moving from BF to FF

I put Jake on the odd bottle when I was BFing and it made no difference to how he fed but some babies are different. My brother went on a feeding strike when he realised the bottle fed him faster which forced mum to stop BFing. Thats really all I can contribute
Not sure about the mixing q's sorry I just gave him either expressed or formula. You probably need to watch for sore tum when introducing formula but I think there will be others on here with more of an idea. GL!

IsaacsMum wrote: Currently DS is exclusively BF. I'm thinking of introducing a formula bottle at his 10pm feed, as he's waking so often during the night (1,3&5 last night), and expressing doesn't really work for me. Also, I'm hoping to leave him for a whole afternoon/evening in a couple of weeks, and need to be sorted with what the sitter is to feed him. I've also heard of some woman mixing breast milk and formula. He's currently 11 wks. So, my questions are. . . . Can I just mix breast milk and made-up formula 50/50? (no special notes about storing, heating or anything?) No you shouldn't really, lots of reasons why not, mainly for safety and heating. Is there anything I need to know about introducing formula to a BF baby? Constipation can be a problem. You should be aware that if he hasn't had a bottle before he may not like it. He might not accept a bottle from you becasue he can smell your milk You might need to trial and error with teats. You will need a SLOW teat to begin with, for many reasons, but the main one would be if you want to continue BF, you need to use a slow flow teat. Babies don't really need to work a bottle teat like a nipple, as the milk just drips out, so no tounge work needed really like they do with the breast. True story, its quite a different suck and tounge technique. Also, sorry to say, formula will not nessacarily make baby sleep better or sleep through. It does for some, but not all. Is there any consensus out there about which brand of formula is 'best'? Ive heard that s26 is closest to breast milk taste. It also smells less yuck than the other formulas. I tried a few and always went back to that one, it worked best for us. I agree with what Stacey said tho, about sachets. (Other than the potential effect on supply and demand) Can I just add a formula feed even now and then as convenient? Or does it need to be consistent?

If you make it consistant., (as in during the day as well) you will muck up your supply and demand. If you are going to introuce a bottle of any type of milk (ebm or formula) you will need to pump (even if you get nothing) to maintain your supply if you want to continue BF. The thing with "missing" a feed is your body will make less milk. Just be aware that adding bottles often leads to weaning for a number of reasons, probably the main two are supply problems (like I mentioned above) and The thing with the suck, babies do become "lazy" . However if you wish it to be every night then you will need to do it every night. Still need to keep your supply up, tho...

Get in touch with La Lache League, they have lots of good correct information about weaning/introducing bottles etc. They won't be able to tell you which formula, thats a personal thing that changes from baby to baby, but will provide you with information about introducing bottles and correct storage and making up etc.

good luck


Edited by fattartsrock

My son has had formula for part of his feed since he was 2 days old. I had problems with his feeding for the 1st 2 weeks so had to top up with formula and/or EBM depending on my mood and my supply (tend not to produce as much at the end of the day).

Since his feeding has been sorted he has still always had formula for the last feed of the day as I am too tired to stay up to feed him, so husband does it, then I have had enough sleep to feed him in the middle of the night.

Some babies seem to struggle with bottle and breast but Charlie has so far always been fine. We also found that giving him formula at his last feed zonks him out for longer so only have to get up once during the night. (He is 8 weeks old)

Edited by shonpluck