Introducing formula while still breastfeeding

**anonymous** · 04-09-2007 17:22

A few freinds in the UK introduced a formula feed for the last feed of the day (10pm or so) whilst still breastfeeding for the rest of the day. They said their babies would usually sleep for longer periods and often make it through to early morning. They said it didn't effect their milk supply as the body simply adjusted to one less feed in the middle of the night. My baby is 10 weeks old and I've introduced him to the bottle 5-6 times (when going out) usually with expressed milk and once with formula, which he took to very well. I have troubles expressing milk and it takes many, many attempts to get enough for a full feed. Also I'd like to wean him at about 6 months as I'm going back to work and thought keeping one feed a day on the bottle would also keep him interested in the bottle, as I've heard they can go "off" it.

Has anyone tried a formula feed once a day and can they share their experiences.

Thanks for your help.

**3SPUNKRATZ** · 04-09-2007 17:24

it worked for me and my son.

**FluffyDucks** · 04-09-2007 19:10

Hi,

I am doing one forumla feed at night (DS2 is 4 months). He gets the bottle and boob after at 1am when he wakes for a feed (the boob just lulls him back to sleep and he doesnt really get much milk from it) and will sleep through till 5am when he is hungry again and then he gets just boob.

It works great for me because he was waking every 2 hours at night for a feed and it was doing my head in. I needed sleep and the formula feed just seemed to fill him up.

He gets boob all day and night except for the one forumla. I figure he is getting the best of both worlds - he gets breast milk and whatever extra nurtients that is in formula that I cant make plus if I need to be away for some reason he is familiar with the bottle.

And dont feel guilty about giving your baby one bottle of forumla...if it works and everyone is happy and healthy its all that matters.

Hope it helps!

**nicoleE** · 04-09-2007 19:39

Im very interested in this thread because I thought I read somewhere exactly what you are asking... that a formula feed will 'fill' up a baby and perhaps make them sleep better through the night than a boob feed... i was planning to do just that, breastfeed but have one last feed at night on formula so DH can easily feed bubs and bubs can get used to taking food regularly from a bottle and hopefully also fill bubs up and help with night sleeping...

I have breastfeeding classes next week so I plan to ask there to...

Hoping more mums reply with their experiances....

**k15s** · 05-09-2007 10:21

The only thing to watch is some bubs get "nipple confusion". That is once they get put on a bottle (whether it be expressed or formula) they then won't go back to the breast. It's 'cause it's easier to suck from the bottle. My DS1 had a slight case of this and since I also didn't have great support to continue bf I ended up changing him to formula at 4 months. DS2 was a booby baby from day 1 and although I tried him on formula a couple of times when he was going thru growth spurts, he never liked it. I ended up feeding him for 11.5 months.
If you're really worried about the "nipple confusion" thing you could always contact a lactation consultant or the ABA who can sell you specific teats for bottles or recommend which brand is the closest to natural.

**shelle65** · 05-09-2007 10:29

Originally Posted by nicoleE

I have breastfeeding classes next week so I plan to ask there to...

I'm pretty sure I know what their answer will be -
"don't do it"! Breastfeeding experts will encourage you to not use formula at all if you don't have to.

**SAMum** · 05-09-2007 12:34

worked fine for me and ds. I had to return to work early and I was expressing but I couldn't get enough for my hungry boy so DH started giving him one formula feed per day and we never looked back, he was always fine to chop and change between bottle / breast / expressed / formula. Maybe because he was such a big hungry baby he didn't care where the food came from!! That's right was the last post said about how the breastfeeding experts will tell you not to do it but in real life where mums have to return to work etc you just have to do whatever you can. I am very pro breastfeeing but also pro-survival

and it's great that your bub will still be getting plenty of breast milk

**mumma_jessy** · 05-09-2007 16:01

I have done it with two of my babies so far, mostly cause after a busy day i didn't have the supply by the evening to fill them up enough.

I have done it three times with our little one, and she got terribly constipated using formula, so she is a booby baby only atm.

Both ended up on the bottle in the end, but not cause of having a bottle once a day, when i went back to work they had bottle for 4 feeds two days in a row, so didn't like boob when they had the chance, cause it took too long!

Goodluck!