Combo feeding

[Kiwiberry]

My baby is a 28 Weeker (technicaly a 27+6 Weeker). I started to breastfeed her around 2 weeks ago when she was around 33 / 34 weeks. She is currently 35+5. She has done great so far the only issue is she falls asleep before she can get her full feed. I would say she gets around half. We just started allowing them to bottle feed her last night. She does around 12ml on the bottle out of 39ml. Not sure how much she takes on breast bUT I think it's close to half.

What I want to know is if anyone has any success stories with combo feeding. Also how long did it take your preemie to do full feeds by both breast and bottle?

 

[25weeker]

I didn't combi feed once I was home but when I wasn't at the unit then they would give my dd a bottle. They didn't properly start her on feeding off me until about 37 weeks. By about 38 weeks she had more or less nailed it. She did lose weight at first but they said this was normal as they have to work for their milk rather than it being put into their stomach. When they weighed her on day 6 she had started gaining again.

Give her a week or so and she will probably be more alert and feed better. I know it feels like eternity but she will get there.

Good luck x

 

[Kiwiberry]

Thanks a lot hun! I was told that when she comes home I will have to feed her at least 2-3 bottles a day with formula mixed in to help her gain weight. I checked, and she is gaining about 5-20g a day. No losing weight yet thank goodness, but I only breastfeed her 2-3 times a day since I live 30 minutes away.

I can't wait for her to get stronger and become much more alert.

Oh and she is already doing much better on the bottle. She seems to get a couple of full feeds in a day, as well as a couple of half feeds. I have not tried her out on breastfeeding yet since I posted that, but I get 2 whole days to feed on demand since they signed me up for the sleep room. It starts tomorrow. I am so excited!

 

[25weeker]

Good luck on feeding on demand x

 

[angiepie]

You don't have too give formula although of course it will shoot up the weight gain. They pressured me into giving formula and I said no. I opted for the HMF or calogen but the said it's too expensive to give out, so we went without anything. Initially I was giving tops ops of EBM. I started with 20mls and increased to 50mls as he gained weight, then I taped from there down to 20mls again and then stopped the top ups altogether.

We still do 1 bottle a day with meds. We started bfing at 34 weeks and bottles started a few days later. The sleepiness is normal. They don't wake up properly til 36-37 weeks, and then again at full term (or for Harrison it was 2 weeks corrected). The NGT came out at 37 and a bit weeks IIRC by which time he hadn't been tubed in a few days anyway. After the tube is out it's only a few more days. I roomed in a few days later for 2 nights and he came home 38+5. So it was about 3 or 3 1/2 weeks from starting bfing and bottles to him being EBF.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Thanks Angie! I think I might do the HMF on her bottles when she comes home. They are letting me stay the next two night to BF her. She is not off the NGT yet, they wanted to try the next two days without it but she was not taking any full feed today or last night so we opted not to put her through the stress in case she had to have it put back in.

Hopefully BF goes well. I have not been able to BF her the past two days and she has just had bottles and tube feedings.

 

[Kiwiberry]

I spoke to her nurses about HMF and they still want me to use formula to top off her bottles when she comes home. I am so confused about the difference between the two. Can any of you mom's help me understand more about it?

 

[kanga]

Hmf comes with risks. NEC.

You put hmf in breast milk.

Formula is Just formula. No breastmilk.

 

[Kiwiberry]

Well they actually mix formula with my BM and feed it to her in a bottle when I am not there (in the NICU I mean). They have also told me that is what they want me to do when she comes home.

I know formula is not BM, I am not that dumb lol. I am just wondering about the differences in using HMF vs formula to top off my babies bottles. Or rather why Angie chose to use HMF over formula.

 

[GI_Jane]

Unfortunately combo feeding never worked out for us once he came home. The breast feeding just zapped his energy- was so much effort for the little guy, my milk never came in properly (I think this was the stress of the whole situation) and then I got mastitis. I spent so long beating myself up about the BF not working out and that coupled with the constant tiredness, me and DH decided for my own mental health to switch to bottle only.

Sounds like you are doing great, far better then I ever managed, well done and keep going

 

[Kiwiberry]

She is home now and doing amazing. She breastfeed like a champ and takes her vitamin bottles. The only thing i am trying to figure out is how to juggle in pumping into that schedule.