Breast-feeding and formula feeding support

Teach me about Combi feeding

LO is 6 months old, and for the past two weeks he's been up every other hour for a feed. For the past three days he's been up every hour. I'd like to introduce combi feeding, but know very little about it. Teach me!

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.

Add a comment

I combo feed and my supply is going up. I breast feed mostly all day but when someone wants to feed him or I’m just so tired and by boobs feel soft and not like theirs much milk in there I give him formula. I give liquid formula. Mine has trouble pooping sometimes so I give him Enfamil gentlelease. I like combo feeding it’s been helping me with sleeping my mom babysits while I sleep so during that time I get 3 or 4 hours of sleep then wake up pump and breast feed. I also take supplements that help me not get a clog duct. Also my lactation consultant when I first had him told me to so I just have done it ever since and it works for me. If I had to only breast feed I’d probably be going crazy. If you are worried about the seed oils in formula then just use a natural one I’ve just used the enfamil because that’s the one we used in the hospital and lots of moms have used it in the past and their babies have had no problems.

Not all formulas contain seed oil. Their is powders that have a more natural ingredient to them!

Okay good for you that you are a crunchy mom but not everyone wants to exclusively breast feed and if someone wants to combo feed then that’s okay. A fed baby is all that matters. My mom used a formula containing seed oil when I was a baby and I was perfectly fine. If she wants to combo feed then that’s okay.

Im not taking it personally you are so dead set that breastfeeding is what she should do and I’m just saying that if she wants to breast feed it’s okay to and what I do. You didn’t have to come and be a know it all on formulas.

We combi feed, I mostly breastfeed through the day then give formula before bed or if she’s cluster feeding and I don’t think there’s anything left or if we are out and it’s easier to give formula we will do it then and I’ll just pump when I feel like I need to (usually just after the bottle) and it’s helped massively, as she’ll often sleep for around 5 hours after

i combo fed when my son was a newborn, i’d give one bottle of breastmilk/ breastfeed him and the next feeding would be a bottle of formula. it didn’t affect his poops or make him throw up or anything, you just have to find the formula that works for your lo. it helped me so much with sleeping and overall just getting a little mental break as others could help out and feed him for me. it won’t effect your supply if you pump when the baby gets a bottle

I just don't trust formula whatsoever. I cosleep and just dream feed with my babies they sleep all night I sleep all night and even get to nap with them

Like others said, I currently mostly breastfeed but even him nursing for 20+ minutes from both boobs only holds him over for about an hour so after a few feeds when I feel like theres nothing there I'll feed formula then back to BF. I'll keep it up another week or so but plan to quit nursing at 1 month as it's not for me

I don't have any advice on combination feeding, sorry 😐.. However, I did want to say that it sounds like your baby is just cluster feeding, which will pass. I know it's draining though.

Also, I've seen mention in the comments about breasts not feeling like there's milk in them, or being soft. I just wanted to say that our breasts are never actually empty. Latching your baby will also trigger your body to make more milk anyway. No shade to anyone who chooses to also do formula. But, just wanted to clarify that soft breasts aren't indicative of low milk.

in our community

Should I wake baby up to feed?

First time mum here, my baby is 2 months old today. Should I be waking her for night feeds? During the day she feeds every 2–3 hours, but at night she usually sleeps from around 11pm to about 3am, and I’ve been waking her then. Is that okay, or should I let her sleep?

Night time help!

Hi! My baby boy is nearly 6 months old and every night he wakes up anytime from 2am onwards and will be awake for well over two hours.
I’ve tried changing his naps during the day, changing his bedtimes and yet nothing seems to help!
Any tips that might help this exhausted mummy?
I don’t mind the wake ups if he would settle straight away but he views it as a whole wake window.

Newborn sleep for 9 hours

Hello mamas, my newborn is 6 weeks old. Last night she slept for 9 hours without waking up for a feed. The previous night she slept for 8 hours as well. During the day she had quite a lot awake periods and she was eating well. She also gained 1kg for a month which the midwife said it's very good. Is she okay like that and should I wake her up to feed her during the night?

Crazy MIL??

I’ve always found my mother in law tricky - she has a hideous nervous energy about her and finds everything absolutely hilarious which sets me right on edge. We’ve just had a baby and she came down to meet her. It was very soon after baby was born so we were pretty knackered and I’d suffered bad hypertension in hospital and had had to stay in for a week. She had wanted to come and see me there but I managed to get my husband to say no- she would have not made my blood pressure any better!
So she came to see the baby a couple of weeks after with her partner- who btw had a chest and they didn’t tell us.
My MIL was at her most hyper and difficult. She stayed hours and hours and held the baby all the way though- fed her her bottle (just took it off my husband) without asking and took photos and posted them without asking.
Then I was changing the babies nappy. Baby had terrible nappy rash at the time and was screaming with pain - making me want to cry. My MIL just sat there watching - hooting with laughter. 🫠
But the worst thing is she made these WEIRD comments - there was a photo of baby just wearing a vest and she said she “looked a hussy.” Then later when we were describing about the baby having phototherapy- which was horribly traumatic- my husband said how he tucked her into his denim jacket to keep warm - his mothers response was “ah so she likes a bit of rough???”
I think in her mind she was being really funny but I was appalled by her comments. In the end I made and excuse, went upstairs to have a shower and then sat there until they left. I used to feel fed up and weary at the thought of her but now I feel pure anger. It’s tricky as obviously she’s my husbands mum. She also gave us the deposit for our house and is generally generous in that way. She and my husband have a really odd relationship in my opinion- I’m super close to my fam and they all live nearby so we see them a lot
His mum lives in Devon and we’re in Kent which is something to be thankful for.
After they finally went she messaged my husband and asked to come and stay for a week. Thankfully he has the sense to say no. But Christ what is wrong with the women? Those comments have made me feel so hostile towards her. Should I just get over it??

Baby won’t sleep

Somebody please help me.
She’s crying, I’m crying. Idk what to do. Husband isn’t here rn and my mom’s asleep.
She’s not hungry, diapers freshly changed, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable in any way. She just seems tired but can’t fall asleep. She’s been doing this for a few days now, just fighting sleep. I refuse to let her cry it out and I’m doing everything I know and can do at this time. She’ll take the boob but keep stretching away every few seconds. She keeps chewing on her hand like she’s hungry but won’t eat cause she already did 30 minutes ago. I’m just at a loss and starting to get stressed. Nothing is helping.

Nappy recommendations

My little boy has started sleeping for approx 5 hours at night (which I am very grateful for!😴), but when he wakes up for a feed he is often wet through as his nappy can’t hack it for that long. Are there any recommendations for a good overnight nappy that should hopefully contain it?

We are currently using mamia nappies but have also tried pampers and Tesco. I swore by mamia with my daughter, but they must have changed them since then!

Thank you 🩷