Anyone Combi feeding? Looking for buddies, not sure which section I should be in?

[FeelSoBlessed]

FeelSoBlessed are you sure you can't just drop the formula cos pumping 5oz is loads! If I could do that I'd ditch formula for a few days and keep LO latched constantly for couple of days to really establish BF. I borrowed a hosp pump in week 2 due to LO losing weight. I pumped for a week and barely got an ounce each day so gave up expressing and combi fed. I am still putting him to the breast as often as I can as I'd love to get off formula.

Hey ktod. I'm going to give it a try today - that's a really good idea. I think maybe its 'habit' me topping him up but as you say, he may be content with the amount of milk I'm producing now. Think I'd need to wake him up when he sleeps for longer than 3 hours maybe? I find this is when he requires a top up - coz he wakes up with an appetite after a substantial nap!! It's taken a good 3 weeks to be able to express that amount - I also find a warm shower really does help. Thanks for your ideas, defo worth a try!

A great thread - thank you!! I think in addition to BF and FF forums - BnB need to add a combi-feeding forum. This may ease the pressure and anxiety experienced by a lot of mums who want to EBF but can't due to one reason or another.

My LO is 3 weeks and 5 days. I needed to introduce formula as a top up quite early on due LO being extremely hungry and my milk taking a while to come through.

I started initially supplementing his before bed feed with formula - but it was obvious he became hungry during the day despite being latched on for hours!!!! So it was becoming necessary to top up BF with FF throughout the day at times.

Admittedly this broke my heart at first. I think I'm almost dealing with it emotionally. Back of my head - I do think... Wish I could produce enough milk for his appetite. Now it's just a case of finding the best combi schedule - any tips would be greatly appreciated!! I just find that I have no routine as I'm not sure what's best and it seems hard to find combi-feeding advice!!

- I BF throughout the day on demand - occasionally needing to top up with formula - about 3 oz after BF.
- I pump at various times throughout the day but with no set time as such. I can get about 5 oz (both breast).
- DH gives a bottle of formula at about 10pm. LO will sleep until 1-2 o'clock. But this is when I become unsure!! Heeelllppp!!
- If I BF when he wakes he falls asleep despite all attempts to wake him! I know he's not content after 10 mins so I keep persevering to get him to take more as I know that he'll be up straight away if I put him back into his cot!
- Sometimes I FF or give expressed milk - but then I fear that a long period of time goes with no breast stimulation and I fear my milk supply decreasing. I've considered getting up to express but I'm then torn that its just best to put baby on??

As I've said - I'd appreciate any advice/tips/ideas. I know the main thing is that baby is happy and gaining weight which fortunately he is. I just need to sus when to express/BF/FF - especially during the night?



Thank you in advance ladies!!

Hi, Im not sure on schedule advice as good this is my first time but this is what I did good& now do;

I was topping up from 10 days old in the evenings as my supply was low & he would just fuss on book, he would take 2oz after a bfax x3 an eve & 3oz ff before bed at midnight, new my supply seem to be more adjusted to his needs & i feed on demand through day, in the eve he now takes 1oz top up after a bf about 7pm, he feeds eevery hour from then on books til 10pm or 11pm then he has a 3oz ff & sleeps through the night lil 6am or 7am (we are on 4th night in a row) he then feeds every 2hrs from books til 10am & then a 3hrs nap, he turned 7wks yesterday he is still gaining weight x x

hope this helps, when i express i can only get a max of 3oz bmth books on a good pump but mostly i only get 2oz, every baby is different so id say go with your instinct x x x

Wow! What's standing our there is 'sleeps through the night until 6-7am!!' Music to my ears! Ha! I've been reading up on cluster feeding - which seems your strategy from 7pm - 10/11pm... I may need to give this a go also. Can I ask, does your LO wake regularly for a feed during this time or are you waking them? Thanks so much for getting back to me. I bet 7 weeks has flown by with your son!! ;-)

 

[Charliewhite]

Hello ladies. I've been combo feeding since bubs was 3days old as he just wouldn't settle he us such a greedy boy. I have bags of milk still coming in (now day 12) so have been breast feeding as much as possible then generally giving 2oz during the night and 1oz after each feed in the day. My new issue us my infected cesarean wound
I'm on day 3 of antibiotics and they've really messed with me! I've got diarrhoea although I haven't got the usual associated stomach ache so it's not too much of a problem. The real problem is that I'm passing it onto the baby in my milk and last night he was so upset, screaming his heart out when usually he only grumbles a bit. I've never heard him squark like that apart from when he was born. He was throwing himself about, red faced, arching his back, fists all curled up really working himself into a state
It broke my heart so we have decided to only give formula while I'm on the tablets which is another 4 days! Will he loose his suckle on the boob? I can express and throw away to keep my supply up I'll just be heart broken if he can't suckle all because I got thus stupid infection!
What do you think?
Xx

 

[ktod]

CharlieWhite it's difficult to say if your LO will lose his suckle. My baby has had bottles, breast and a dummy since day 7 and luckily has never had any nipple confusion but they say that some babies do get confused and prefer the bottle. What do you think is upsetting the baby with your milk - the tablets? I personally would stick to BF if possible to prevent any issues arising with supply etc, but you have to do what works best for you

 

[angieloo]

I combi feed too and I agree neither section really fits 100% but I'm on here more
I EBF for three weeks then FF and BF for two weeks and now pumping 6 bottles FF 3.

Glad there are other out there too

 

[Celesse]

Agree that neither section fits. If you ask for advice in the BFing section you get a lot of "just BF baby constantly and all will be fine with supply" answers. Where-as ask in the FF section and the knowledge of BFing just isn't there.

 

[c1403]

Hi All

My little girl is nearly 3 weeks old and has been breastfed since birth....I hate breastfeeding and its made me very down and depressed so much so that I didnt even want to hold my baby and dreaded every feed.
I really wanted to go 6 months but it just wasnt working so we have decided to gradually switch to formula and express what I can when I can.
I am pumping 2-3 times a day and getting about 8 oz which i'll use as top ups however I am confused with how much formula to give her as she always seems hungry....last night she had 4oz of formula then 3oz of breast a hour later.

I feel guilty giving up breastfeeding but already I feel closer to my baby....I just couldnt cope with it.

I am feeling very engorged at the moment so am trying to pump when I get the time between feeding LO. I wish I could pump more so she has more breast then formula. Just hope we get settled soon.

Baby doesnt seem to mind the switch over and has taken to bottles easily although she still has her late evening tantrums (from 8pm-11pm) where she constantly crys and isnt satisfied whatever we do.

Thanks for support ladies

xxxxxxx

 

[ktod]

If she's still hungry just try an extra ounce to see if she's more satisfied. It was really hard for me to figure out how much to top up at first as my baby always showed hunger cues. I kind of figured it out when he threw up so I knew that was too much!! Lol! I just used a bit less the next time. He still acted hungry but he was satisfied by a dummy so I don't think he really was hungry. He was gaining weight so it worked out.

 

[Dawnlouise30]

Did you, or any others here have issues with nipple donfusion? What bottles do you use? And when did you introduce a bottle. If its a bottle of expressed milk then what time of day was best to pump?

Thanks

Dawn

Hi,

I BF & topping up with FF's plus 1 FF bottle b4 bed for sleeping,

my Lil boy is 1mnth 1 day old

Anyone else combi feeding?

 

[ktod]

I didn't have any issues with nipple confusion, most people I've spoke to haven't had a problem. If anything it's harder to introduce a bottle later cos they're not used to it. Some babies prefer the flow of a bottle though so I always use slow flow teats, but you can get breast flow bottles as well.

For expressing you get most milk first thing in morning

 

[DSM]

FeelSoBlessed are you sure you can't just drop the formula cos pumping 5oz is loads! If I could do that I'd ditch formula for a few days and keep LO latched constantly for couple of days to really establish BF. I borrowed a hosp pump in week 2 due to LO losing weight. I pumped for a week and barely got an ounce each day so gave up expressing and combi fed. I am still putting him to the breast as often as I can as I'd love to get off formula.

Hey ktod. I'm going to give it a try today - that's a really good idea. I think maybe its 'habit' me topping him up but as you say, he may be content with the amount of milk I'm producing now. Think I'd need to wake him up when he sleeps for longer than 3 hours maybe? I find this is when he requires a top up - coz he wakes up with an appetite after a substantial nap!! It's taken a good 3 weeks to be able to express that amount - I also find a warm shower really does help. Thanks for your ideas, defo worth a try!

A great thread - thank you!! I think in addition to BF and FF forums - BnB need to add a combi-feeding forum. This may ease the pressure and anxiety experienced by a lot of mums who want to EBF but can't due to one reason or another.

My LO is 3 weeks and 5 days. I needed to introduce formula as a top up quite early on due LO being extremely hungry and my milk taking a while to come through.

I started initially supplementing his before bed feed with formula - but it was obvious he became hungry during the day despite being latched on for hours!!!! So it was becoming necessary to top up BF with FF throughout the day at times.

Admittedly this broke my heart at first. I think I'm almost dealing with it emotionally. Back of my head - I do think... Wish I could produce enough milk for his appetite. Now it's just a case of finding the best combi schedule - any tips would be greatly appreciated!! I just find that I have no routine as I'm not sure what's best and it seems hard to find combi-feeding advice!!

- I BF throughout the day on demand - occasionally needing to top up with formula - about 3 oz after BF.
- I pump at various times throughout the day but with no set time as such. I can get about 5 oz (both breast).
- DH gives a bottle of formula at about 10pm. LO will sleep until 1-2 o'clock. But this is when I become unsure!! Heeelllppp!!
- If I BF when he wakes he falls asleep despite all attempts to wake him! I know he's not content after 10 mins so I keep persevering to get him to take more as I know that he'll be up straight away if I put him back into his cot!
- Sometimes I FF or give expressed milk - but then I fear that a long period of time goes with no breast stimulation and I fear my milk supply decreasing. I've considered getting up to express but I'm then torn that its just best to put baby on??

As I've said - I'd appreciate any advice/tips/ideas. I know the main thing is that baby is happy and gaining weight which fortunately he is. I just need to sus when to express/BF/FF - especially during the night?



Thank you in advance ladies!!

Hi, Im not sure on schedule advice as good this is my first time but this is what I did good& now do;

I was topping up from 10 days old in the evenings as my supply was low & he would just fuss on book, he would take 2oz after a bfax x3 an eve & 3oz ff before bed at midnight, new my supply seem to be more adjusted to his needs & i feed on demand through day, in the eve he now takes 1oz top up after a bf about 7pm, he feeds eevery hour from then on books til 10pm or 11pm then he has a 3oz ff & sleeps through the night lil 6am or 7am (we are on 4th night in a row) he then feeds every 2hrs from books til 10am & then a 3hrs nap, he turned 7wks yesterday he is still gaining weight x x

hope this helps, when i express i can only get a max of 3oz bmth books on a good pump but mostly i only get 2oz, every baby is different so id say go with your instinct x x x

Wow! What's standing our there is 'sleeps through the night until 6-7am!!' Music to my ears! Ha! I've been reading up on cluster feeding - which seems your strategy from 7pm - 10/11pm... I may need to give this a go also. Can I ask, does your LO wake regularly for a feed during this time or are you waking them? Thanks so much for getting back to me. I bet 7 weeks has flown by with your son!! ;-)

My LO wakes himself for cluster feeding, he naps 1hr at a time if any in the eve, although I'm now attempting to cluster feed earlier from 4pm til 7pm & then add a 10pm dream feed but ill see how it goes, he is now 9wks Xxx