Can I feed my newborn breast milk AND formula?

Answer 1

Yes, you can talk to your doctor about it!

Answer 2

How do you even have time to pump? I have one child, our seven month old daughter, and I tried pumping a few times and it was very time consuming. Also, my daughter wouldn't take bottles, either, so the money we spent on a pump probably could have been better spent. My daughter was born on a Monday. My milk didn't finally come in until Friday. However, because she was constantly nursing, my body knew when to start making milk, how much, etc. and my daughter got all of the nutrients she needed from the colustrum. Now that she is older and nursing less, my body is making less milk. Yet, she is still getting what she needs. (She is also on solids now.) Also, your son might start to prefer formula over milk simply because she is getting that more than the milk. The best thing you can do is to just let your son nurse when he wants to. I can't imagine having NOT breast fed my daughter. Now that she is on solids more, and isn't nursing as much, we seem to both enjoy it when we know she is just going to nurse, i.e., not as a part of the meal, but as the entire meal. She'll also seem to nurse more, even at the end of a meal (oat cereal, and a fruit for breakfast or a rice or oat cereal, veggie and a fruit for lunch and dinner) when she has something new that she doesn't like and my husband gets her to eat the whole thing. I think it's comforting for her to come to me and have the food that she has known since birth. Anyway, go to the following sites for some help.

Answer 3

Yes, many women supplement breast milk with formula. However, your body will only make as much as you demand of it, so you'll want to nurse as often as possible to get a good supply of breast milk. Then you can try pumping so that someone else can feed the baby.

Answer 4

Sure, but why would you want to? Giving bottles early can be confusing for baby, causing pain for mother. Breastmilk is a supply and demand system, so if you give baby formula, you're interfering with that balance. Are you worried that you don't have enough milk? Many moms worry about that, but the inability to produce enough milk is extremely, extremely rare. If you don't have enough milk right now, baby will cluster feed in order to boost supply. It will take between 2 days and a week and you'll have enough milk. I'm too lazy for bottles and formula, but I understand that some people associate babies with bottles and have trouble having a baby and not doing the bottle routine. I recommend that you get off your feet, get comfortable and nurse your baby while he's still a baby. He won't be for long!

Edit: Many people suggested talking to baby's doctor about this. In my experience, doctors don't know much about breastfeeding. What they do know, they learned from formula company reps, who always suggest supplementing, contrary to research and experts' opinions. If you have a breastfeeding question, call a breastfeeding peer counselor, La Leche League leader or lactation consultant. They are wonderful women who love babies and want you to be successful at breastfeeding your baby!

Answer 5

yes, but when breast milk is enought, then why go for formula? Only when ur baby sucks ur breast, more milk will generate. Only if u get ride of all the milk that your breast have, u will be free. Otherwise, ur breasts will start paining. some ladies pump their breast to take away the rest milk that their baby doesnt drink.

Answer 6

Yes, although to give breastfeeding an optimal chance to become established, formula supplements should ideally be delayed until breastfeeding is going smoothly and the milk supply is well-established (usually about 4-6 weeks with 1st babies). Also, at that point, pumping or expressing breastmilk and bottlefeeding that would be an option.

Best of luck!

Answer 7

Yes you can, I did it for about two weeks then I went breastfeeding only, I had to pump every time i gave him formula so i didn't dry up and my milk supply was just fine. I bought the Similac Advance with Iron, my baby did fine. I would only give him the formula at night and he slept a little bit longer. Good luck but once you start breastfeeding and get really good at it, you will want to just breastfeed!!

Answer 8

Talk to your baby's doctor about how to go about it. My son was a preemie and on a feeding tube so I had to pump breast milk for him and the nurses would mix it with formula because he needed the extra calories.

Answer 9

Well not actual milk like u drink, but yes u can feed formula and breast milk if that's what u mean. And formulas r all made from cow milk so they have the same nutrients as milk like we drink (unless they r special formulas for allergies etc.) Lots of people supplement their breastmilk w/ formula- but dr's, the FDA, etc don't recommend giving real milk to children under 1 yr for several reasons, one being babies can't digest the proteins in it which r intended for calves, not human babies.

Answer 10

If you want to continue breastfeeding, I would wait until my own milk supply was established first then supplement with formula. Usually about 4 weeks. But that's just me, you could ask your doc, but there's lots of women who feed their babies both.

Answer 11

Yes, you can. It is called supplementation. Make sure, when you are making enough milk to lean more toward the breastmilk, than the formula. That could cause confusion in your baby.