Newbie - talk to me about ff and combi feeding?

[little_lady]

I've had enough with EBF. Last night was awful, Joel fed constantly from 7 to 10pm then again from 12 to 3am, then again at 6am and my toddler woke at 7. In between feeds he had awful wind.

Naively, I thought breastfeeding would be easy again. I fed my daughter for 11 months with no issues and expected an easy ride again. But my nipples are raw from the constant nursing, I'm really tired and starting to resent Joel for feeding so much. I expected a bit of cluster feeding but he shows no signs of easing up!

I've decided to introduce some bottles but I know nothing about combo feeding. I don't even know how to make up formula. Anyone got any ideas or advice? Like, can I keep a flask of boiled water by my bed for night time feeds? Which feeds are best to keep as breast? Are we allowed to make feeds up in advance? How do we avoid nipple confusion? How many oz do they need at 3 weeks?!

 

[horseybird]

Hello, I am a first time mum, so definitely not a expert but thought I would tell you what I did.

I started BF but hated it, and LO lost a pound by day 5 post birth. So I was told to 'top up with formula' I gave 3 ozs after each attempted breast feed.

I knocked BF on the head, and expressed every 4 hours for 4 weeks. My LO has feeds every 4 hours. I started off with a formula feed at night, because it fills them up longer and I wanted sleep. How much you offer will prob depend on your little one feeding pattern, mine has always liked every 4 hours, and I think at 6 weeks she was on 3-4 ounces? Now she is 15 weeks and on 7-8 ounces

Its up to you whether you make up bottles as you go along or do them in advance like we do. I use a electrical steriliser as it can do 6 bottles in one go. I then boil the kettle, let it cool for half hour, and fill up the bottles ready to go. All you have to do is add the powder when you want to feed, if your LO takes at room temp, great, if not then just warm it up.

I hope all of this helps? I feel your pain, I hated BF. Maybe you could ask a health vistor or someone for advice?

 

[horseybird]

sorry forgot to say, once you ve made up the feed, you are not ment to store it. I was told once it had been out for 1 hour thats it, throw it away. Sorry I have no idea about nipple confusion, as I feed expressed milk from bottles. I was led by milk supply so to start with it was one feed out of 4 that was formula, then gradually went to 2\4 and then 3/4 over a period of 2 to 3 weeks? Good luck, all the best xxx

 

[melfy77]

I EBF for just 2 weeks, and DD was still losing weight. I was exhausted; I even managed to get the stomach flu, which I NEVER do (last one I had was 15 YEARS ago!!). So I started BF, FF and pumping. I did that for 2 weeks, than stopped BF (I hated it and DD much preferred the bottle). Until a few weeks ago I was still pumping to freeze some milk, but now I'm done with it!

As far as formula go, I make enough for 24 hours and keep it in the fridge. I boil the water, then let it cool down until 70 celsius or so (with powder it's warm enough to kill bacteria but won't do too much damage to the formula) I mix the formula in a container and then prepare a few bottles and put everything in the fridge. When I need a bottle, I just take one out, heat it up, and whatever is left after 1 hour (ok sometimes I push it to 1 1/2 hour) I throw away. But DD likes her formula quite warm so after 1 hour it's wayyyy too cold for her

IMO, the hardest thing about FF is to find the right formula for your LO. Yes in a way they're all the same, but yet some babies will do great on one but terrible on the other one. And store brand is as good as name brand, just wayyy cheaper!!

And BTW, don't feel bad about this!! You're doing your best, and every drop of breastmilk is good!

 

[heyyydayyy]

I EBF for about 3 weeks before introducing formula. It started with just the night feeds so OH could feed her and I could sleep. It worked out GREAT! I made sure to pump so I wouldn't lose my supply. Eventually I quit pumping for night feeds because I didn't need my body to keep making milk at night. Once I stopped pumping my supply adjusted so I wasn't engorged at night but still made enough to feed LO during the day.

I slowly became more dependent on formula. I got to the point where I was BF about 4 or 5 times per day and FF the rest of the time. I tried to pump, but my breasts wouldn't respond to it anymore. So slowly my milk supply decreased. I stopped BF altogether just before 4 months, but not because my milk supply was gone. LO had gotten so used to the ease of the bottle that she would only stay on the boob for 2 minutes before pulling off and getting distracted.

Now she is a fully FF baby and is thriving! My advice though is to set a schedule for when your LO will get formula and breast milk, and stick to it! As long as you have that down, your body will adjust so that your milk supply won't decrease more than is necessary. Sometimes I wish I was still combi feeding because there are some things that the boob could fix that a bottle couldn't, but that ship has sailed and I'm okay with it.