Combination feeding a 7 week old

[Ol1ve]

Since my little one was about 5 weeks old, he’s had approx 300ml formula a day along with regular breastfeeding feeds (expressed or direct from me). Our GP has suggested he may just be a hungry baby, this coupled with the fact that only one of my breasts produces milk (I have no breast tissue’ on the left side) so my right is having to work overtime as it is.

Has anyone else had any experience of combination feeding? My husband is a doctor and has said that any breast is better than none and that little one will still reap the benefits, but I’m just curious!

[MissSaoPaulo]

We combination fed for a while as my little girl was rubbish at breastfeeding and fell asleep almost immediately every time she was put on the breast. I tend to agree with your husband's point of view and I was quite satisfied to mix breast and formula just so she could get the calories she needed but still get benefit from the breast milk. We've managed to phase out the formula now, but if she falls below her curve again I'd reintroduce it no problem. Hope your little one continues to thrive!!

[Seb9]

Any about of breast feeding is great, especially if you've only got one boob producing. That's great.

I think a lot of people combination feed, but you have to be careful about bottle preferences as getting milk from a bottle is so much easier for them.

There is a really good Facebook group called UK breastfeeding which has lots of really good advice from people who have lots of experience. One thing you might want to look up is pace feeding. It's a way of making them feed slower from the bottle so that they are still happy to work hard for breast milk.

[Ol1ve in reply to Seb9]

Thank you!

He doesn’t seem to have a preference for bottle or breast, but I use nipple shields so the mouth feel is similar I guess!

[Tugsgirl]

I have a very hungry 5 month old and we started combination feeding at 4-5 weeks with one to two bottles a day. They were just 4 oz bottles then but now she’s on a 5 in the morning and a 7 before bed. It’s worked well for us and she’s thrived xx

[Ol1ve]

Thank you all for this, it’s reassuring to know that it’s not just us!