Introducing an occasional bottle of formula - confused :s

Ilovewine - so you would exclusively breastfeed on weekends etc? Would you have the supply for it? yup, definitely. as long as there is demand, there will be supply. my days look like this: sunday to thursday: 6am - breastfeed day - DS on solids & 2 bottles of formula 6pm - breastfeed 6.30pm - DS sleeps through till 6am fridays, saturdays & holidays: 6am - breastfeed 10am - breasfeed 2pm - breastfeed 6pm - breastfeed +solids, waters & snacks *and i breastfeed inbetween the above hours if i see DS is hungry, or wants a cuddle, or needs help with taking a nap (yes, i spoil him and i dont care LOL) HTH

love your post ilovewine, its so nice to read success stories! mols, enjoy the infrequent pooing, at around 3 months my son switched to a poo every 8 days and stayed that way until we started solids at 7 months, it was great, no more changing poos when out and about! Look out when he does poo though it will fill the nappy and then some. Don't be tempted to intervene, its just the body processing the milk more efficiently so there is less waste, a good thing!

Hi mols, 5 days without a poo for ebf baby is perfectly normal. My DS went without a poo for up to 9 days! My DS was born in January and i started work again in July. I managed to express at work for 4 months but DS needs couldnt be met any longer without me being totally exhausted by it all. If i even missed 1 pumping session it would mean that he wouldnt have enough milk for the next day. Even though i had a good stash in the freezer i was so scared of dipping into it as i told myself that it was only to be used in emergencies. Like you i felt so guilty about the entire formula thing - not that formula is bad for DS but because i was capable of providing bm but was too exhausted to continue pumping. It was a mind struggle of epic proportions! I, however, took the plunge and introduced one bottle of formula per day. DS took to it as if he had it all his life! I then added another bottle and up until this very day, DS only has 2 bottles of formula a day. I still breastfeed weekends, mornings, evenings, vacations - basically when i am around there is no formula in sight. My body as adjusted perfectly and even now that DS is on solids, i still produce enough milk to sustain my son's needs. I want to tell you not to worry, but you will, as i did, so all i can tell you is this: you have done fantastically breastfeeding your baby until now, formula isnt bad for your baby and you definitely can go back to work, supplement feeds AND continue to breastfeed. When i stopped expressing i started by cutting one session out per day (10am) for 3 days. The following 3 days i cut out another session (1pm), then the 8pm session and then 10pm until i was completely done. I was never engorged or sore and my body adjusted perfectly. It is as if my body has adjusted to the difference between weekends/weeks too because on a Sunday, at work, after a weekend of exclusive breastfeeding, there is no leaking etc. Like kiwispiers said, our bodies are amazing. Kiwispiers, and many other women on here, have been amazing with support and advice. I am happy to say that i still breastfeed my DS at 11.5 months. Good luck x

you will probably be engorged for the first week that you drop the feed so try and do it before you start work, and f you are working though two feeds phase out one feed at a time, dropping too many feeds too fast will be painful and could leave you open to mastitis.

you can def just do mornings and nights, your supply will adjust to account for the formula but you will continue to make enough milk for those feeds for as long as your baby demands them, thats what happens naturally as your baby gets older and drops feeds anyway, the milk doesn't go, you just don't get engorged during the time of day you are not feeding, the body is a magical thing, so its totally an option and might be the way to go for you. What you might find works well is to have your nanny/husband be the one to give any formula feeds so that your baby learns that when you are there he breastfeeds, when you are not he bottle feeds, might help in avoiding bottle preference etc.

my fault, for some reason my link blew the page, I've edited it and it seems to have fixed the problem (happens sometimes with long hyper-links) You don't have to pump while at work if you don't want to, you might be able to negotiate to join your lunch break with your pumping time and go home to feed instead, or else give formula while at work and breastfeed while at home, doesn't have to be all one or the other, if you don't feed during the day your supply will adjust so that your breasts aren't too engorged during the working day and you will still make enough milk for the feeds around the times that you do breastfeed (just like when babies drop night feeds). If you don't want to breastfeed publicly when out and about then you can always use changing rooms in shops and ask for a quiet bedroom when visiting friends, I had to do that as my son just wasn't up for public breastfeeding. not pressuring you to continue if you don't want to, but just trying to give you options, there are a lot of good reasons to stick with breastfeeding if its manageable, and it gets easier once your baby is on solids and not entirely dependant on your milk but its totally not the end of the world if you stop now so look at the big picture and do what makes sense to you. get used to the guilt though, ALL mothers feel guilty pretty much ALL the time, its just something we like to do to ourselves ;)

Thank you ladies for your various responses! Believe me this is not a decision I'm making lightly, but I need to be realistic re feeding when back at work and surely mixed feeding for another 2-3mnths is better than exclusively bfing for 1 more? Any recommendations for any tried/tested lactation consultants? I'm in Doha so can't give a personal recc but here is a list of breastfeeding support in the UAE, the breastfeeding Q & A facebook group would be a great way to get feedback from other working/pumping mums. I'm not sure where you are but I've heard great things about Dr Delphine, she is a family Dr AND a fully qualified LC which is a rare mix here is a link for breastfeeding support [url=http://www.expatwoman.com/dubai/monthly_pregnancy_babies_Breastfeeding_Support_In_Dubai_8935.aspx '>link[/url'> Do you plan to fully stop breastfeeding when you return to work, and just use your stockpiled milk to extend the length of time your baby is mixed fed or are you thinking a combo of formula, EBM and continuing to pump and direct feed? You will legally be entitled to breastfeeding/pumping breaks at work and if you choose to you can "reverse cycle" basically breastfeeding more in the hours that you are not at work so your baby does their long stretch while you are away. Exclusively pumping is certainly not impossible if its what you want to do but some women find it more of a challenge than others (depends a lot on how well you respond to the pump). As to whether its better your baby is EBF for another month and then fully FF if that would be your plan should you not have stockpiled milk) vs you starting to mix feed now and stockpiling for mixed feeding later, its not actually clear cut what would be better, in some ways the first would be better, in terms of reducing risk of infection etc while the gut is still immature, but alternatively you'd ideally want your baby to be receiving some breastmilk for the first few months when starting solids as this has been shown to have significant benefit in reducing allergy risk. Maybe do some more research and talk to some experts before you take the formula plunge? edited by kiwispiers on 13/12/2012 <em>edited by kiwispiers on 13/12/2012</em>

you will sometimes hear not to mix formula and breastmilk, some will say its for digestion reasons but actually bm helps your baby digest other foods, the actual reason for this is that you don't want to waste a drop of your EBM and if you mix the two and your baby doesn't finish the bottle you might end up throwing liquid gold away. You could alternatively use the formula for top ups, assuming your baby will accept it. At one point I bought a bunch of formulas and taste tested them, frankly they are all pretty horrid but some are downright vile. Maybe ask any ff friends for a sample so you don't buy a stack of tins only to throw them. There was one organic brand, maybe Holle? or something like that, that by far tasted the most like breastmilk to me although in the end I never used any and just used regular cows milk in my cooking. Evelyn has a point, from a health perspective it would be better to keep EBFing now rather than introducing formula just so that you can keep the ebm for later, as soon as you introduce formula you increase the risks of gastric infection and also hinder the absorption of some nutrients in breastmilk (for example the iron that is added to formula actually interferes with the absorption of the form of iron in bm) on the other hand the longer you leave it the more risk there is that your baby will reject formula so you will have to weigh up the risks vs benefits for your own situation. You might find that your lo will start doing a long stretch at some point giving you the chance to add an extra pumping session. (eg my son used to sleep solidly from 7pm until 3am at that age so I was able to start pumping at around 10pm right before I went to bed and stockpile that for later.) might be an idea to see an lc re the not feeding efficiently, although its pretty common for breastfed babies to clusterfeed around that time of night. Also be mindful that giving formula will often lead to lower demand on your own supply, talking with an LC might help you plan around this (eg you could give extra breastfeeds in the time you are not at work allowing you to give less formula while you are apart)

Since you want to introduce formula, start slowly. I think you have a good plan worked out. I used to be an enemy of formula! But going back to work and continuing to pump is just not realistic enough. You have breastfed for nearly five months by then! That's a huge accomplishment considering how hard it is! Well done. Bring it on Aptamil! :&gt;)))

That's a pointless comment evelyn2000, the OP has asked for advice on introducing formula as she's going back to work, telling her it's not advised by WHO is a moot point. To the OP, I never liked mixing formula and breast milk simply because it took so much effort for me to express that I hated then to mix it up with formula! With my first two children, I introduced a formula 'dream feed' at 11pm ish at couple of months old. They were generally so sleepy and relaxed at that time that they would take anything put in their mouths and it got them used to the taste. I expressed to keep the freezer stocked so there was breast milk available if I wanted a few hours out. I gradually replaced each feed during the day with a formula bottle until they were fully weaned off breast milk. I did this at different ages for them all, 6 months for my first, 9 months for my second and 15 months for my third who refused to take a bottle of anything (breast or formula) so I had to EBF the whole time. Thus proving things often don't go to plan!

Try La leche Leauge, you can ask the question on their FB group or contact directly. I think they will provide you all information you need. WHO advised to give only breast milk until baby is 6 month old. www.facebook.com/groups/lll.uae/

I introduced formula milk when my daughter was 2 months old, she only takes one bottle a day when I'm out with her. She started with only 3 ozs and then started giving her another oz after 2 weeks, as she wanted more after the 3 ozs. She's 3 months now and takes 5 ozs in a day, of course with breast milk the rest of the day. I gave her cow and gate colic, but when i came back to Dubai I can't find that formula anywhere so just gave her cow and gate but I feel like its not like the one in London, she's be constipated ever since she started taking it. So I'm not sure which formula you should try. My doctor recommended SMA and Aptamil.

I think mixing is good way to introduce, as the taste is quite different for them to get used to. I did that at around 3 months, started with sma cartons and just did half and half for a while, my daughter was fine with it. Once she was fully on formula I started using the powder formula as its cheaper than the cartons and they drink more and more as they get older. But the cartons last 24 hours in the fridge and are good if you are just introducing a few oz/ml here and there. Aptimel do cartons too from birth. Good luck...! : )