Mixing Breastmilk & Formula

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just do what works for you. The baby will get used to whatever you decide to do. Be happy she'll take a bottle, my second one wouldn't so I was stuck. My first one took bottle or breast and whatever you put in the bottle he didn't care.

Dear C.,

Hang in there you are providing your daughter nature's most perfect food (your breastmilk) and it's much preferred that you avoid mixing the best with an inferior product (formula). I'll share more info if you wamtt to get back to me privately. In the meantime, I can relate to being exhausted because of lack of sleep. I nursed all three of mine and remember falling a sleep with a baby at my breast because I was so tired. I promise, it does get better as you and your brand new daughter get used to living together.
Best to all of you, S.
____@____.com

Hang in there! It is perfectly normal for new babies to sleep so little. Although you can mix formula and breastmilk, at this age it isn't the best thing for her since she may get used to a bottle to the point that she will not breastfeed. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first 6 months. In a couple of weeks you will probably see that she will shift her sleeping to go a little longer. Around 3 months it will be even longer. I know you feel really tired now, but it's only been 4 weeks! It will go fast. Try and get more sleep when she is sleeping during the day.
Best of wishes,
M.

Formula does usually keep kids full about an hour longer than breastmilk. We had to fortify pumped breastmilk w/ special powdered formula because our son was born 11 weeks early and was soooo skinny for a long time. I don't know if this change would make her fussy. Alimentum is one of two formulas our pediatric GI recommended for our son's extremely sensitive stomach. He actually had an easier time w/ that digestively than he did with breastmilk. It costs a fortune, but you can find it at WalMart. If you take time to introduce the mix of formula and breastmilk -- increasing the portion that is formula every few days instead of all at once -- she should do fine. The issue I don't know about is whether your daughter would want the mix all the time. Also, there can be issues with nipple confusion, though I know many people myself included, whose kids were fine with having a bottle at night and taking from the breast at other times. You cannot be getting up every 1.5 hours all night! Even our preemie didn't eat that frequently at night. Do you give her both breasts during each feeding? Maybe more foremilk would keep her fuller. You might want to call your pediatrician's office for advice. Often the nurses have great advice. Maybe even La Leche League could help. They want everyone to breastfeed for as long as possible, so I have to think they've researched solutions for just about every issue. Good luck, and I hope you get some sleep soon! Once your daughter weighs 13 pounds, she should be able to sleep for at least six hours at night w/out needing to eat. I hope that helps you see the light at the end of the tunnel!
K.

C.,
My advice would be to pump and offer the pumped milk. If you are going to nurse long term, offering formula will only slow your milk down and it goes fast. It does take about a good 6-8 weeks for your body to figure out the supply and demand and her nursing will only help this. Offering something else will deplete your milk supply. I nursed all 4 of my kids until 1 exclusive and I offered no formula. It will get better. All my kids slept thru the night by 10 weeks so you'll get there. I also started a routine very early on and stuck with this. They all slept in there own beds and never woke up.
Try napping during the day while baby is napping. I know this is difficult with all the other things mom's do during the day, but you will feel better.
Good luck

I did that with my 2nd daughter and it worked wonders. It helped her keep her satisfied longer. My 3rd baby who is almost 8 months old would only sleep for long periods of time if she slept next to me, but then I got no sleep. This lasted for a couple of months until I finally let her cry herself to sleep. I had to go back to work when she was almost 4 months old.

what would the consequences be?
A more restful night for you.
Go for it.

That was how it was with my son. Every 1.5 to 2 hours. Mixing formula with breast milk may not make them more full. And I don't think she will have a preference. As her stomach gets bigger she will eat more and be full longer - hence sleep longer.
At night make sure she is eating a full meal, sometimes when they are sleepy they fall asleep before they are full.
One word of caution, if you supplement formula this early you could start to see a decline in your breastmilk.
I also cosleep just to get more sleep, and it worked for us. It didn't work for my sister.
Hang in there, you will see a big difference at 6 weeks! It was hard to believe they change so profoundly, but they do!
Can you pump and have your husband take one night feeding so you can get an uninterrupted four hours? It's amazing what four hours can do!
Good Luck!

I say go for it. Now would probably be a good time to do it. She may surprise you and not have any problems at all with the mix or even the straight formula. With my first daughter, I introduced her to formula and a bottle right away, while still mostly(95%) breastfeeding. She did great and it sure made my life easier. I wasn't as wise with my second, waited too long and she wouldn't take formula or a bottle until about 9 months. Hope this helps.

Dear C.,
I will make this brief.
My daughter only weighed 5 pounds full term and I never had any intention of supplementing breast milk. However, I am small as well and I was worried about her not getting enough to eat. I tried supplementing breast milk with formula but all that did was make her turn away from the breast all together.
I was fortunate in that both of my children only woke to be fed once in the night and I just put them in bed with me to nurse. Then they went back to sleep. My daughter being so little, I tried to supplement and she never looked back after that. It was formula or nothing. That was at 3 months old. My son nursed and had breast milk exclusively until 15 months and I had to quit due to needing an operation. He did not like the change. At all.
My only concern is that if you try the combo, your baby will not have it any other way or perhaps want formula exclusively. I know you are tired, but try to nurse as long as you can and have dad help with breast milk bottles. She is only 4 weeks old so you haven't had a chance to settle into a routine yet. I would encourage you to introduce the breast more during the day and keep her alert, without overstimulating, as much as possible so that she can have a full tummy and sleep better throughout the night. All kids are different, but I kept my kids alert and fed during the day and they only ever woke once in the night to nurse. They were both only about 4 weeks old when they slept through the night. Just try changing your feeding schedules before you try anything else and see what happens.

Best of luck and congratulations on your baby!

Hi C.,
I had to do something simaler with my oldest daughter. My breast milk just wasnt enough for she was waking about about every hour and a half also and nurse for about 30-45 minutes so I wasnt getting any sleep. So when she was between 2 1/2 and 3 weeks old, I would breast feed for one feeding and would bottle feed the next feeding and so on. It seemed to work very well for us. She didnt mind it and went a little longer between feedings so that meant I little more sleep all around...lol. Before I started that however, I talked to her ped. Some say that babies may have "nipple confusion". With my kids we introduced them to the pacifier from the beginning and I would also pump my breast milk sometimes and put it in bottles. They got used to it very quickly and never seemed confused by it at all.
Hope this helped and goodluck
-A.

Before you mix the two, understand that breastmilk is on a "supply and demand" formula. By introducing formula, you are risking supply problems to your breastmilk supply, especially this early on.

Another suggestion is to feed more frequently during the day, and even allow her to "cluster feed" before going to bed at night. As time goes on, she will start sleeping longer through the night.

Speaking from experience, my first child nursed every hour non stop through the day, and then every 2 hours at night. The only way I got sleep was by cosleeping, and then discovering how to nurse him while laying in bed. I worked full time, and pumped during the day at work, and even had some early supply problems to deal with. It was a tough 6-8 weeks in the beginning, but if you can get through this stage and keep it to only breastmilk, then in the long term, you and your daughter will be much better for it.

Adding formula will not make your daughter sleep longer, and you are risking even less sleep on you and your husband as her system is not equipped to digest formula as well as the breastmilk.

At this stage, you should try to grab sleep whenever you can, and if the baby's sleeping, it's a great chance to get some sleep for yourself. That is the only thing that saved my sanity in those early weeks.

Hi C....I am a mother of almost 5 and I know how you feel..I don't suggest giving your baby anything BUT the breastmilk..If you have to, pump and that way she can drink a bottle faaster and fall asleep sonner. Babies tend to enjoy the nursing and then using the breast as a pacifier. Try NOT to substitute with formula at all. If she is already 4 weeks old she should be getting to where she sleeps longer peiods of time anyway..Hang in there, tiredness is what being a mom is all about and it's only just begun. :)

Your babe's tummy is still tiny and cannot hold enough of anything to last her very long. Keep breastfeeding so that your milk supply does not wane--as they go into growth spurts (one at three weeks, another at six) and need more milk it is really common for moms to get frustrated, think they are not producing enough milk and supplement. The problem with this is that then they in fact DON'T produce enough milk for the baby, because the baby isn't suckling enough! When you are on a supply-and-demand schedule, the first couple of months are rough and you need naps during the day in order to get enough rest (which also affects your milk supply) to keep your perspective. Just know that this is a very short-term phase--at 4 weeks of age, she is still adjusting to a life outside of your body, just as you are adjusting to mom-hood instead of pregnancy. It's still new, and it will pass soon, but don't give up the opportunity of breastfeeding because of a short-term lack of sleep. You may not get it back! Good luck to you (and take naps, two a day if you need to!).

Hi, C.;
My son was similar...what worked for me was to wait till he was 2 months old and then extend the time between nursing times. I just made him wait 5 min. longer, then after a week, add another 10 min., etc. Ask your doctor. My doctor checked my son and then said I should use ear plugs to help myself wait! I of course couldn't do that, but since she checked him and he was not having any problem, I did add more and more time between feedings and it worked out fine. Gradually he slept for 3 hours at 3 months, then 5 (Yahoo!) at 4 months. I was probably too easy on him, as my sister's baby slept through the night at a few weeks old. (What's with that?) Keep up the good work. J.

Hi, I have 3 month old twin girls that I had to supplement with formula from the beginning due to insufficient breast milk supply (didn't want to but fenugreek, pumping, lactation consult, etc did not increase supply sufficiently). In the hospital and when they first got home, I breastfed during the day (ended up having to supplement those feedings with formula too) and fed them formula at night. I think they did stay asleep a bit longer but their little tummies are small so there were still multiple feedings at night. However, the one night I did breast milk alone they were starving ... just not getting enough nutrition in one sitting.

The trick for us was finding the right formula. We tried about 8 different ones due to gas / fussiness / etc. To cut to the chase, we have one twin taking Zantac for acid reflux (which helped tremendously with pain / screaming after burping and eating) and both are drinking Enfamil LactoFree which has now been working for us for at least a month.

So if you do add in formula, don't think it's a "failure" if the first one doesn't sit right with your baby. It may simply be that you need to try a different one. My pediatrician was very helpful in talking through the different formula options; she also gave us samples to try. She said to stick with a change for 3 days to evaluate its impact.

Also, I didn't have any problem with them preferring breast milk vs. formula or for them preferring bottles over breast. The girls were totally comfortable from their first day going back and forth ... all they really wanted was to get enough to eat!

Hope this helps.

My understanding is mixing the breastmilk and formula is not recommended and I don't think it's going to effect how the baby sleeps. 4 weeks old is still pretty young for her to be sleeping long periods. I think you have a couple more weeks to go. Try to be patient and maybe you can pump into a bottle and your husband and you can take turns feeding in the middle of the night so that you can get more sleep. Letting her fuss for like 10 minutes to see if she can fall back asleep on her own would be good to try too...

Good luck,
J., Mother of 3 (ages 6, 4, 20 months)

I agree with the majority. stick with breastmilk it is more nutritious. Hang in there. Making that change would be such an insignificant difference. It gets better ride it out

I would be worried that she may like and want only the formula and a bottle over the breast. she is so young, her sleeping patterns will get better. Try sleeping with her in your bed so you can just roll over and nurse her and stay pretty much asleep. Read Dr Sears Baby Book about how to safely sleep with you little one. It worked well for my family. Keep breast feeding as much as possible and naps are miracles

Hi cindi. My brother and his wife gave my neice bottles with just formula at night or when they felt breast feeding didnt seem to fill her up enough. This was in the early weeks thye eventualy went strat to breast milk only. I dont suggest mixing them togather. but i beleive its ok to do what my brother and his wife did. or if for some reason you have to go to all formula its ok too. neither of my girls were breast fed. I was just 17 and to afiad to try with the first and the 2nd wouldnt latch on. Every child is differnt and you as a parent have to feel it out. Dont worry your doing a great job. i hope this helps you bye

The formula isn't going to make her sleep more. It is either needs to feed more (maybe she is a premie) or behavioral/habit that she is getting you up and doesn't know how to put herself back to sleep. I suggest baby whisperer. I have four children and a six month old right now. You can cluster feed before bedtime and learn not to feed or rush to her at every snort and cry. The formula will most likely keep her up more as her tummy adjusts to the harder to digest food. Just some thoughts... these early weeks will pass and someday you will sleep again, it doesn't last that long. Sleep in the day when she does.

Both of my children got breastmilk and formula from the beginning. I didn't mix the formula with breastmilk; I followed the directions and mixed it with water. We did this from day one and it worked great for us. I currently have a friend with a 6 week old baby that she is breastfeeding exclusively and that is all she does!!! I just suggested including formula for her sake. Talk to your pediatrician, also, they are the experts. Good luck!

From my experience the formula never made my son sleep longer, i even tried just a formula bottle before bed no breast milk and he would be awake in the same amount of time wanting to nurse again. Honestly i found that co-sleeping was the only way i could get sleep, my son would wake up, nurse and go right back to sleep, he wanted the comfort of being next to me. Downfall to that is my son will be 25 months on the 5th and is still in bed with us even though his bed is next to ours and i'm 37 weeks pregnant.

I'm not telling you to put your baby in bed with you i'm just telling you that is what worked for me and i wouldn't expect formula to do the trick.

Hi C.. I did that also but then my supply went down and we had to switch complely over to formula. its not a bad idea. hope it works for you as me it didnt. but it did make things eaier having my husband feed her at night. Good luck. u can mix them i didnt now that until after she was on 100% formula. A.

C.,
I wouldn't do ANYTHING without consulting with her doctor. She may have a reason to agree or not agree with what you want. As for sleep...you won't get it. She's a baby and demands feedings all the time. Their little stomach only consumes about 2 onces every few hours. Don't try to over feed her it'll do more harm than good. You should learn to nap when she naps and by 2 months start working on a schedule with her. You'll be a little more happy and get in a few more zzz's.

Best of luck.
T.

you know on the formula commercials they say "next to the breast whatever is the best" The companies try to make the formula like breastmilk, so essentially you would be giving her twice the amount she needs. Your body will adjust and make exactly what she needs. Remember that breast milk is over 50% fat so it's not that your milk isn't enough.Typically at 3 weeks of age they have a major growth spurt that may be ending soon and she may start to sleep a little better. I personally wouldn't mix the two. Hopefully you get more sleep soon. THere are a

I never found that formula made the babies sleep longer. If it did, it was negligible. Basically, I walked around in a haze for the first 8-9 months. Other people's babies will sleep through the night much earlier, but not mine. It sucks, but it does end. I often slept on the couch near where we had the baby's cradle - that way my husband wasn't disturbed. Well, you could try being smarter than me and set the baby's bed up like that, but make your husband take turns. I think having the baby be able to take a bottle from the beginning is a wonderful idea, even if it's not formula. Good luck! The sleeping situation gets better, but never soon enough.

C., I am a first time mother and my son now is 8 months but I ha him sleeping thru the night at 3 weeks. I mixed at night so he would sleep or I would just give him the formula. He took the breast milk during the day. He slept alot longer though when he had the formula. I also recommeded this ti my sister who has a son who just turned 4 weeks he wakes up once at night now around 3. So I would recommend that you try it and see how it works and I wish you the best. I also hope you can get a good night sleep soon. M. E.