Combining breast and formula - any advise?

[Panda_Ally]

Heya advise needed!! I'm breastfeeding my little girl atm and i enjoy doing it however i sometimes feel trapped by it. I was wondering if it was possible to use formula milk a couple of times a week so my other half can look after baby and i can head to the gym (sounds crazy but i've bin desprate to go since giving birth) or just pop out for coffee with one of my "single" friends. I've tryed expressing milk but i can never get out enough to satisfy her. will giving her formula occasionally reduce my milk supply and will it effect my baby in anyway cos i heard that if there not used to it they can have a hard time digesting it.
Anyone managed to do this successfully? Any other advise?

 

[Mervs Mum]

Hi Panda

An occasional bottle of formula wont reduce your supply if you dont do it at the same time every day for instance. Obviously if you did then your boobs would think that particular feed wasnt required and not produce at that time. You are 6 weeks in so you should be getting nicely established now.

Just be aware that pumping wont produce large amounts straight away. I started off barely getting an ounce in 30 mins but now I can comfortably pump 9oz off in a sitting!
So if you want to be able to pump more, then keep at itm but in the mean time and odd bottle shouldnt be a problem at all.

x

 

[codegirl]

I totally broke all the bf "rules" starting out. Edward was bf and ff almost from day one and I just got him on fulltime bf a couple of weeks ago (when he was approx 5 weeks old). I just pumped a lot and that helped build up my milk supply while the formula made sure that Edward had enough food.

As long as your not skipping feeds regularly without pumping you should be able to get away with mixing to two. Get a good bottle that has a slow flow nipple so that it's more like your breasts and give yourself a break. Your mental health is very important to your baby's health!

 

[Freya]

I decided to introduce one ff as the last feed of each night as I was not getting any breaks and Gracie is a frequent feeder, day and night. She'll be 4 months old tomorrow and shows no signs of change!

I did this at around 8 weeks, this hasn't affected my supply, and I have sometimes fed her for 24hrs and seem to have had enough milk for her.

If you can express, then brilliant!!! Sadly I never could pump much off and it took me days to accumulate enough for a decent feed for OH to give!!!

 

[Mrs_Nesbit]

It'll be fine so long as you find a formula that suits baba's tummy I'm sure. Dont be suprised though if you NEED to express before you think your boobs will explode and you might actually be shocked just how much you can express at that point..lol

 

[1st_baby]

I used to do both from day one and each time OH would FF max I would pump so my milk would not go down !