Combi-feeding advice please and messy eating!

[smiffy85]

Hi ladies. My first time on the formula thread as we have just started introducing a bottle over the past few days properly. Using sma gold and he seems to like it.

I just wanted to know how you went about going from bm exclusively to bottles and did your little ones cope with nipple to teat or did you have any confusion?

Also what happened to your milk supply as I don't want to drop bfing totally especially in the night.

My other question is how messy is your LO with a bottle as mine seems to get in all round his mouth and down his chin making for a wet neck whenever we have a bottle. Even with a bib on.

Oh he is 3 weeks 1 day and the problem we were having was he was crying for food every hour and I know this can be normal in the first few weeks but I was starting to feel really down about it and midwife said a happy mummy is better for baby than a sad one who still tries to feed to demand.

An thoughts or advice would be very much appreciated ladies - I love this site its got me through some tough times!

xxx

 

[Tulip]

Hey Smiffy, I did the same at 7 weeks due to a hungry baby and poor latch - it was beginning to affect our relationship so had to be done. It's best to swap a particular feed (ie bedtime feed) at a time so that your body knows when to not produce milk in the day. We use Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature bottles and had no nipple confusion. D is also v messy when he's feeling lazy, even though ive tried different flow speeds, so we now use the TT milk bibs which have lots of padding around the neck.

Good luck!!

 

[Ju_bubbs]

I switched to combi feeding just over a week ago, at first she did make a right mess with bottles, but after a couple of days she got the hang of it perfectly! I also use tomme tippe closer to nature bottles and she was fine swapping between them and nipple!
However I am now exclusively ff as my supply didn't take kindly to it, tho i'm pretty sure i had some kind of supply problem to start with as she was always crying for food, even after hours of constant feeding, the first time I got any sleep at night at all was the day I gave her her first bottle, she slept for 10 hours at night, and has done every night since!

 

[MrsRabbit]

If you intend to maintain your current supply -- you are supposed to pump whenever the baby feeds elsewhere. If your goal is to nurse less - you may be capable to have your supply shrink to what is needed. That being said at 3 weeks I am not sure if your supply is established enough yet to risk messing with your supply.

Once my supply was established it was not so fragile and skipping a feeding wouldn't mess with things but before I did notice a drop in out put and had to pump extra to get it back.

Some babies are messy feeders. Nursing or bottles.

 

[fluffyblue]

I cant breastfeed but have been expressing, we were using the Tommee Tippee ones but he didnt like them so Ive bought the NUK orthodontic bottles and teets and bingo we have success. He is nowhere near as burpy as he was with the others and seems to finish the bottle as well.

 

[MrsRabbit]

My daughter also did best going from breast to bottle and back again with Nuk bottles.

 

[a_c]

We use tommee tippee bottles , my daughter swaps brilliantly between bottle & boob so I'm v lucky. I don't pump or offer breast first, I do one feed boob next bottle. I had a lot of milk orginally and my supply has luckily kept up thus far with each boob getting two feeds in a 24 hour period but as people have said supply is delicate & I think I've been v lucky so do watch out. My lo is absolutely messy with bottles still, face & neck & ears full of milk!!!

 

[price27]

Ive just weaned onto aptimil formula. because I got her used to expressed milk and bottle in the early days, she has had no problems re niPple confusion.

I too used tt bottles but did find them messy. She would dance on and off the teat sometimes.....that was because of wind. A friend suggested Dr. Brown bottles. Bingo! No dribbles! Less wind! shorter feeds! she also liked the avent teat which like dr browns, are kind of narrower where her lips latch on. Although these are mostunlike breasts shape compared to the tt one she does prefer!

Trial and error!

 

[bobloblaw]

I've combi fed since about 4 weeks, but she had bottles (EBM) from 2 weeks. Never had any problems with nipple confusion. She does make a mess, even now (3 months) but she gets the job done!

I've never had a lot of milk but have continued to BF her before most bottles. I sometimes miss BFs during the day, and I don't bother to BF for her dream feed. My supply, little that it is, is still going. Circumstances meant I missed a whole day of BF yesterday and by the evening was actually sligtly engorged. This is rare for me!

Good luck x

 

[a_c]

It's so nice to see many combi feeding mums, so often the proffesionals suggest it's not possible.

 

[smiffy85]

Thanks for all the advice ladies!!

 

[- Butterfly -]

I am just embarking on this journey as of today. Rosie is now 8 weeks and bf is becoming a battle and making me very sore. Bad latch that we just can't get right.

Your thread has been very helpful.

Thank you x

 

[smiffy85]

Good luck hunny. Are you gonna express to keep your supply going? I would very much recommend it as I missed a few times and my supply went awol and hasn't really come back. So much so that we are now totally formula feeding xx

 

[charlotteb24]

This thread has been most informative! i excusively fed my 1st son by formula and wished i'd at least given breast feeding a chance now. However this time around when baby is due i'm not sure i want to just breast feed all of the time!
I would rather combine formula with breast milk expressed into a bottle or from the boob!

How many weeks would i have to feed off the breast for before i could introduce a bottle to minimise confusion? I am thinking of feeding off the breast for night time feeds and using bottles during the day but literally know nothing about combination feeding but very much like the sound of it!

 

[smiffy85]

I fed toby for 3 weeks exclusively then introduced a bottle last thing at night for about a week before introducing a few more! After seeing advice on here thats what worked for me. but make sure you keep expressing xxx

 

[a_c]

I honestly think it's all luck & depends on the baby. Poppy has had bottle since 2 wks no problem. I was amazed when my mum showed me pics of me at 1 day old being given a bottle of water, apparently it was the norm & who spoke of nipple confusion then?!?

 

[charlotteb24]

Thanks ladies! will be definalty looking more deeply into this subject as i think i would be more than happy to give it a go! i'm sure i could cope with just feeding off the boob for a couple of weeks. My mum said she only managed a few weeks with all 3 of her children breast feeding as her boobs didn't keep up with demand for whatever reason. But i will be looking on google now for some howto help lol x