was getting zero sleep as he'd want feeding every 2 hours, 24/7. I was seriously on the verge of quitting all together when my health visitor suggested I give one bottle at about 10pm of formula. Well, not me give it to him, but my OH as it would help baby to realise that I give breast milk and wouldn't interfere with that relationship. By doing this, we found that I managed to get 4-5 hours unbroken sleep, which to me felt like a 15 hour sleep given how little I'd been getting!

He suffered with wind regardless to how he was fed, and we used infacol to help with that. It doesn't work immediately, but builds up over time to help them deal with the gas. If we forgot to get more, and then ran out, boy did we know about it! My SIL swears by gripe water rather than infacol, so I think it's a case of seeing what will help your baby most. Other women on here have had more success by eliminating certain foods from their diet for a while.

With regards to the brand of formula, it's a matter of trial and error. Just like we have preferences as to what flavour juice we might drink, little ones often have a preference with formula and take to one just fine yet refuse all others.

Hope this helps, pm me if you'd like to chat in a bit more detail