[littleteapot]

A friend of mine just had a relative adopt her baby boy, but she had him for almost three weeks before it was secured. She wanted to breastfeed, but didn't want to go through the process of drying up her milk after he goes, and he'd be on formula anyway. She /hated/ to have to give him formula, so I pumped for her him. But he'd already had formula a week and it was advised not to switch that suddenly. So, they were mixed in specific amounts. Is that actually safe?

If so, would that work for another person I know who has PPP and is on meds. She was forced to give up breastfeeding and it's not doing much to help her situation. She'll can be switched to safer ones once her symptoms are under control, and she wants to relactate. Her baby won't take BM at this time, even in a bottle. Can she mix BM and formula carefully, and gradually increase the BM until the baby will take it completely? How safe is this, if at all? Are there any links about it that someone could provide?

Thanks,

 

[bilbo333]

I don't know about links, but it is totally safe. You do need to make sure the formula is made correctly (if from powder) and you observe the formula open bottle rules RE spoilage.

I had a 24 hour period where I needed to supplement my bf baby, and we mixed formula in the bm.

 

[Potty Diva]

Although it may be physically safe, mixing formula and breasmilk does damage to your breastmilk, and makes it just as hard as formula for the baby to digest and break down. If I recall correctly. It somehow breaks down the proteins and mutrients in breastmilk. nak..but will do some research on this.

 

[AmyG]

I've always heard that you should mix them, too. It makes sense. You'd never just switch the food you feed your dog without mixing the old food and the new food in changing proportions over a period of time, so it makes sense that you'd ease in a change in a newborn's diet the same way.

Even if it does things to BM that aren't absolutely fabulous, as long as it doesn't make that feeding actually dangerous, I'd say that it's still worth it if the end result is that the baby is going to eventually be getting feedings of pure BM rather than formula.

 

[pumpkinhead]

It's not dangerous.

The problem with mixing formula and breastmilk is that the formula makes some of the nurtients in the BM difficult to absorb. The big protiens in the formula 'get in the way' of the smaller, easier to digest, BM ones. IT also makes it more difficult for babe to absorb the iron.

If you're switching from one to another, it does make sense to mix for a bit. Switching from formula to BM, however, is nothing like switching types of formula. It shouldn't cause any disruption to babes system as BM is sooooooooooo much better absorbed, and easier on the system than formula.

So, it's ok for a short period of time, but not ideal long term.

Emily

 

[littleteapot]

Thanks all. The suggestion of mixing for the other friend is more to get the baby used to it (whether it be taste or texture, he now likes the formula better) again, and benefit from the nutrients once it's back into his diet completely.

I'll pass on the good news.

 

[DaryLLL]

Just want to point out, there are many moms on this board who supplement EBM (expressed breast milk) with ABM (artificial baby milk). Whether it is mixed in one bottle or given separately, really doesn't matter in the big picture.

Some moms here were unable to get the baby to latch and give EBM part of the day, and ABM if their supply is not up to snuff. Some moms are relactating or not (yet) producing a full milk supply from birth, and give the ABM in a supplemental nursing system (SNS) while baby nurses at the breast. In that case the baby would be getting breastmilk and ABM simultaneously.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/medela/supnursys.html

A triplet mom I knew would run low on breastmilk by the end of the day. She was 90% bfing the trips. She would have a higher supply in the early part of the day, and pump a little here and there. In the evening, the trips would get bottles of part EBM, part ABM. They refused a bottle of just ABM. She also said mixing EBM in would "get the bubbles out" of the powdered reconstituted ABM.

Then one baby started refusing bottles altogether and just preferred to keep trying at the breast! But that's another story.

 

[Justice2]

When I began relactation, I was told to buy an SNS (supplemental nurser syster) and use it during all my feeds. That way the baby stimulates the breasts (to produce milk) and get's formula so that he isn't hungry and frustrated with empty breasts. My LC and my LLL leader both said that I would be able to notice when ds was getting more milk because he would take less of the formula. If you think about it, this is mixing breastmilk and formula. Then, when ds outgrew the SNS, I began pumping and hand expressing and simply putting every drop (not wasting such precious food) into his bottles of formula and both the LC and the LLL leader agreed with and encouraged this thought process. It's better to get a little breatmilk than none at all and Kaeleb needed to eat a full amount and I wasn't making enough bm to feed him a full amount. So, to this day, he gets both in his bottles.