Very often with problems with breastfeeding, moms resort to a mixed type of baby nutrition , in which the lack of milk is filled with the formula, without giving up completely on breastfeeding.
Kinds of the mixed feeding
There are 2 ways how you can supplement the baby with a mixture:
1 way : after breastfeeding, if the baby shows signs of anxiety, the desire to eat more (smacks, stretches to the chest). With this variant of feeding, it is possible to return to natural feeding more quickly, since lactation is stimulated more often.
2 way : breastfeeding and complementary feeding takes place alternately: for the first time the baby receives only breast milk, in the other - only the milk mixture.
The choice of method depends on the amount of milk produced by the mother.
Feeding regime with 1 method of mixed feeding
This method should be used with a slight decrease in lactation in the mother. The feeding regime remains the same as in the case of natural feeding, that is, at the request of the child. The only difference is that after applying to the breast, the child is supplemented with a mixture.
But how to determine how much it needs to mix? After offering the wrong amount of the mixture, you can overfeed or underfeed your baby.
To resolve this problem of mixed feeding will help weighing the baby before and after each breastfeed during the day, so you determine how much milk he receives on average per one feeding. Comparing with the data from the table below, you can determine how much the child needs to add before each feeding.
Having subtracted from the daily norm of the volume of feeding the approximate amount of milk sucked out by the baby from the breast, and dividing by the number of feedings, the volume of the mixture will be obtained, which must be fed to the child at a time.
But when calculating the amount of necessary supplementary feeding with mixed nutrition, the amount of water and juices is not taken into account.
How to feed at 2 way of mixed feeding?
Alternation of breast and artificial feeding is usually used with a significant decrease in lactation in the mother. With such nutrition, it must be taken into account that milk usually arrives more in the morning than in the afternoon.
Approximate diet under the 2 method of mixed feeding:
Morning 8.00 - 9.00 - feeding with a mixture.
Day 12.00-13.00 - breastfeeding.
15.00 - 16.00 - feeding with a mixture.
Evening 20.00-21.00 - breastfeeding.
Night 24.00 - 1.00 - feeding with the mixture.
4.00 - 5.00 - breastfeeding.
This regime may depend on the state of the mother's breast and the child's desire, but it is recommended to adhere to a certain regimen, and after the feeding the mixture can withstand not 3-3.5 hours, but 4-4.5 hours, as the milk mixtures are digested longer in the stomach , than breast milk.
The volume of the mixture that should be given to the baby depends on the age and number of feedings per day (see table above).
Mixed food rules
- Use the mixture according to age: for fully 0-5 months - fully adapted formula (usually on the box number 1), and for 6-12 months - partially adapted (with the number 2).
- For pre-bodily use a spoon or bottle with a hard pacifier with small holes, so that the child does not give up completely from the chest.
- Introduce into the diet a new mixture gradually, watching the reaction
of the body: the first day - 10 ml 1 time, the second day - 10 ml 3 times, the third day - 3 times 20 ml, etc. - Lure start to enter earlier - from 4-5 months, according to all rules of introduction of complementary foods with natural feeding .
Unfortunately, the question of how to properly organize mixed feeding, for various reasons, become relevant for young mothers more and more often. But since there is very little literature on this issue and everything is very individual for each case, when lactation problems arise, you should contact breastfeeding consultants who will help preserve the natural feeding or develop a correct diet for a child with mixed feeding.