Combination fed baby

[JLew]

Hi everyone,

I am a mother of a 5 month old baby boy. He is not exclusively breastfed anymore. He was until 2 weeks old however he was too hungry and the health visitor advised to try formula/combination feeding and he was so much more settled and was gaining above and beyond with combination feeding. But he still goes on every fed even if it is for 10 minutes and then has a 7oz bottle of hungry baby. It is mainly for comfort for him and his digestion is better when he is breastfed every feed or every other to start the feed. I recently found out that he only gets an oz of milk maybe 2oz for the whole day. My family have booked me a tattoo for June. I feel extreme guilt that I have to stop breastfeeding. I feel sad. Have I given him the best? I'm scared about his immunity to colds etc if I stop.

Have any of you experienced this guilt or sadness/worry? If so, please help me. X

[Kempton]

Every bit of breast milk you can give will have huge benefits for your baby so don't feel bad. A lot of people stop at around 6 months when they start weaning, so you're not alone. If you feel like you're not ready to stop (and completely weaning might be hard if baby demands it), could you not postpone the tattoo for a bit longer?? I didn't even realise tattoos were an issue but it does make sense!

[Lovefood1984]

I definitely felt that guilt and I stopped combi feeding at 3 weeks due to my little girl not latching properly, not having enough supply and me not having enough sanity to pump and feed and sleep, something had to give and it was the pumping as it was a half hour job at every feed which wasn’t practical with a newborn at all! By then I’d felt I’d tried so hard so felt more accepting than I had done when I’d introduced a bottle at 1 day old. I think you need to feel ready in yourself as yes there was some guilt but the need to stop was greater so I could make my peace with it easier. I certainly don’t regret anything now at almost 6 months. If you aren’t ready perhaps do what Kempton said and postpone for a couple of months x

[Annh17]

Can you not have a tattoo, if breast feeding?

I combi feed and have done since day 3, but my LG is a little piggy and my milk supply can’t keep up with her.

She only has 1 bottle of my milk now and rest is formula. Pumping is so much hard work, especially when you have a clingy baby. So I pump in morning and then when I can during the day, too top bottle up.

Experts say, babies only need 50mls of breast milk too get all the goodness xx

[JLew]

My friend's sister said it's fine and she is a health visitor. But the tattoo artist said no. The thing is it was booked by a family member as a surprise months ago for my 21st in June and there is a large deposit put down so I don't want them to lose it as they have saved for it.

He only gets about half a bottle of milk maybe from me a day because I wasn't able to keep up with his demand as he is also a little piggy Haha. Xx