Babies: 0 - 3 Months

If you feed BOTH breast milk and formula...

If your baby is eating both breast milk AND formula, how do you do it? Do you combine some breast milk and some formula in the same bottle? Or do you alternate a bottle of breast milk, and a bottle of formula?
 
It looks like I will be pumping. We've been unsuccessful at breastfeeding since Day 1, and I had to begin formula because she was losing too much weight in the hospital. She has now gained some back, and my pediatrician told me it's my choice how I want to proceed. I can stick with 100% formula, but I went out and got a pump today so we can try it. I figured it's better for her to get at least SOME breast milk, somehow. 
 
He said some babies will take a bottle of just breast milk - some even prefer it. But most prefer the formula, now that they've gotten a taste of it. I will see what works best for her, but I was just wondering what you all do. 
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Re: If you feed BOTH breast milk and formula...

  • I do separate bottles of breastmilk & formula.  If anything, I think LO prefers the breastmilk... but she takes both readily.
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  • We do breastmilk duringthe day and formula at night.
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  • We feed DS formula if he still acts hungry after being breastfed, so some days he doesn't get any formula.  The most formula he has had in one day is 4 oz.  He doesn't seem to care if he's drinking formula or breastmilk.  He just likes to be fed.

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  • I was rarely able to pump enough to make a whole bottle of breastmilk, so I would figure out how many extra ounces were needed for the formula and add that to the BM in the same bottle. For example, if I pumped 1 oz but he needed 3 oz, I would add 2 oz of water and a scoop of formula, mix it, and feed it like that. Like PP said, he didn't seem to care what was in the bottle as long as he was being fed.
                 

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  • We supp formula at night to get her weight up during the first month. She slept better with formula. I pumped to get my supply up and we now bottle feed her bm at night and she does just fine!
  • imageRods_princess:
    We do breastmilk duringthe day and formula at night.

    This. I save up enough from pumping to give LO a whole bottle vs maybe an oz of BM and then the rest of formula. I like to do one or other.  I just save them up in the fridge until I have enough for a feeding.

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  • I pump 6-7 times a day and only  give formula right before he goes to bed at night.  The  rest is breastmilk.

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  • I give formula only if I don't have enough bm pumped and I need to be away from DD. She gets about 1 bottle/day and at least half of those are pumped milk. DD doesn't really seem to have a preference for formula or breastmilk when it's in a bottle but definitely prefers the boob to the bottle. She will eat whatever is offered when she's hungry.
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  • I have been pumping since he was 7 weeks and always do 1/2 and 1/2. I only get enough milk for about half of what he eats. It has been working out great. 
  • imageRods_princess:
    We do breastmilk duringthe day and formula at night.

    This. I pump during the night to keep the meager supply up as well. Our LO drinks bottles of straight breast milk- she chugs them happily. I give it to her straight in the hope that she will eventually learn to suck correctly and my supply will increase nough that we can stop supplementing altogether.

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  • Thanks for all the input - I appreciate it!

     

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  • We do breast milk during the day in bottles and formula for the night feedings. I am hoping that the formula holds him over longer so he will sleep longer.
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  • Have you tried using an SNS? I use both breastmilk and formula in it, but i separate them, that way i always know how much breastmilk i'm giving her.  i do formula during the day and bm at night because i think it may be gentler on her tummy.  i had difficulty with bf too. check out my blog post on it, maybe it will help.  https://www.whosthatmom.com/supplemental-nursing-system/

    I also did a post on baby bottles since we went through so many Stick out tonguehttps://www.whosthatmom.com/best-baby-bottle/

    feel free to message me for more info, i know how frustrating it is!

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  • ds will take anything .... BM, formula or a combo

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  • imagemierasm1:
    I have been pumping since he was 7 weeks and always do 1/2 and 1/2. I only get enough milk for about half of what he eats. It has been working out great.&nbsp;

    This is what I do too.
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  • I give my daughter bottles of half breast milk half formula and it works great. My breast milk isn't heavy enough for her but the mix seems to satisfy her. Then at her last night time bottle she gets a full formula bottle. She is now one month old today and has started sleeping 6 hours at night! The dr said its probably because she's much more satisfied with her meals.
  • imageRods_princess:
    We do breastmilk duringthe day and formula at night.
    Thus is what we do as well. Good luck.
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  • imageRods_princess:
    We do breastmilk duringthe day and formula at night.


    This is what we do.
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  • Me personally what I do is give my son breast milk, now when I don't have time to pump I formula feed him. Advice to you, pump till you're dry and pump every 2 hours (or an hour before she eats) that way you can keep your milk supply and even increase it when your baby gets bigger. Wishing you luck :)
  • I've had BF'ing issues too but if you would like to EBF I would recommend seeing a lactation consultant (I just didn't have the patience to stick with it). I did both and for my LO found that he preferred the BM but I didn't produce enough to do it exclusivly, but found that for him they don't mix well. I pump, give the BM then wait about 10-15 mins and give him the formula. This has worked well for us! Good luck!
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