When we talk about breastfeeding, how the baby will be fed, we usually talk about two main options: exclusive breastfeeding and exclusive artificial feeding. The first is to breastfeed, just breastfeed the baby, until you choose to give him some more food. The second is to give a infant formula as the only food. Is there more options? Yes, although it is not usually explained because it is usually a solution or a consequence and not a start option.
I speak of mixed breastfeeding, so called because the baby is fed both breast milk and artificial milk. Is it a good start option? Is it a plausible option or does the baby end up choosing one or the other option? Why choose mixed breastfeeding? Let's talk about it explaining everything there is to know about mixed breastfeeding.
It is not usually a chosen start option
The usual thing when feeding a baby is that the mother chooses to breastfeed or not give it, that is, breastfeeding or go directly to artificial milk with bottles. Basically because the one who decides to breastfeed does so because she wants to feed the baby herself, and then there is no room for the bottles, and because the one who decides to bottle feed obviously will not breastfeed. That some mothers do start directly with mixed? Yes, it may be because of what many couples think of being able to feed both the baby, but it is not as usual.
What usually happens is that a mother starts with breast milk and when faced with problems with breastfeeding, she ends up giving the baby artificial milk. At first they are usually supplements that, if all goes well, can be withdrawn achieving exclusive breastfeeding. If this point is not reached, mixed breastfeeding is maintained more or less time depending on the wishes of the mother and according to the wishes of the baby.
The wishes of the baby?
So is. A mother may want to give more breast and less artificial and that the baby says no, that she prefers more artificial than breast, and a mother may want to give more bottle than breast and that the baby rejects the bottle because that is not a mother. No child is better than the other, eye, we are not comparing. We simply explain that sometimes, when a couple wants to do mixed breastfeeding the baby says no, which has its own preference, and ends up taking what it wants most.
But can the baby choose the bottle?
It seems that the most logical thing is for a baby to always say yes to the tit and to prefer it to the bottle. It is quite logical, because the tit is to be with mom and the bottle is a dependent, both can be given by mom, like dad, like another family member and because breastfeeding from one breast, from the skin of mom, is not the same plastic of a nipple.
However, there are many babies who defy this logic and who they prefer the bottle. It is not a matter of rejection of the mother, or preferably towards plastic, it is a preference at the level of food: in the bottle the milk comes out constantly and requires little effort. Imagine that a baby is breastfeeding and to feed properly, perhaps because the technique is somewhat improved, perhaps because he falls asleep in the shots, perhaps because they do not feed him on demand, he must work hard. As long as you don't know another safe option, you will consider all the efforts made to get your food good. Now, when someone gives him a bottle and sees that he doesn't have to make an effort, it is possible that later, when returning to the chest he says "yes man, with how easy the other falls, now I will return to try so hard ... ", and take it to the chest becomes crying, in a constant grasp and release of the chest as meaning" that this does not go as I want! ".
Many mixed lactations fail
By this I mean that in a situation like that, many mixed lactations fail. They fail because the baby ends up taking a lot of bottle and very little breast and because, although the mother wants to give it, the baby says no, and breastfeeding becomes very hard if the baby rejects you.
That is why when a baby is exclusively breastfed, health professionals are extremely reluctant about the possibility of giving a supplement or of going to mixed breastfeeding, first because of the possible confusion between the nipple and the nipple (which when taking the nipple he gets involved and then he hurts differently by hurting) and secondly, as mentioned, that many babies choose a bottle (unless the baby really needs it because he is losing more and more weight. Then bottle and whatever it takes for him to be nourished and your life is not in danger).
And if the baby gets both right, can it work?
Let's say that the baby starts from the beginning with breast and artificial milk and carries both things well, or let's say it starts with breast, then the bottle is added, and as I say it has no clear preference, that is, that both breast and drink artificial milk without complaining: "I eat what you give me." Can work? Yes and no. This depends on the mother's patience with the baby's cries.
I explain myself: the amount that a mother produces at the beginning may be adequate for what the baby is taking at that time. The baby sucks and then maybe take a 30 ml bottle and everyone is happy. This will cause the shots to be established, more or less, every two and a half hours or three hours (parents do not, it is the baby who does not ask before). As the baby is more awake, is bigger and stronger, breast better and faster and this will cause the mother's production to adapt to the new situation. However, perhaps before the first month, perhaps later, the amount produced and those 30 ml will not be enough for the baby and will have to be increased to 60 ml of bottle in each dose. All that more than you take will be what you take less from breast milk, and although the baby asks for more breast, what it takes a mother to produce more milk is a day or two of breastfeeding that, compared to putting 30 ml more of water and a little bowl is an eternity.
In other words, when the baby grows, fattens and needs more volume of general milk it is much easier to raise the amount of artificial milk than to produce more breast milkWell, that only happens when the baby increases the doses, makes more suction and spends a day or two in the plan "I don't let go, I'm hungry". As with mixed breastfeeding a mother does not usually do this, because the last thing she wants is for her baby to cry, increases the amount of bottle and solved. At that time the baby goes to drink much more artificial milk in proportion and more or less the same breast milk.
So it will be until after a few weeks the baby needs more again: do I put it to the chest crying and crying until it produces more or do we give it 90 ml after breastfeeding? The solution, of course, will be the second. The imbalance will be such that the breastfeeding will be very few, or very short, because the baby will already be just drinking breast milk, while the artificial milk shots will be the ones that are really feeding him.
That's why I say it depends on the mother, on the option she chooses at all times. If you want to carry a mixed breastfeeding that lasts a long time, the ideal is that in the moments when the baby asks for more, she offers more. More shots, more times, with the child complaining, to produce more.
And why let him cry?
True, in reality this does not usually happen, because if a mother chooses to give both, it is precisely so that both she and the baby are happy. It seems more logical to do so if mixed breastfeeding is a solution to a logistics problem, if from the beginning, or later, the mother must work or be absent, if she cannot be all day for her baby. In such a case, the mother is usually the one who breastfeeds and the bottles are left in charge of the person who stays with the baby when she is not. Then, when the mother returns, she breastfeeds and only breastfeeds, as much as she wants, and when the days come when there is a crisis, an outbreak of growth and the baby cries because she wants more, the mother offers her breast as many times as necessary to adapt to the new situation. Meanwhile, the bottle-maker also increases the amount so that the baby is satisfied. In this way everything is regulated, both breastfeeding, which increases because the mother only breastfeeds, as the artificial, because the one who stays with the baby also adapts by putting more milk in the bottle.
Do I start working, do I give mixed breastfeeding?
One of the times when many mothers start mixed breastfeeding is when they start working at the end of maternity leave. If the baby is younger than 6 months, the mother must make a decision because the baby will be in charge of someone who probably has to give her food. In case the baby breastfeeds exclusively Ideally, the mother should express milk so that the baby continues with the food she knows best, even when mom is not. If you do not opt for this option you have to give something, whether food, or artificial milk. When I say food, I say the same food that is given to babies at 6 months (vegetables, meat, cereals, fruit, etc.), although it may happen that it costs a little the theme of the spoon and the flavors and not I accepted her well, going hungry for not being a mother. The other option is to start mixed breastfeeding, that is, add the bottle with artificial milk.
What is better? To me I like to advance the food, because milk is the food that produces the most allergies in childhood. However, if you refuse food, then you will have to give artificial milk. It can also happen that artificial milk is added and the baby rejects the bottles ... well then you will have to offer food, until you find what you accept and eat well.
Summarizing
Mixed breastfeeding is not usually an option to choose because it is quite difficult to maintain if the mother will always be with the baby. Sooner or later the baby will want more and by increasing the amount of bottle, milk production is maintained or suffers. This, of course, if the baby accepts bottle and tit, because Many babies have a preference for the breast or bottle, which makes it impossible to alternate. As we always say, the ideal, the most recommended for the baby, is to drink exclusive breast milk until 6 months of age and, if something is not going well, seek adequate help that, if possible, must be identified before Let the problems appear. If this is not possible, mixed breastfeeding will always be better than exclusive artificial feeding, but you know, to keep it it is necessary to accept the insistence of the baby and allow him to take a lot to the chest when he needs to eat more.
Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | Mixed breastfeeding, Why very few babies take exclusive breastfeeding up to six months, The Kassing method, a way of bottle feeding that harms less breastfeeding
