I set out to breastfeed Ruby completely, but after 5 weeks exclusive breastfeeding we introduced a top up bottle, our experience with combination feeding is quite common and was a very good method of feeding for our family, I am not going to preach about breast feeding or bottle feeding, what ever you choose is right, which is important to remember.
But I remember during those first weeks with Rubys weight being static, there was a lot of pressure and questions, the knowledge we gained might be helpful to some of you reading so I will share our breastfeeding story.
At hospital they checked I could latch Ruby on, and thank god she was a natural, we never had any problems with that, which is were a few friends, that I have met at our local breastfeeding support group, had struggled. So as embarassing as it is, get someone to check wether your baby is latching on correctly. I always found it very comfortable to feed Ruby, so if it is painful that could mean the latch isn't quite right, its simple to sort and very common so don't stress about it.
When we got home I just felt like I was feeding constantly in the evening, but during the day Ruby was excellent or so I thought :-) she was always sleeping, and I didn't wake her to feed her as I believed she would wake to feed, which she did but as there was little demand for the milk during the day my supply was a little low, but she always seemed satisfied after a feed, so it never really flagged up until we had her weighed and her weight stayed static.
This was the worst time having her weighed basically everyday, and being told I still was doing something wrong as she hadn't gained weight, not only that but we had so many mixed messages from doctors, health visitors, and nurses, which just complicated it further.
It didn't help as I put more pressure on myself, and felt everyone was looking at me for the reason why she was not gaining weight, Gary was great and very supportive, the first move we made was to add in a formula top up twice a day of 2oz at 12 noon and 5pm, this took the pressure off a little from people telling us what to do. It was also great to see Gary feeding Ruby, and although we had both felt Ruby was a contented baby after her breast feed, you could see a massive difference in her after her first bottle, I remember she slept for several hours after and we were amazed. Whilst we were doing the top up I borrowed the electric double pump to express with and increase my supply.
I did this for 2 weeks, and it was hard work, it worked but I decided to stop in the end as after 2 weeks. During this time of expressing and doing top up feeds, I realised that combination feeding was working for us, Ruby was gaining weight, we had got rid of the daily visits and weigh ins, I got to see Gary feeding Ruby, and above all I still felt I was doing what I wanted so we continued combination feeding at probably 70% breast to 30% bottle, till we began weaning at 5 months and slowly increased the bottle feed over one month, at 6 months Ruby was completely bottle fed, and started solids, all with no issues, except a couple of days with achey boobs for me :-)
So biggest learnings for us, everyone had a different opinion, second time round I wouldn't be 100% convinced by the first person I spoke too, and would try to stay calm.
Stick together Gary was great and would have been happy to do what ever I thought best from the options the health team were suggesting to us, it really helps to remember it is you that has to do it not the doctors or health visitors so you have to be happy with your decision.
Remember to look for other signs rather than just your babies weight, we worried like mad when the health visitor wasn't happy and was going to refer us back to hospital, then we went to the nurse and she was quite matter of fact with us and said, you have a happy little baby with lovely skin tone, clearly alert, and content, and showing no signs of dehydration so stop worrying she is breast fed and wont match the bottle fed weight charts, we both came away from this feeling so much better.
Also if you make the choice to go combination or change to bottle-feeding don't worry its your choice, your baby and your life, if it works for you its the right choice, as long as your babies belly is full they will be happy and that will make you happy.
If you have a local breastfeeding peer support group give it a go, I went to stop our health visitor asking me to go, my plan was to go once and say I didn't like it, I only went a second time to get Ruby weighed and at that second visit there was a lady there with a younger baby and she was having the same problems as me, we sat and chatted, away from the rest of the group and I felt I might have helped and also took from it that we weren't the only ones struggling, in fact after going every week for a few months now, I have discovered nobody has had a trouble free start :-) which should be told to mums more openly I think.
The worst thing about combination feeding is that you go from just whacking your baby onto the boob and having nothing to pack in your changing bag, to suddenly having to clean bottles, and pack powder and bottles for trips out, it was a shock to our system, but maybe we were just lazy :-) this was also the reason all our night time feeds were breast, however when we switched over and added the bottle in during the night when I started weaning Ruby off me, it was great to be able to get Gary to feed during the night :-) and also essential for when I went back to work at 6 months as I work two full nights a week so wouldn't have been able to feed during these nights.
If you are struggling with your milk supply, my best tip is broccoli, when I ate extra of this, I found it increased my milk supply massively, also remember to drink plenty, until you start looking at how much your eating and drinking whilst looking after a new baby, you might be surprised, I was hardly drinking anything and you need plenty :-)
Several people have asked me when they have added in top ups, what formula we use, we chose Aptamil, for no real reason as your health visitors won't show a preference, but it worked well for us, although I have a friend whose little boy only took Cow and Gate whilst combination feeding so pick the brand that takes your fancy.
Bottles wise I found Avent natural bottles with a slow flow teat the best but we only had 2 of these and had the standard Avent ones as well and they are also great, we didn't experience nipple confusion, one tip I would give is if baby is refusing the bottle or being fussy over it try letting dad or somebody else feed them, we found Ruby would sometime refuse to take the bottle and nuzzle at me instead, but if Gary took her she would gobble her bottle no problem, maybe me smelling of milk?
I also used the Avent manual breast pump, with great results in the morning or when we had a few hours away from Ruby, and especially helpful when weaning her completely and I had painful boobs, I just took off 1/2 an oz and the relief was massive without encouraging the supply.
I am going to be posting a review on the Avent range we use, which will have a little more detail.
Please feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will answer :-)
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