Transitioning to Formula?!

ttchach

My identical twin girls will be 11 weeks tomorrow, and I've exclusively pumped this entire time. I return back to work in 4 weeks and want to be able to still give them breastmilk but do not know how that will work with my traveling/work schedule. We have the ready to serve formula they sent us home with from the hospital and have also gone out and bought several powdered formulas.

 Any advice on how to offer the first bottle of formula, and what to be aware of? I've heard horror stories on bad reactions, ect. Can I mix breastmilk with formula or keep the bottles pure? Will there be any confusion if I give breastmilk bottles once or twice a day and supplement with formula? Any brands in particular you ahve tried and liked? Any advice is appreciated!

erinri02

When the hospital transitioned our boys to formula, they would give them only an ounce or two of formula for a couple of feedings and the rest breastmilk and slowly increase from there.

My boys both had colic so we had to switch from neosure to nutramigen within a few weeks.  You could start with a soy based formula to see how they adjust and then try mixing in a milk based formula.  My pedi said that a lot of babies have issues with milk based formulas.  

#1_BadgeBunny

In the hospital for 1 reason or another my LO both recieved formula as a supplement.  But at home i tried to EBF with little luck both LOs were lactose intolerant.  So we did what PP said... started w/ 1 bottle a day of forumla then 2 then so on.  Finally once we were at 3 bottle of forumla and the LOs were still having issues we just switched them straight over to a sensative formula and ditched the BM (DS went through every formula known to man he had bad reflux). 

I disagree with PP regarding starting with the sensative formula(if i read that correctly?).  If you are BF now and drinking milk and having no reflux/lactose issues i would try them on regular formula 1st.  Its less expensive and IMO better for them. Its less processed than the other stuff.  I would start with 1 bottle a day.  This will also help decrease you milk production by cutting 1 feeding at a time out w/o you getting engorged. GL.