If a child receives both mother's milk and formula for food at the same time, such feeding is called mixed feeding. With this type of feeding, the proportion of the formula in the baby's diet ranges from 20% to 50%.
In the case of this type of feeding, feeding can be organized in two ways:
- The breast is given first, and then they are supplemented with a mixture.
- Completely replace any feeding with formula.
It is recommended to choose the option in which the mixture will be consumed less, that is, the baby will receive more mother's milk.
Causes
- Most often, they switch to mixed feeding with insufficient production of breast milk. Often, the lack of milk is a contrived problem caused either by the subconscious unwillingness of the mother to breastfeed, or by the woman's low awareness of the lactation processes. However, there are also objective reasons for hypogalactia, forcing the mother to resort to supplementary feeding.
- The second reason for combining breast and bottle feeding for a baby is when the mother goes to work or school. Often, the mother leaves expressed milk during the absence, but more often, while the mother is working, the child is fed with milk formula.
- The doctor recommends a mixed type of feeding when the baby is not gaining enough weight or was born prematurely. In this case, this type of feeding is a temporary measure - gradually feeding becomes fully breastfeeding.
- Also, the mother can start feeding the baby from a bottle to free up some time for herself. In this case, the child can be left with her husband or another adult for a short time without worrying that the baby will remain hungry.
- Another important reason for supplementing a baby with a formula is that the mother has diseases in a compensated form.
Pros
- With this type of feeding, the mother can be temporarily replaced by another adult, but at the same time she will be able to maintain closeness with the baby during breastfeeding.
- The baby retains all the benefits of breastfeeding.
- Mom may be away from the child for a while.
- Mixed feeding can help a dad develop a closer bond with his baby.
Minuses
First of all, due to skipping feedings, the mother may experience breast problems (congestion, milk flow, breast pain and even mastitis) and lactation. Also, the mother may psychologically suffer from the fact that the time for breastfeeding has decreased.
At the same time, it can be difficult for a child to adapt to two types of feeding at once:
- He may refuse to eat from a bottle and be capricious. At the same time, his appetite may decrease.
- Having started to easily receive the mixture from the bottle, the baby does not want to "work", extracting milk from the mother's breast. This happens with a very early transition to mixed feeding (in the first 6 weeks of a baby's life).
- Often having received less breast during the day, the child begins to demand more breast milk in the evening and at night.
Which is better: supplement with a mixture or completely transfer to it?
The baby's digestive system is tuned to breast milk, and when the formula enters it, various unexpected reactions are possible. Therefore, you need to especially carefully monitor the baby's reaction.
It is important to understand that formula, even if expensive and of the best quality, is not equal to breast milk. Therefore, it is not necessary to give up breastfeeding in any case. It is not easy to treat supplementary feeding with a mixture; you should not choose a mixture without consulting a doctor. Also, the mother's decision to feed the baby with goat milk or kefir can only harm the baby's health.
Rules
- If the formula and breast milk are given in one feeding, then first the baby is applied to the breast (even if the mother has very little milk), and when the baby has completely emptied it, they give the mixture. The reason for this approach is that the infant has more appetite at the beginning of the feed. If you give the mixture first, it will be difficult for the mother to calculate the required amount, and the child will not want to suckle in order to get milk, since he has already satisfied the first hunger.
- In situations where the mother will be temporarily absent during the day, the child is transferred to such a mixed feeding regime, in which two or three times a day the baby will receive only the mixture, and in the rest of the feedings - only mother's milk.
- If the amount of supplementation is small, it is recommended to give the mixture from a spoon, since due to the easier flow of the product from the nipple, there is a risk of the baby's refusal to suckle at the breast. If the formula is given in large quantities, it is important to choose a resilient teat that has small holes for the infant to work hard to draw from the bottle.
- The diet with this type of feeding can be free, but if the mother decides to feed the baby on schedule, then the number of feedings can be reduced by one.
- It is important to carefully monitor the sterility of the bottles and teats.
- If mom goes to work, you should not postpone the first attempts to bottle feed until the last days. In most cases, babies do not immediately accept bottle feeding. It is optimal to start feeding the baby with a formula 2-3 weeks before the moment when the mother begins to leave home for a long time.
- With mixed feeding, you can start feeding a baby two to three weeks earlier than a baby receiving only breast milk.
Demand calculation
If you have the opportunity to provide your baby with the necessary amount of milk in one feeding (while cutting their total amount), use this opportunity and give the mixture only in one of the feedings. In this case, you can only calculate the amount of formula needed for the child's current formula feeding.
To determine the baby's needs for additional nutrition, the age of the baby and the type of formula used should be taken into account.
First, the total daily nutritional requirement of the infant is calculated:
- for a baby under the age of 10 days with a weight of less than 3200 g, to calculate the required amount of food, multiply 70 by the age in days (with a weight over 3200, multiply 80 by the age in days);
- a child under 2 months old is given food in the amount of 20% of his body weight;
- children from two to four months require food in the amount of 1/6 of their weight;
- babies older than 4 months to 6 months of age need nutrition in the amount of 1/7 of their body weight;
- children aged six months to one year require a daily intake of food in the amount of 1/8 to 1/9 of their weight.
We divide the total volume by the number of feedings and find out the approximate amount of food needed by the baby in one feeding.
The amount of sucked milk can be measured by check weighing: weigh the crumbs before feeding, and then after. After subtracting these values, you will find out the amount of milk you drink. Now all that remains is to subtract the volume of breast milk received by the baby from the total volume - so the mother will know how much the baby will need the mixture.
To make sure that the baby has enough for growth and full development of all nutrients, you need to calculate how much protein, carbohydrates and fats the baby receives daily. The calculation is based on the rates of intake of the basic nutrients in the child's body, as well as the approximate content of these substances in human milk.
First, they calculate how much the baby receives all breast milk per day, and then - how much protein, carbohydrates, and also fats he receives with this diet. Further, the content of nutrients in the resulting volume of the milk mixture is also calculated. Having calculated the needs of the baby, depending on age, it is determined whether the received food is enough for the crumb.
It should be borne in mind that the need for protein when switching to mixed feeding in an infant increases. A baby under 4 months old requires 3 grams of protein for each kilogram of body weight if supplementation is carried out with an adapted mixture, and 3.5 grams if the mixture is not adapted. A child over 4 months old needs 3.5-4 grams of protein.
What is supplemented with?
For supplementary feeding, choose the same mixtures with which it is recommended to feed bottle-fed babies. An adapted mixture is preferred.
What can not be supplemented with?
The baby should not be given a medicinal mixture if it has not been recommended by the pediatrician. For the use of mixtures with a therapeutic effect, there are strict indications, for example, soy mixture is given for allergies to milk protein, and lactose-free is used in crumbs with a lack of lactase. Kefir, cow's or goat's milk can significantly harm the body of the crumbs.
If the baby doesn't like the bottle
Many babies are reluctant to switch from breastfeeding to bottle feeding. To make this transition more successful, mom is recommended:
- Try to put different types of nipples on the bottle so that the baby can pick up "his".
- At first, bottle-feed with expressed human milk.
- Bottle feed when your baby is hungry but is not yet too hungry.
- Let the bottle with the mixture be offered to the baby for the first time by someone else, not a mother.
- When the baby is fed with a formula, let the baby stay in a different position than he used to receive his mother's breast.
- The liquid that is given to the baby should be warm, since the baby is used to receiving warm milk from her mother's breast.
- Don't expect your little one to drink the entire mixture from the bottle right away.
- In extreme cases, the mother will have to not breastfeed the baby all day, so that the baby still agrees to try the mixture from the bottle.
- If the baby persists and is already 6 months old, it makes sense to plan feeding the baby with complementary foods during the absence of the mother.
We recommend reading our article on how to bottle train your baby.
If the baby does not breastfeed after the bottle
Unfortunately, having started to receive feeding from a bottle, in most cases, babies do not want to suck on their mother's breast anymore, since it is more difficult for a baby to “get” milk from a woman's breast than it is to suck the formula through a nipple, and other muscles are used when feeding from the nipple. Try to get a teat with a small hole or with only 1 hole first, which may help keep the feeding mixed.
If mom wants to return to breastfeeding, she will have to give up the bottle and give the baby a good hunger. Otherwise, expressing and bottle feeding with breast milk can help out. Or it will remain to come to terms with the final transition to feeding with a formula.
The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky
A well-known pediatrician, if it is necessary to transfer crumbs to mixed feeding, recommends giving preference to a product that is more important for the child's health. Komarovsky, like other pediatricians, considers mother's milk to be the most valuable food for a baby.
In cases where the mother is forced to give the baby some more food, the woman should choose such a feeding regime when the baby will consume more breast milk. The mother can give the baby at each feeding the breast first, and then supplement with the adapted formula, or give only the mixture in one of the feedings.
