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With mixed feeding, the frequency of feeding. Mixed feeding: rules, features of feeding

The healthiest food for a baby is breast milk. But if for some reason it is not enough, they switch to mixed feeding. The baby will receive all the nutrients with mother's milk, and the missing amount will be supplemented with a mixture. This type of feeding has its own characteristics that you need to know and consider.

The mixture should not push breast milk into the background. It only solves the problem of lack of sufficient nutrition. No adapted formula can replace the set of nutrients found in mother's milk.

Mixed feeding continues temporarily. From 6 months, when the time comes for the first complementary foods, the lack of food is replaced with cereals, fruit or vegetable purees.

Be sure to fight for quality lactation. This is facilitated by the frequent attachment of the child to the breast, night feeding, and an increase in the amount of fluid consumed. You should not replace the baby's search reflex with bottles or nipples. Very often, these measures are enough to stop mixed feeding after a few weeks.

Supplementary formula feeding is a long and difficult process. It is necessary to prepare a bottle for each feeding, dilute the mixture, while it should be warm. Breast milk is always at hand and also contains antibodies that protect the baby from infections.

When do you need to supplement

Often a woman begins to feed her baby with mixtures, without real reasons for this, taking her soft and empty breasts for lactation problems. In fact, it may be a sign of mature lactation. Milk begins to be produced only at the moment when the baby is applied to the breast.

The volume of milk expressed is also not an indication of nutritional deficiencies. The baby can suck a lot more. You can try to express milk before feeding, pour it into a bottle and check how many grams came out. One more point should be taken into account. To the resulting volume, you need to add 20-30 grams.

You can try to weigh the baby before and after feeding. The resulting difference in weight will be equal to the volume of milk drunk.

The behavior of the child should not be regarded as an indicator that nutrition is insufficient. The baby may cry and turn away from the chest if it is too overexcited, upset. Feeling unwell can lead to a similar reaction: abdominal cramps, teething, clogged nose.

It is very important to make sure that the baby is properly latching onto the breast. In this case, swallowing excess air, the appearance of sores and cracks in the nipple, as well as problems with malnutrition can be avoided.

Mixed feeding is started only if the baby is not gaining weight and there is not enough urination per day. A child should have about 12 urinations per day. You can count if you put diapers instead of diapers.

For medical reasons, mixed feeding is prescribed in the following cases:

decreased lactation;
diseases of the mother, which are accompanied by medication;
lack of nutrients in milk with anemia in a woman, malnutrition;
the need to switch to nutrition with therapeutic mixtures.

Mixed feeding of the child can begin already in the maternity hospital. There may be several reasons for this: large blood loss during childbirth, multiple pregnancy, premature baby, Rhesus conflict.

Supplementary Power Technique

Each package of the mixture contains detailed instructions on the rules for breeding and the total amount that the baby should eat per day. Here it is necessary to take into account the age and features of the development of the organism. The entire recommended amount of the mixture should be divided into five feedings. It is better to start supplementary feeding in the morning. It is not necessary to give the mixture at night.

The best indicator of how many grams of formula to dilute is to weigh the baby before and after feeding. The data obtained are in line with the norms, and the shortage is replenished by supplementary feeding. But there is one nuance here. A baby may drink different amounts of breast milk at different times. In the morning he may drink little, and after a few hours he will be satisfied with another volume of milk.

We need to reconnect the wet diaper count method. Normally, there should be 12. If the number of urination is insufficient, you need to correctly offer additional food. The following diagram will help.

At the age of 3 months, the child is additionally offered 30 grams for each missing urination, in subsequent months, 10 grams are added. And already at the age of six months, the baby receives an additional 60 grams of complementary foods for each missing wet diaper.

For example, if a child aged 4 months urinated 9 times a day, you need to multiply 40 by 3. 120 grams of nutrition are missing, which should be divided into five servings per day.

If the mixture has to be diluted in a small amount, then do not rush to use the bottle. The baby quickly gets used to light sucking and may not take the breast after the bottle.

Feeding is recommended to be done with a spoon, syringe, pipette. The spoon should not be made of metal. Take a small amount of the mixture and pour over the baby's cheek. After he swallows a portion, offer the next. The pipette with the contents must be placed in the corner of the mouth and poured inside.

If a lot of complementary food mixtures are used, then such methods are inconvenient and long to use. Therefore, you need to choose the right nipple for the bottle. It should be tight and have a small hole.

In order for mixed feeding to take place correctly and successfully, you need to use the following scheme:

It is also necessary to take into account the fact that there is more breast milk in the morning. Therefore, you need to try to feed more often at this time. If milk remains in the breast, it is better to express it and give it to the baby later.

If all these tips are taken into account, the mother will simultaneously fight for the establishment of lactation, and mixed feeding will not turn into artificial feeding.

Mothers are afraid that mixed feeding can lead to upset stools in a child and gas in the tummy. If the mixture is diluted correctly, given in a small amount and not the entire volume at once, then there will be no problems.

Mixed feeding, as well as completely natural, provides the child's body with the necessary immune bodies. There are no such antibodies in mixtures. Therefore, it is not necessary, at the slightest difficulty, to switch to artificial nutrition.

Mixed feeding of newborns is an alternative to artificial. This opinion is wrong. With mixed feeding, the baby receives many times more benefits from mother's milk, and the missing amount is compensated by the mixture. What are the features of this method of feeding, breastfeeding consultants will tell.

The question of which is better, mixed or artificial feeding, should be decided unambiguously in favor of the first. Mixed feeding is not a transfer of the child to the mixture, which becomes absolutely not equal to the replacement of breast milk. This is an addition to the diet of a newborn with nutrition that the mother’s breast cannot provide at the moment.

Formula supplementation principles

Breastfeeding consultant Maria Gudanova, an expert of the AKEV Association, recommends adhering to the following principles in organizing formula supplementation.

The main food is breast milk. The task of the mixture is not to displace it from the child's diet, but to solve the problem of insufficient quantity. It is important to remember that no artificial formula can meet the needs of the baby as fully as your milk.
The mix is temporary. Supplementary feeding is introduced only for a while, usually for several months. After six months, artificial nutrition is replaced with complementary foods: the missing amount of milk is compensated by cereals, vegetable and fruit purees.
Mom takes measures to increase lactation. The most effective way to increase breast milk production is to breastfeed frequently. The more often it is stimulated, the more milk comes. Therefore, give up any modes, apply the baby before bedtime and after waking up. Be sure to offer the breast for each search movement, without trying to replace it with a pacifier, a pacifier. Remove from the everyday life of the crumbs all objects that he can suck. Feed at night and in the morning, because from three in the morning the production of the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for lactation, is especially active. These measures will help you to establish the production of milk in the required quantity. And mixed feeding of an infant can be “rolled up” in a few weeks.

Mixed feeding is a more complex approach to feeding your baby than natural feeding. It is necessary to prepare the mixture in advance, keep it warm, be sure to sterilize the dishes after each use. Therefore, the transfer to such a diet should be carried out deliberately: is there really a need for it?

When to mix

Often, a mother begins to use the mixture in the child's diet because of a banal self-doubt. If the breast remains soft for a long time, when you try to express it, some “drops” stand out from it, and the baby behaves restlessly during feeding, there are fears: is there enough milk in the breast?

These fears are unfounded, warns breastfeeding expert Natalya Razakhatskaya. - The condition of the breast, the amount of expressed milk, the behavior of the child does not indicate the level of lactation.

If your mammary glands remain soft and not filled for a long time, then your body has fully adapted to the feeding regimen. And milk is secreted from them during periods of attachment to the baby's breast. This is a sign of mature lactation. The volume of expressed milk is also not indicative. As a rule, it is very difficult to express something from the breast, but it is worth attaching the baby to it, and the food for him “flows like a river”.

The behavior of the baby at the breast does not indicate the amount of milk in it.

The baby cries, turns away. The baby may be overly excited or upset. This behavior is typical for children whose mothers adhere to the “according to the regime” nutrition schedule. The importance of breastfeeding for a baby is not only in getting the food that he needs much more often, every 3 hours. But also in the need to feel mother's warmth, to hear the beating of her heart, to feel safe. Physical contact with the mother is necessary, and its absence leads to resentment from the crumbs and excessive nervousness during application.
Feeding hurts the mother, and the baby drops the breast. In this case, we can talk about the wrong capture by the baby of the nipple. As a result of improper attachment, the child cannot empty the mammary glands fully, it is difficult and uncomfortable for him to suckle. Mom also experiences discomfort or severe pain. It is not difficult to change the situation: you need to learn the technique of proper attachment to the chest. If feeding is painless, then everything is in order.

Often, pediatricians give recommendations for the introduction of supplementary feeding, focusing on indirect signs. For example, within two months the baby gained weight well, and on the third he suddenly did not reach the norm. Or the baby spends too much time at the breast, literally “hangs” on it, while sleeping poorly and often crying.

Mixed feeding of the newborn should not be introduced in response to indirect signs. If your doctor recommends formula supplementation without understanding the problem, see another doctor or lactation specialist. It is important to understand the causes of breastfeeding disorders and eliminate them.

The only indicator of the need for supplementary feeding is the insufficient number of urination of the child per day. This sign is accepted in international practice. In the domestic one, a different approach is used - by gaining weight by control weighing.

How do you know if your baby really needs a supplement? The control value is taken 12 urination during the day. That is how much pee babies from the age of three months, receiving sufficient nutrition. You can calculate this only by removing the diaper for a day and using diapers.

If during the day the number of urination turned out to be less than normal, it is necessary to decide how to transfer the child to mixed feeding. If the baby peed the same amount or more, there is no reason to supplement with a mixture.

Mixed feeding technique

Feeding in a mixed diet occurs in a "free schedule". That is, the baby is applied to the breast as much as he needs. Mom is interested in breastfeeding him more often to increase the level of lactation.

In this case, the total amount of the mixture that the crumbs require during the day is divided into equal volumes, usually into five “portions”. Mom feeds them, starting with the first morning application and until the night. At night, the mixture is not offered to the baby.

Mix quantity

The main aspect in the question of how to properly organize mixed feeding is the required volume of the mixture. Domestic pediatricians recommend determining it by control weighing: weighed before applying to the breast, weighed after, determined how much the baby ate and subtracted this volume from the required for one feeding.

But in international practice, this approach is not applied. It is recognized as uninformative, since the amount eaten by the child in each feeding may vary. In the morning, he can drink very little milk if he sucked his mother’s breast in a dream a couple of hours before. But with a good appetite, he will eat in an hour and a half, when he gets hungry.

The “wet diaper test” that the mother has already performed in the past to determine whether the introduction of mixed feeding is really necessary to accurately determine the amount of supplementary formula.

To compensate for each insufficient urination, the child needs:

30 ml of the mixture at the age of 3 months;
40 ml of the mixture at the age of 4 months;
50 ml of the mixture at the age of 5 months;
60 ml of the mixture at the age of 6 months.

Now you can calculate how much food per day you additionally need. For example, a three-month-old child who has peed 10 times needs an additional 60 ml of the mixture per day. A baby at the age of 4 months, who peed 8 times, will need 160 ml of the mixture per day.

What to feed

So that mixed feeding does not replace natural feeding, do not rush to use a traditional bottle with a nipple. If you need a small amount of supplementary food during the day, use other devices.

A spoon. A soft silicone spoon will do. Fill it halfway and pour the contents into the baby's cheek. Make sure the baby has swallowed the “portion” and pour the next one into his mouth.
Pipette. Take a small amount of the mixture, insert the pipette into the corner of your lips and pour its contents into your mouth. This will allow the mixture to get into the cheek and prevent the baby from spitting it out.
Cup. Small beakers are recommended for feeding premature babies. It may be convenient for your child to sip from a glass.

If you need a lot of mixture, feeding from a spoon or pipette will be long and inconvenient. Use a tight nipple bottle with small holes. The baby must make an effort to suck out the contents. Otherwise, "light food" from the bottle can lead to complete rejection of the breast.

Rules

How to feed with a mixed diet of an infant? Feedback from lactation consultants includes the following recommendations.

Breast to supplement. Each feeding should begin with attachment to the breast. Feed your baby from both breasts and then from a spoon or bottle.
Breast after feeding. The end of each feeding should also be your breast. It will allow the baby to calm down and fall asleep.
Feeding without discomfort. Find a comfortable position for the baby, use those accessories that do not cause protests on his part. Formula feeding should not cause him distress.
Feeding on demand. After applying to the breast, the baby can completely satisfy the feeling of hunger and refuse the mixture. Don't insist. Offer supplements only when the baby opens its mouth and does not turn away from food. If he has not eaten something now, do not add this amount to the remaining daily volume.
Supplementation is not needed. Do the "wet diaper test" weekly. So you can control the required amount of the mixture. If you have taken steps to increase lactation, you may not need supplementary feeding after a couple of weeks.

An excellent way to restore lactation is constant close contact with the child. Carry it on your hands, put it on your chest, sleep next to it, do a light and pleasant massage. The warmth and caress of the mother will help the baby overcome the fear and discontent that often cause the refusal of natural feeding.

Myths and prejudices

There are many prejudices associated with mixed feeding in our society.

The stool of a newborn with mixed feeding is unstable, there are problems with the tummy.“Many formula-fed children suffer from flatulence and constipation,” comments pediatrician Yevgenia Milyutina. “But the reason for them is not the very fact of obtaining the mixture, but its wrong choice or violation of the cooking technique.” Constipation in a mixed-fed infant may be. But if you choose and prepare the mixture correctly, introduce it little by little, and not immediately the entire volume per day, and continue to breastfeed, the risk of disturbances in the digestive system can be minimized.
Mixed feeding is the first step towards artificial feeding. What is the purpose of the mother. If the introduction of the mixture occurred for medical reasons and with a pronounced lack of milk, and the woman takes all the necessary measures to restore lactation, the duration of the use of supplementary feeding may be limited to several weeks. If a woman plans to transfer the baby to a mixture, as she considers natural feeding to be tedious, difficult, the result in the form of artificial feeding is inevitable.
The immunity of a child on mixed feeding suffers. Breast milk gives the baby the first passive immunity. And during the whole process of natural feeding, it ensures the formation of a full-fledged immune system. There are no immune factors in mixtures, so it has been proven that artificial babies get sick more and more often. However, with a mixed diet, the child still receives valuable substances for immunity from mother's milk. The risk that he will grow up sickly and weak is much lower than for artificial children.

Mixed nutrition of an infant should be introduced strictly according to indications. The decision to use formula should not be made lightly, simply because the mother assumes a lack of breast milk.

Do a "wet diaper test" to determine if it's really lacking and how much. Talk to your pediatrician about which formula to use for feeding. And make every effort to restore lactation. After all, there is no more valuable food for your baby than breast milk.

Every woman dreams not only of bearing a child, but also of fully feeding him with her milk. But sometimes the baby has to be supplemented with mixtures. The nutrition of the child should be balanced, since growth and weight gain depend on it. A mother can worry about what a newborn’s mixed nutrition should be like and how to properly transfer a baby to this type of feeding.

Some mothers confuse artificial feeding with mixed. With artificial feeding, only mixtures are included in the baby's diet, and milk is completely absent in the baby's diet.

A mixed or combined type of food is much healthier and better for the development of the child.

The main food for such a newborn is. Only the missing amount of nutrition the child receives from artificial supplementary feeding.

Signs of an undernourished child

Mixing breast milk and artificial formulas is done when it becomes clear that the baby is not getting the necessary nutrients. The children's body must be fed fully, otherwise the following signs may occur:

after feeding, hungry crying begins;
the child becomes less active;
in behavior there is lethargy and lethargy;
frequent causeless crying;
an abnormal reaction to the smell of the mother;
the baby does not fall asleep well, and the dream is restless;
decreased frequency of urination;
stool rare, possible;
the baby is slowly gaining weight;
the newborn actively sucks everything that comes into his hands.

You can determine the malnutrition of a newborn with breast milk by the condition of his skin. If they become too dry, the reason may be weak lactation.

Mixed breastfeeding (the scheme is described below) may be required if a woman plans to go to work and breastfeeding becomes impossible during the daytime. Mom's non-compliance with the diet or the presence of any diseases can force a woman to supplement her baby with mixtures at the same time so that he receives all the nutrients. Such a measure is also necessary with a lack of breast milk, or if the baby refuses to breastfeed.

Rules for organizing mixed feeding

So, it was decided to start mixed feeding of the baby: how to feed? First you need to choose the right mixture.

The composition of the mixture should be as close as possible to the composition of mother's milk. This will allow the baby's body to absorb it better. The composition should not cause allergies or malfunctions of the digestive system.

It is important to consider that dry mixes are stored longer than liquid ones. In the process of preparing portions of food, it is important to strictly follow the instructions indicated on the package. The composition of the supplement should include the following substances:

milk serum;
carnitine;
linoleic acid;
taurine.

In order for the baby's body not to suffer from a lack of nutrients, there must be the correct ratio in the diet of milk and formula. Follow the nutritional recommendations in the table below:

1 day of life - age 2 months, the weight of supplementary feeding is 20%;
2-4 months - 16%;
4-6 months - 14%;
6-8 months - 12%;
8-12 months - 11%.

Not only the amount of supplementary feeding, but also the frequency of meals depends on the age of the baby. In the first week of life, it is necessary to supplement the crumbs 7-8 times a day. At the age of 4 weeks, the frequency of supplementary feeding is reduced to 6-7 times. From a month to four, the minimum number of additional meals is 5 times. Up to six months and older, supplementary feeding can be introduced 4-5 times a day.

For complementary foods, you can use the following mixtures:

"Similac";
"Unstable";
"Nan";
"Nutrilon";
"Baby".

Knowing what mixed feeding is, how to properly organize feeding, the mother will be able to fully take care of the baby's health.

Problems with mixed feeding of a newborn

The most common problems are that when complementary feeding is introduced, babies become picky and may even. They can distinguish the taste, and also be lazy to suck milk, because more effort is needed. To avoid all these problems, you should listen to the following recommendations:

give the newborn only after breastfeeding;
do not give a bottle until the breast is completely emptied;
if formula feeding is associated with the absence of a woman, make it a rule that all meals while she is at home will be breastfeeding;
if possible, supplementation should be given from a spoon or pipette, and not from a bottle;
if a nipple is used, the holes in it should be minimal;
it is better to feed the baby on demand, and not according to the schedule, since with the presence of supplementary feeding, children do not need food so badly.

In order not to burn the mucous membrane of the child's mouth and not to chill his throat, it is important to check the temperature of the mixture given. The optimum temperature range is 37-38 degrees. When pure water is introduced into the diet, it may be slightly cooler. With mixed feeding, a woman should take into account that the introduction of complementary foods begins earlier. If during breastfeeding it is administered from the age of six months, then with the combined it is done 2-3 weeks earlier.

If parents follow the simple rules of supplementation and carefully care for the baby, they will grow up a strong and healthy person!

The main communication between the mother and the baby occurs precisely during the feeding sessions. And such sessions, like nothing else, establish an invisible connection between the parent and the baby. Therefore, pediatricians prioritize breastfeeding.

But there are situations when a parent has to combine natural breastfeeding with the use of infant formula. What is mixed feeding of newborns, how to properly feed a child in this case, what schedule will be optimal for mom and baby? We will look into these important issues together.

There is breastfeeding - this is when you feed your baby exclusively with your breast milk. Artificial feeding is when the little one eats a special milk formula. It is prepared most often from cow or goat milk, taking into account the daily need of the child for nutrients, micro and macro elements.

Mixed feeding is a combination of the first and second options. In this case, the child receives both mother's milk and bottled food. Only in turn, following a strict schedule. It turns out that the baby seems to get all the best from his mother, and the amount of food eaten per day is “catching up” due to the mixture. Often this type of food is called supplementary feeding.

Manufacturers try to adapt the composition of the mixtures as much as possible for breast milk. But in the end, you still get products that are fundamentally different for the digestive system. The stomach and intestines of a newborn is forced to adapt to two types of food at once - you want to eat something. This is not easy, because the introduction of supplementary food needs good reasons.

Reasons for mixed feeding

The main reasons why a mother may need help in feeding her baby include:

. There are women who are genetically programmed to produce enough milk. And there are those whose body is not designed for this. And then there is stress, which even a large amount of milk nullifies.
Life and society. Sometimes a mother needs to deal not only with a newborn, but also with study / work. But you can’t drag a baby with you either to university or to work.
Health Issues. If a parent feels unwell, there are problems with the heart or blood vessels, kidneys, lungs or some other organs, where can we go before breastfeeding.
Milk quality. If the baby develops poorly, malnutrition or anemia is recorded in him, the reason may be that the mother has a lot of milk, but in composition it is almost water, and does not satisfy the needs of the growing body for nutrients.

Mixed feeding rules

The fundamental principles of supplementary feeding include several theses:

Breast milk is the best thing you can give a baby. An adapted mixture in this regard should be exclusively an assistant to make up for the lack of this food. And in no case should it be pushed into the background.
Supplementation is a temporary phenomenon. Supplementary feeding is introduced only for a few months. It must be replaced within six months.
Lactation must be maintained and extended. To do this, it is important to put the baby to the breast as often as possible, for this you can even neglect the feeding regimen.

In addition to principles, there are also rules. They will help to pass supplementary feeding without prejudice to your lactation and as correctly as possible from pediatrics:

Supplementary feeding is given only after the mammary glands are completely empty, even if your cat has cried milk.
Ideally, supplementary feeding should be given from a spoon - so the baby will not refuse to "work" at your breast.
Once a feeding regimen has been established, it is very important to follow it at all times.
If you do give formula from a bottle, you should choose a nipple with a very small opening. All children's utensils must be kept clean and sterile.
The temperature of the finished “artificial” food should not exceed 38 ° C, but liquids cooler than 37 ° C should not be given either.

Calculation of milk/mixture ratio

This is the most important issue of mixed feeding. Milk you give everything, no matter how much it is produced by your breast. It remains to determine how much mixture with your amount of milk you need to give the newborn. Very often, this issue is approached empirically - first they give the baby a breast until it is completely empty, and then they supplement it with a mixture from a spoon or bottle until the newborn is full. And often this method really works.

But if you want to know the daily volume of the mixture needed by the newborn, the same “wet diapers” are considered the ideal calculation method. Normally, the baby should write at least 12 times a day. From how many urination is not enough to this rate, and calculate the required milliliter of supplementary feeding.

Thus, for each missing wet diaper of the finished mixture, you need:

at 3 months - 30 ml;
at 4 - 40;
at 5 - 50;
in 6, respectively, 60 ml.

For example, if a child urinated 9 times at three months, he needs 90 ml of supplementary food per day, and if a five-month-old toddler spoiled only 7 diapers, he lacks 250 ml of food.

If you have ever been on a diet, then you know exactly what BJU is, and how much protein, fat and carbohydrates you need per day for happiness. These are the main ingredients of any food.

Babies up to 4 months with mixed feeding per day must receive:
3-3.5 g of protein, 5.5-6 g of fat and 12-14 g of carbohydrates per kilogram of weight.

That is, a newborn with a body weight of 4 kg needs, on average, 12 g of protein, 24 g of fat and 48 g of carbohydrates. After 4 months, the daily requirement for protein increases to 4, and fat - up to 6 grams per day. The amount of carbohydrates does not change.

Using this data, you can get confused and calculate whether your newborn is getting everything he needs. But if the baby is sleeping soundly and steadily gaining height and weight, it simply does not make sense to worry and do accurate calculations. The baby will still ask to eat exactly as much as he needs, no matter what you calculate there with the help of a calculator, the baby’s body knows better what he needs and how much.

How to choose formula and bottle

If there is very little milk, spoon-feeding a newborn on the recommendation of a pediatrician from a spoon can be inconvenient, long, and generally problematic. Therefore, the question arises about the choice of bottle. Today they are:

glass. This is the best option, since the glass does not affect the contents of the bottle in any way. But if the baby has already grown up and moves its arms quite actively, such a vessel will easily fly to the floor and may simply break.
Plastic. This is the most practical and durable of all that is. But one caveat - you can buy such a bottle only in a specialized store by checking the appropriate certificate. Only high-quality plastic will not affect the contents of the bottle in any way, a cheap one will release harmful substances into a slightly warm liquid.

In addition to the dishes, it is important to choose the right "nozzle" for it. Nipples are:

silicone;
latex.

And here the choice is solely for the child. Some children do not care what the nipple is made of, others refuse to drink from silicone, and others do not like latex. It is difficult to recommend something here, only trial and error will help. But it's up to you to choose the form. In this sense, an orthodontic nipple will be ideal for a newborn, which in the baby's mouth feels the same as the mother's nipple. In addition, it would be useful to pay attention to the hole - it should be minimal, the child should work on eating the mixture in the same way as when sucking the breast. It would be useful to ask a question about the anti-colic valve, it provides normal sucking without swallowing excess air.

As for the mixture, the choice today is quite large. But to say which of them is good and which is not is simply impossible, since different mixtures are perceived differently by different newborns. The first one will most likely be advised by your pediatrician. Just do not immediately buy a large package, choose a small one for testing. If the product fits the little one, fine. If not, you will have to choose another option, following the same trial and error method.

Did you know? If a young mother at one time was artificially or mixed-fed, it makes sense to check with her grandmother with which mixture. In 80% of cases, it is ideal for a grandson.

Constipation in infants with mixed feeding

Constipation in a newborn with mixed feeding is not much more common than in a natural one, if the mother violates. Too many factors affect the baby's digestive system. Therefore, you will have exactly the same amount of constipation as if the baby were exclusively a baby or an exclusively artificial one.

The only rational moment in this is that with artificial feeding, food intake is clearly on schedule. Therefore, between feedings, if necessary, the newborn is supplemented with warm boiled water. With mixed feeding, water, as a rule, is out of the question, but if supplementary feeding is 50% of the total diet of an infant or more, constipation may be the result of a banal lack of fluid in the body. It may also be a sign that the mixture simply did not fit the newborn.

Mixed feeding of newborns - video

In this video, a specialist talks about feeding a baby with breast milk in combination with bottle feeding.

Mixed feeding for a newborn is a real way out when for some reason you have little milk, but you still want to keep lactation to the last. There is nothing wrong with the fact that the baby will eat two different foods at the same time, no.

The opinion that children on mixed feeding suffer more than on any one is fundamentally wrong. With the right bottle, nipple, and mixture, colic, diarrhea, and constipation occur at exactly the same frequency as other newborns. And all these troubles will completely disappear after 4-5 months of a newborn's life. The main thing is to follow the rules of such feeding, and give the baby as much attention as possible.

Do you have experience with mixed feeding a newborn? Which formula is right for your baby? Share your experience in the comments, it will be very helpful for those young mothers who are faced with the issue of supplementary feeding for the first time. Healthy children and good appetite!

If you decide that the baby is not full and it's time to introduce the mixture, do not rush to give him the age limit written on the jar with the mixture. According to the rules, the daily rate is calculated using special formulas that take into account not only the age, but also the weight of the child. The difference in the amount of the mixture according to different formulas does not exceed 5 ml, so you can choose the one that is convenient for you and calculate, the search engine can easily find it.

Unfortunately, bottle feeding carries the risk of overeating due to stomach distension. In a child, the need to suck is associated not only with the need to eat, but also with the need to calm down and reduce discomfort: this is a feature of the work of the child's body. A baby who suckles at the breast does not receive milk in a constant stream, but only at high tide. From the bottle, all the time that the child sucks is pouring, and he will suck as long as his nervous system requires it. It turns out this: the stomach is already full, and the need to suck is not yet satisfied, and the child sucks further, each time stretching and stretching the stomach. The more the stomach is stretched, the later the child feels full, the more nutrients he receives, the greater the threat of overweight. Therefore, mixtures are not given to the child without restriction, and the need to suck is satisfied by the artificial dummy. More than a liter of the mixture per day is not given at any age!

If the child eats exclusively mixtures, then everything is clear with the volume of food: we take the formula, calculate the daily volume of the mixture, divide the resulting amount by the number of feedings per day and get the amount of the mixture per feeding. Personally, it is more convenient for me to use the Geibener and Czerny method. For example, at the age of 6 weeks to 4 months, the child receives 1/6 of his weight per day, but not more than one liter. Let's say that at 2 months the child weighs 5600. We apply the formula: 5600/6 = 933.3 (3) - this is the daily norm. The child eats 7 times a day (once every three hours with one night break), which means that at a time he needs 933/7 = 133.3 (3) ml. If a child weighs 6500 at 2 months, then its daily norm will be 1083.3 (3) ml, but more than a liter of the mixture is not given, which means that the child with 7 feedings per day will receive no more than 142.86 ml at a time.

BUT what to do if the child is mixed-fed, and calculate how much he ate from the chest, it will not work? Let me remind you that pumping is not indicative of the volume of milk that a child receives. Pumping is a good indication of how much milk a mother can pump, not how much a baby is getting. There are two reliable ways to make sure that there is not enough milk: 1) control of weight gain (min 125 g / week = 500 g / month) 2) control of urination per day (min 10-12 per day for a child older than a week and up to 6 months). It is best to combine these methods, but for a single assessment, one method is quite sufficient. From this, two methods for selecting the required amount of supplementary feeding can be deduced.

Option 1: mom introduces the mixture, starting with the minimum amount. For example, 30 ml 1-2 times a day. Once a week, the mother conducts control weighings and, when gaining less than 125 g / week, increases the amount of supplementary feeding per day by a minimum amount: she adds another 1-2 feedings of 30 ml each. If there are 6-7 feedings of 30 ml each, then an increase in the volume of a single feeding begins: 6 feedings of 30 ml + 1 feeding of 40 ml to all feedings of 40 ml. Etc. The increase in supplementation should be stopped when the baby starts gaining 125g/week or more. You can carry out one more additional control weighing (control - not the one before and after the meal, but the control - gained 125 g or not) to make sure that this volume is enough.

Option 2: the mother counts the number of urinations of the child and adds approximately 30 ml of supplementary food for each missing time. For example, a baby peed 8 times a day. He lacks the norm 2-4 times, which means that the minimum amount of supplementary feeding can be set to 2 feedings of 30 ml each. After two or three days, the count of urination is repeated. As soon as the number of urination is established slightly above the minimum norm (12-14), the increase in supplementary feeding is stopped. Attention: this method requires confirmation by weight gain control! Those. after establishing the desired number of urination, one to two weighings with an interval of 7 days are required to ensure that the weight gain is 125 g / week or more.

Exist several rules for the introduction of supplementary feeding, which contribute to the preservation of lactation at the current level, i.e. ensure that the amount of milk does not decrease.

Rule 1: Supplementation is NOT given from a bottle. There is a good video on the site of St. Petersburg consultants "The ABC of Motherhood" (easy to find through the search engine), which calls "supplementation without a bottle." You can choose from the recommended methods that suit you and your baby and not risk rejection of the breast due to the introduction of a bottle. The best ways are those that involve supplementing while suckling the breast.

Rule 2: Supplementary feeding is better to break into small portions. For example, a child needs 120 ml of supplementary food. It is better to give 4 times 30 ml than once 120, because by drinking 120 ml at a time, the baby will ignore one breastfeed, which can lead to a decrease in milk production. If the volume of supplementary feeding is more than half, then it is worth considering the possibility of purchasing or making your own supplementary feeding system (SFS).

Rule 3: supplementary feeding with a mixture is given only and exclusively by the hour. All other suckling needs are met by breastfeeding on demand.

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