Breastfeeding with the odd formula bottle?

[Sarah+]

I posted this in the breastfeeding thread, but thought I'd put it here as well for some more advice.


The title says it all.

Good/bad idea?

With my LO's reflux and currently living in a country where public breastfeeding is not the norm and places can be hard to find, I either plan most of my outings to be super quick (ie. between feeds) or have to express a bottle and leave him behind. I find expressing hard to do and have to plan in advance to get enough milk etc., so I'm wondering if it's okay to give the odd formula bottle instead? Or even a once a day part of his routine (as I find I'm low on milk by the end of the day any how).

Any experiences, things to consider? Is the baby likely to react differently to the formula at first?

 

[Arcanegirl]

Its prefectly fine to do

I gave Alex the occasional formula feed when he was very young and it became a regular one feed a day from when he was a few weeks old.
My OH always gave him the first morning feed from formula so i could sleep in a bit and have a break.

 

[topcat]

I had the same dilemma. We struggled with breastfeeding and used a nipple shield for ages - this slowed my milk flow and LO was often hungry. So, we topped up with expressed milk and formula.
Now we're more settled and LO latches on wonderfully without nipple shield. I breastfeed twice a day (and wee short feeds if needed for comfort or to top-up). For all her other feeds I give formula. I express at night after she's gone to bed and give her that in the morning. So to answer your question - yes it works! We're happy to do a mix of types of feed and LO has adapted to whatever she's given.
At first formula did make her a little sick - she would bring it up after half an hour. We switched from SMA to Aptamil and that made a big difference. Also, it took us a while to get the hang of giving a bottle properly and winding her well so she was often bringing it up. A good tip is to go for a slow flow teat (we use Tommee Tippee) and sit them up after a feed to let it settle and help get any wind up.
I think it's just a case of taking your time and letting her adapt to the bottle, the formula and switching between the 'types' of feed.
I hope this helps a little! Good luck!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

It's perfectly fine. When I have my next baby I hope to be able to BF but I think I'll still give formula in the evening.
The only possible negative I could see is that each time you give a bottle of formula rather than a breastfeed, you are sending a signal to your body that your baby is satisfied and you'll make less milk.

 

[babycakes76]

Yes its fine o do this. I started by giving my DS formula at bedtime and slowly weaned him of the breast by 7 weeks he was on formula all the time and is much more content as my milk wasn't satisfying him enough.

 

[jojo2605]

I do this too. I sometimes struggle to express enough to take him right through day and night so we currently have cartons of formula milk in the fridge and give Sam some of that if i haven't expressed enough for his next feed. I would say that i feed him 80% my milk and 20% formula. He doesn't seem to mind the difference at all. Only thing i notice is his output is thicker with formula and runnier with my milk!