How to organize mixed feeding of a baby

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Mixed infant feeding is necessary when the mother's own milk is not enough or it is time to wean the baby.

Thanks to the achievements of the modern food industry, parents have ample opportunities in choosing artificial milk formula. But whatever mixture is chosen, mixed feeding of the baby should not be organized spontaneously, but systematically, in compliance with medical recommendations.

When breast milk is not enough

It is possible to suspect a lack of nutrition of a child with breast milk if the number of urination per day becomes less than twelve. How to identify it?

Instead of diapers that are comfortable in all respects, when dressing a baby, it is necessary to return to ordinary diapers for 24 hours. Regularly checking them for dryness, it is important not to miss the moment, so as not to carelessly count two urination for one. It's called the "wet diaper test".

If wet diapersper day less than 12, the child needs additional nutrition.

Calculate the amount of supplementary feeding

Mixed infant feeding is organized in accordance with the calculation of the amount of milk formula. If as a result of the "wet test" only 7 diapers were wet instead of the prescribed 12, then the supplementary food received should be enough to wet 5 more diapers.

For a child up to three months, for each act of urination, there are approximately 30 ml of nutrition. Five dry diapers are multiplied by 30 ml and get 150 ml of supplementary food per day.

A child from three to six months eats not 30, but 40-60 ml, therefore, with the same calculation formula, the result will be changed accordingly.

Supplementation Rhythm

There is no fundamental difference in how to organize mixed feeding of a baby, but there are two tactics:

1. After each breastfeed, give your baby formula (the amount calculated using the formula above divided by the approximate number of feedings per day).
2. One or more feedings per day entirely with artificial formula.

The choice of tactics depends on the lifestyle of the family and the preferences of the baby, which should also not be ignored.

Before full-fledged feeding with an artificial mixture, it is necessary to gradually, starting with half a teaspoon, accustom the child to new food, carefully monitoring the reaction. If onthe second day after the introduction of a few drops of the mixture, allergic reactions did not appear, which means that the mixture can be safely introduced into the diet.

What will change when a baby is mixed-fed?

Many mothers note that with the introduction of supplementary feeding and with a favorable course of adaptation to it, the children become calmer, sleep better and willingly suck a bottle of formula.

This behavior of a child can make a mother decide that breastfeeding is not necessary for her baby at all and there is no point in wasting time and effort on maintaining it.

This is an erroneous opinion, because no advances in the food industry have yet surpassed breast milk in the composition of the unique substances that a small person needs so much.

If the baby does not demonstrate contentment with life, but becomes even more restless, then his condition should be discussed with the pediatrician, answering his questions in detail about the child’s daily routine, his appetite and stool.

Can I save breastmilk when supplementing with formula?

Cases where lactation worsens with a lack of nutrients in the mother's body is a rare phenomenon. It is known that during the fascist blockade, residents of Leningrad, with monstrous malnutrition, fed babies with their own milk. This is not a medical miracle, since the mechanisms of lactation depend not so much on the food and drinks consumed, but on the hormonal background of the woman.

The formation of milk in the mammary glands is made possible by the hormone prolactin, which is produced at night and in the pre-morninghours, from about 3 am to 8 am, subject to night feedings.

The hormone oxytocin, produced by stimulation of the nipples, helps the separation of produced milk from the mammary gland, that is, to stimulate lactation, the child must definitely breastfeed until empty.

For the production of oxytocin to be unobstructed, a woman needs to feel relaxed, calm, safe and have as close skin-to-skin contact as possible with her baby: bathe him, massage him, care for him, play and caress him.

Breastfeeding will not come to naught, even if the rule of feeding has become mixed feeding of the baby. The scheme of breastfeeding in this case should be built not according to graphs and tables, but at the request of the baby. In other words, with poor lactation, there is no excess application, especially at night. Little by little, lactation will be restored if there is no internal psychological resistance of the mother to this.

How to keep lactating if a mother can't be with her baby all day?

Sometimes a mother who goes to work or takes strong medications is forced to make the transition to mixed feeding of the baby. Feedback from women who have gone through this path suggests that even at the workplace or while taking medication, you can maintain lactation by regularly expressing breast milk using a breast pump.

If hygienic conditions are observed, such milk can be placed in a refrigerator bag and frozen at home or given to a childlater from a bottle (except when taking medication, of course).

In sad situations, when the baby is in the hospital isolated from the mother, who loses the opportunity to breastfeed, this method will not only help maintain lactation, but also, by agreement with the doctor, will contribute to the speedy recovery of the crumbs, for which mother's milk will become medicine.

Physiological changes in stool during supplementary feeding

A baby supplemented with formula milk gains almost as much weight as his breastfed counterpart. But these children's stools are different.

The stool of a mixed-fed baby is tan in color and has a slightly offensive odor reminiscent of adult feces. The consistency of the stool from a semi-liquid mushy turns into a thicker, reminiscent of plasticine. The frequency of bowel movements becomes less frequent. This is normal as the baby's digestive system is confronted with unnatural food.

At first, white lumps may occur in the baby's feces. Most likely, these are fragments of undigested food: the enzymatic system did not have time to adapt to the changed diet.

That is why the smell and color of the stool of a mixed-fed baby is different from the feces of babies who receive exclusively breastfeeding. A few days after the introduction of supplementary feeding, the stool should become homogeneous, but it will never become similar to infant stool.

Constipation

Supplementing formula milk, unfortunately, is not a panacea for digestive problems, even if the most expensive and advertised jar is chosen. Under the most favorable set of circumstances, and provided that the supplement fits the baby well and the digestive system has coped with the restructuring, the excretory system also needs time to change in work.

The most common complaint of stool problems is constipation in infants with mixed feeding. Often the mother is to blame for this, exceeding the dosage of nutritional powder in the formula. The solution is obvious: read the meal preparation instructions carefully and give the baby extra fluids or, preferably, breastfeed the baby more often. The composition of breast milk is very specific and will naturally help establish a normal bowel movement.

But to solve the problem of constipation immediately, especially if the child shows all signs of discomfort, you can use glycerin suppositories, microenemas, lactulose preparations and tummy massage on the recommendation of a pediatrician.

Loose stools

The feces of a baby with mixed feeding for objective reasons should be formed, therefore, when its consistency changes dramatically and becomes like a liquid heterogeneous porridge, and the frequency increases from one or two times a day to 5 or more, they talk about diarrhea.

Loose stools in a baby on a mixedBreastfeeding can be caused by many things, and unfortunately artificial supplementation plays a role in its occurrence. The child's immune system is under stress due to the intake of nutrients that are not familiar to his body. The lack of mother's milk only exacerbates this difficult situation, so the ingress of pathogens is less likely to pass without a trace for the baby.

If the already liquid stool of a mixed-fed baby contains a large amount of white curdled lumps, despite the fact that supplementary feeding was introduced more than a week ago, one can suspect that this jar of food is not suitable for the child, and it makes sense to choose food another manufacturer. It is better to give preference to adapted milk mixtures and select them according to the age of the child and the recommendation of the doctor.

It would also be useful to check if the child suffers from lactase deficiency, which may be a congenital defect or a consequence of other systemic diseases.

No matter what objective reasons a mother's decision to transfer her child to mixed feeding may depend on, doctors recommend maintaining lactation for as long as possible and carefully monitoring the condition of a child receiving artificial nutrition in infancy.