Combination Feeding: Formula

Thursday, June 14/18

Today's topic is combination feeding! My last post addressed why I was unable to exclusively breastfeed as I'd hoped to, so I decided today I'd write about what I do to feed my baby, and the pro's and con's that I've encountered along the way! I hope you enjoy!

FORMULA FEEDING
I want to start this off with a disclaimer that what I think about feeding your baby really isn't an important perspective. As far as I'm concerned, a fed baby is a happy baby, and however you choose to feed your baby is totally fine by me. I understand that breast is best, and that breastfeeding has countless benefits for your little one, but it's also important to note that not everybody has a good experience with breastfeeding, cannot physically breastfeed, or perhaps choose to formula feed from the beginning just as a personal choice.
As I stated before, I had planned to exclusively breastfeed my daughter. Because her blood sugar levels were low, she was moved to the NICU and supplemented with formula while attached to a glucose IV to raise her blood sugar levels. I really didn't like that she had to have formula but didn't doubt it or question it for a second because she needed it to raise her sugar levels. I never produced enough milk to exclusively breastfeed her and the effort that went into it was a lot as a first time mother and something I really struggled with. So here's my formula feeding experience- stay tuned for an upcoming post all about combination feeding and the breastfeeding side of things!

Here are a few things I don't or didn't like about formula feeding:

- It's pricey. My baby uses Similac Stage 1, and we started off with the little individual bottles that she had used in the NICU with the individual nipples. From there she had the ready-made bottles (anywhere from $40-50 for 16 235ml bottles), and I've also purchased the powder which is about $50 for the "Mega-Value" container. More recently, my father-in-law picked up some cans of the Similac Stage 1, which is mixed half-and-half with sterilized water. I'm not certain how much this cost, but you get quite a lot from the cans and mixing a liquid with a liquid is easier than mixing with powder, although the powder is convenient for apartments with not a lot of storage for individual bottles and cans.

-  It's messy. From someone who both breastfeeds and formula feeds her baby I have noticed formula/bottle-feeding to be much messier. She drools it, sometimes the bottle leaks and drips and it has stained clothing that she has (although it does come out with stain-removing products).

- Sterilizing bottles is a pain in the butt, but honestly I sterilize my bottles once a day and it's not so bad. It's only a pain when you've left it to the last minute and you have a crying baby, or when my power went out for 2 days and I was worried I couldn't properly wash the bottles. You know, if I'm totally honest I actually kind of like washing bottles, it's way better than washing adult human dishes, and every so often I get a whiff of that formula scent which makes me want to find my baby and squeeze her. Just me? Probably.

- It requires a lot of expensive gear. The formula itself can be pricey, but needing lots of bottles in different sizes with different nipples and brushes to wash them, and a sterilizer to clean them and a warmer to heat the milk can all add up. Luckily, despite my desire to exclusively breastfeed I had put all of these items onto my registry and I just purchased some extra bottles to ease the pressure to constantly be searching for and sterilizing them. If you do plan to bottle feed, as a reference my 10 week old daughter goes through about 3 9oz bottles in 24 hours. I have 6 9oz bottles, about 5 4oz bottles and I think I'll probably pick up another couple of 9oz bottles knowing I will eventually misplace one, leave one at my parents place etc.

- Overfeeding. It's a lot easier to accidentally overfeed a baby with formula, in my opinion. I'll write another post in the future regarding soothers/pacifiers/dummy's to explain how they stopped me overfeeding my little one. Less puke too- woohoo!

Here I am, looking great, confusing my child about how she is fed. 

Here are some things I like about formula feeding:

- Sharing the load. This baby can be fed by anyone who wishes to nourish her! Namely, her Dad at 3am, her grandparents when we get to go on a date night, and me, in public, when I'm not feeling so confident about breastfeeding. (Side note: I'm all for breastfeeding wherever and whenever you want to! I just don't feel comfortable although I do sort of hope that will change as I have more babies)

-For me, seeing a measurable amount of formula empty out of a bottle gives me peace of mind that my baby is eating a regular amount at each feed, I can tell much more easily that she's getting a good amount, I can see how she's eating more and at what rate, and personally I just find this helpful for medical check-ups and just figuring out what my daughter's "normal" is.

- Personally, I find it to be more convenient. Having a certain amount of bottles pre-made and ready to go if I need them kind of excites me. I'm a bit of a planner so I like having things stockpiled and ready to go. 

- Freedom! Using formula means that if, for whatever reason, you have to leave your baby with another they are already well-adjusted to using a bottle and drinking formula. There's no panic about whether or not you have enough time to pump, defrost frozen breastmilk or that your baby will have to drink formula without having had it before. To me there's a huge perk in knowing she will drink whatever she has in front of her, and it's nice to know I could have some time to myself which I think makes me a better mother.

I hope this helped give a little insight into why I'm combination feeding and the things I've learned to like and dislike about formula. I'll be sure to write a follow-up post regarding my breastfeeding experience and the pro's and con's I have about that too!