Combination Feeding question

[Posterpots]

Hi all

I'm new to this forum - I am a first time mummy, to a 6 week old girl and I've recently decided to combination feed, after my LO was taking hours to feed during the night. It took a lot for me to 'give in' and give her the formula as I'd been trying so hard with the BF (she was born with jaundice and a tongue tie which set things back) and didn't want to give up. She had lost a lot of her birth weight and took nearly 4 weeks for her to regain this.

Since starting combination feeding, it has been working for us, as we give her formula before bed and during the night, and hubby can look after her during the night without disturbing me.

She will still latch on to me, so if I am home during the day, I will feed her but I express when I get time to so hubby can feed her to give me a break.

My question is for other combi mum's is how soon after BF can I give her some formula as a top up if she doesn't seem satisfied; as one problem I've had since BF is after a while, she fusses at the breast,despite offering her both, but still seems hungry.

I understand with FF that it should be given every four hours, and I suppose then if I am BF during the day, that will still be on demand?

Also, she occasionally projectile vomits after a FF, could this be because I BF her too and the FF is not agreeing with her tummy or that she just had too much formula?

Thanks in advance!

Posterpots

 

[bky]

I combi feed (I'm starting to wish there was a section for this as I feel out of place in BF and FF).
This may not work for you, but our problems sound somewhat similar with the weight loss etc.
What I do is offer boobs first, then any expressed milk, then if she's still hungry formula. My midwives recommended a structured feed, as when we were feeding on demand my baby was basically wanting to suckle constantly. So pretty much every 2-3 hours we offer the boob+ formula if she's awake. If not awake we just wait until she wakes up. We do the boob for 15-20 minutes max per side (because she'll hang out for 40+ minutes per side or until falling asleep if allowed, and then if she falls asleep after only boob she'll wake up after 20 minutes), then formula. We find that she starts fooling around with the teat of the bottle when she is no longer hungry, so we take her off and burp her. Then if she isn't giving us that drunken dopey full look we offer the remainder of the bottle after a few minutes.
We find that spit up for us happens when she just has a bit much formula as it comes out faster than the boob and its easy for them to eat a bit more than they actually want. I think that's a baby to baby thing though as mine doesn't spit up all that often.

 

[Posterpots]

Thanks Bky, that's sort of what I do...now however I'm concerned she may be lactose intolerant as she's pooping quite regularly, not necessarily immediately after a feed but a lot more than ever before and seems quite restless

 

[MrsRabbit]

You can top off with formula right after if you think she needs it.

I combination fed for four months - I didn't put my baby on time limits. When I thought she was hungry I fed her. If she didn't need to be changed, wasn't tired, cold\hot etc I offered the breast or bottle to see if that was the issue.

It's pretty rare for an infant to be allergic to lactose since it's the sugar in human milk. Milk protein sensitivity is more likely. A gentle or sensitive formula would be more broken down than standard milk based formula and might be handled better.

 

[bky]

My SIL had the milk protein allergy (forget what it's called) that necessitated her being put on soy formula. Pretty much her poo was green until they swapped.

I'm having the exact opposite issue with formula in that Lucy has become somewhat constipated. I'm really frustrated as she is obviously straining and the poos are too firm IMO for baby poos (ranging from peanutbutter to playdough). I just keep stuffing breastmilk down her to keep her pooing. She went from 3-5 times a day on breastmilk only to 1 large one on combination feeding.