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Mixing formula with breast milk

Shoegal36Shoegal36 member
in May 2013 Moms
I posted the other day about not getting much when I pump. I've tried different things but my body seems to max out at 2 oz. I'm still wanting to give LO at least 1 bottle per day so she doesn't refuse them again, and she will now chug down 5 oz (probably more if I had more). 

So instead of having to do 3 pumping sessions to get 1 stinkin' bottle I want to try mixing half and half (inspired by today's UO!)  

So here are my questions...which may or may not be dumb questions :)

Do I need to heat the breast milk and formula separately, then mix? or mix together in the same bottle and then heat up? (LO needs her milk WARM) 

How much formula does she need to get in a day to stop giving D drops? (aka giving D drops every couple days if I remember...)

The only reason I want to mix the two instead of just giving a formula bottle is because she will probably refuse it and also I'll have to pump any way since I'm skipping a feeding. 

Thanks! 


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Re: Mixing formula with breast milk

  • john5111john5111 member
    I mixed the formula and water and shook it up and then added the BM to it and then heated it all together. It worked out well.  I usually did like half half bottles until my BM ran out.
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  • littledaisieslittledaisies member
    You shouldn't mix BM and formula in the same bottle. If your LO doesn't finish the bottle you can save the BM for later that day or the next day. Once formula is mixed you can't save it for a long time. My son sucks down bottles there are some days where he only takes an ounce or leaves an ounce in the bottle. 

    I suggest giving her one bottle of BM and the other bottles formula. Combine all the BM you pump in the day to one bottle even if it's only 2 oz. Feed her that and go to the formula bottle after that. 

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  • Shoegal36Shoegal36 member
    littledaisies said:
    You shouldn't mix BM and formula in the same bottle. If your LO doesn't finish the bottle you can save the BM for later that day or the next day. Once formula is mixed you can't save it for a long time. My son sucks down bottles there are some days where he only takes an ounce or leaves an ounce in the bottle. 

    I suggest giving her one bottle of BM and the other bottles formula. Combine all the BM you pump in the day to one bottle even if it's only 2 oz. Feed her that and go to the formula bottle after that. 

    The only problem with this is that she probably won't drink the formula. It took her 5.5 months to even accept a bottle. I just plan on mixing small amounts, and if she wants more, I'll mix more. (if she will even drink the mixture...we will see!) 
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  • MOMama987MOMama987 member
    When I was pumping, I mixed the bottles - I'd heat them once they were mixed. 
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  • flyliceandcoffeeflyliceandcoffee member
    So here's what I do, since I do a combo.

    Like you, if I get 2 oz pumped at a time, it's a happy day. so we mix bottles all the time. I do 4 pumps a day and usually get close to 7oz for the day. We send S to school with 5 bottles, 4 5oz ones, and 1 2oz. One of her 4oz bottles and her 2oz bottle are strictly formula. Her other 3 bottles is a mixture of formula and bm. We split the BM into 3 bottles, mix the formula in one big bottle and then pour it into the 3 BM bottles until we get to 5oz. We do this all in the morning and at school they just warm it up like normal.

    As for the drops, our pedi said if she's getting more than half her intake through formula, there's no need for vitamin drops.

    Hope that helps! If you need any other info on mixing, feel free to let me know, like I said, we've been doing this for months now :)
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  • littledaisieslittledaisies member
    scormier123 said:
    littledaisies said:
    You shouldn't mix BM and formula in the same bottle. If your LO doesn't finish the bottle you can save the BM for later that day or the next day. Once formula is mixed you can't save it for a long time. My son sucks down bottles there are some days where he only takes an ounce or leaves an ounce in the bottle. 

    I suggest giving her one bottle of BM and the other bottles formula. Combine all the BM you pump in the day to one bottle even if it's only 2 oz. Feed her that and go to the formula bottle after that. 

    The only problem with this is that she probably won't drink the formula. It took her 5.5 months to even accept a bottle. I just plan on mixing small amounts, and if she wants more, I'll mix more. (if she will even drink the mixture...we will see!) 
    It probably makes sense to mix. I was supplementing with formula for a little bit and our pedi said not to mix it in case he doesn't take the whole bottle. She didn't want me to run the chance of wasting the BM.  
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  • raw1299raw1299 member
    If you know she'll take the 4-5 oz, by all means give it to her mixed. I just take hot tap water, mix in the formula, then add the newly pumped bm and shake. 

    And I was going to say- if shes getting at least a bottle of formula, you should be OK to stop the vitamin D. 
    Married 10/09/11
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  • AllieAGameAllieAGame member
    Congrats on letting go of the pump a bit! I hope this helps you guys be happier. :)

    What worked for us may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it did result in a baby that happily takes all formula bottles (from all BM) and even prefers the cheapest formula out there (Sam's Club). We mixed starting with a 5:1 ration (5 oz BM, 1 oz Formula) and then every 2-4 days (depending on how much I had pumped and in what quantity I bottled the expressed milk), and then adjusted for less BM/more formula. It wasn't exact. Some bottles were 5:2, some 4:1, some 3:3 (meaning, we didn't always do a 6 oz bottle- we just went with our gut for a gradual taste change).

    The 3 biggest success factors for us where 1) my husband's support that it was time to stop pumping, 2) consistancy in always offering a mixed bottle and 3) knowing that some BM was going to go to waste and being ok with that. After all, the end goal for us was to stop BM all the way, so I couldn't get upset if part of a bottle went down the drain.

    Some other tips: if you make the formula with really hot water, then you don't have to heat the BM as much. Always give the formula time to settle so the bubbles come out. Lexie likes her formula really warm, almost hot. We always made/heated the formula separately from the BM and then once both were a good temperature, combined them in one bottle.

    Good luck! I hope it goes well.
    She is here! 5-29-13

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  • Shoegal36Shoegal36 member
    Thank you ladies! :)

    So I gave it a try after only reading the first few replies...I mixed half and half (2 oz of each) and she spit it all out. I wish I would have read @AllieAGame's response about starting gradual first, but the problem is I don't have a stash so I only have so much to work with. 

    I'm going to keep trying! Next time I will do 1 oz formula and 3 oz BM. 
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