When mom wants to, but cannot, breastfeed only. What is mixed feeding?

Breastfeeding is the best way to feed your baby. The comprehensive composition of female food ingredients allows you to provide the young, still developing organism with all the best. However, there are situations when it is not possible to serve only mother’s milk for various reasons. In such a situation, out of concern for the proper growth and development of the toddler, the pediatrician may recommend adding the next milk to the child’s diet, as a supplement to breastfeeding. This is known as mixed feeding. Check what it is and when it can be a helpful solution.

Mama’s milk is the best

Proper growth, weight gain, shaping, among others the immune and digestive system, as well as cognitive development are processes that must be supported in the early stages of life by adequate nutrition of the infant. And it is mother’s milk that contains a comprehensive composition of unique ingredients that allow the baby to develop properly. This includes antibodies and immune cells as well as other unique ingredients found only in human milk – hormones or enzymes.

It is because of the uniqueness of breast milk that experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that you breastfeed your baby exclusively for the first six months of life. After that, it’s time to expand your baby’s diet while continuing to feed mum’s milk. Specialists recommend that you breastfeed your baby up to around 2 years of age – as long as the mother and the baby want it.

Life, however, writes various scenarios. It happens that mum, for various reasons, cannot feed only with her own food. What to do in that case? One solution is mixed feeding.

What is mixed feeding?

Lactation difficulties or health problems – women or children – mean that in the early stages of an infant’s life, there may be a need to feed a toddler with formula milk. This applies to up to 40 percent. I have babies, and in the following months of a child’s life this number increases to as much as 70% 1. This type of feeding is known as mixed feeding. This means that the baby is fed in two ways at the same time – with the mother’s milk and the next milk. It is worth remembering, however, that mixed feeding does not necessarily mean the end of breastfeeding.

In what situations may the pediatrician recommend including infant formula to the infant’s diet? The main reason is that the baby’s weight gain is too low. Then the lactation advisor or midwife can work with the mother to stimulate lactation, and the baby can be fed with the appropriate formula. In order for mom to be sure that the baby is gaining weight properly, it is recommended to weigh the toddler no more than once a week. Measurements will also be performed at the clinic, during a visit to the pediatrician.

The need for mixed feeding may also appear, inter alia, in when:

1. the baby has congenital diseases, the symptoms of which are exacerbated by breast milk, e.g. galactosemia or congenital lactase deficiency, which in turn causes problems with the toddler’s digestion of lactose from milk;
2. mom is sick; there are contraindications for breastfeeding in case of some mother’s diseases. These include, among others: active, untreated tuberculosis (the mother can then give her baby expressed milk), AIDS and HIV infection, and infection with HTLV-1 or HTLV-2 viruses causing, among others, leukemia or lymphoma;
3. there are difficulties related to the correct latching of the baby to the breast and lactation, e.g. breast pain, bruised nipples or too little food;
4. the woman is planning to return to work and cannot regularly breastfeed her baby.

How to choose next milk?

It is worth remembering that the decision to start mixed feeding should be consulted each time with a pediatrician who knows the child and its needs. Thanks to this, the appropriate next milk will be selected, which can be served alternately with mother’s milk.

The expert suggests:

Whether a given formula is suitable for an infant – as in the case of mother’s milk – is not confirmed by one unique element, but by the entire composition of ingredients. Knowing about this, parents should choose another milk that will have a complete composition of ingredients. When choosing the next milk, it is worth paying attention to whether it also contains naturally occurring ingredients in human breast milk. Thanks to this, it will provide the child with many benefits, including supported the proper development, including the functioning of the immune system and the development of cognitive functions

– explains Halina Dudek, BebiProgram.pl expert.

Co dalej?

With mixed feeding, you also need:

1. a minimum of two or three bottles with teats. Light and handy plastic bottles are popular. In addition, they are of different sizes and do not break. It is important to replace the bottle as soon as there are food discoloration or deep scratches, in which milk residues may remain. Bottles should be equipped with teats. In this case, the choice is large – silicone ones are transparent, hard and durable, and rubber ones are light brown and soft. You should consult your doctor or midwife on the choice. It is also worth looking for a nipple that requires the same effort from the baby as sucking on the mother’s breast to maintain lactation;
2. brushes for bottles and teats will allow you to thoroughly clean them from the inside;
3. The heater makes it easier to heat up, for example, previously expressed mum’s milk, which was stored in the refrigerator to keep it fresh. It is also possible to maintain the appropriate temperature of the water needed to prepare the modified milk;
4. the sterilizer will disinfect teats and bottles. Although it is useful, it is not indispensable, because in order to keep a baby teat or bottle clean and safe, an ordinary pot is enough, which will be designed specifically for brewing such accessories.

Mixed feeding – Getting started is not always easy

It is worth starting the next milking when the baby is rested and not too hungry. It should not be introduced when the child is teething intensively, is vaccinated or ill. When breastfeeding a baby, it is worth taking the position that mother usually chose when she held the baby to the breast. It is also best if the feedings will be in the same place as before.

It may happen that the infant will taste the next milk more than the mother’s, or it may be completely the opposite – the taste of the modified milk will be difficult for him to accept and the baby will definitely cry for breast milk. In such a situation, you need patience.

Feeding should be on demand. Parents will quickly notice that the child will begin to ask for food at regular times of the day and night. So give milk when your baby asks for it and let it eat as much as it wants.

1 U&A 2018, Kantar TNS.