i gave birth to a baby girl 2.9kgs now she is three weeks old but i am not able to satisfy her hunger as she always wants more even after i breast feed her for half an hr so i started formula as my lactation is not enough can someone guide me how to spread out the feeding of formula and bm? i also am worried as at night she refuses to sleep and always wants milk at a gap of half an hr is that normal. she has gained a wt of round 200gms since birth? ma replied. What 'mom' has said is one good option to manage bf+bottle.

Want to suggest what i did, but before that i wd say try and increase your bm supply as that is good for the baby, but same time dont feel guilty if u r not able to.
hope u r taking care of health and diet, taking enough rest and be tension free.
dont think negative about bm supply, tell urself that it will increase. b positive, it affects bm and baby.

its just been 3 weeks. Give it a month to establish the bm supply as per baby's demand.
M not saying stop bottle, it is also imp to make sure baby is full. Just give it some more time, may b bm supply gets better.

There was a recent post where Hetal suggested on increasing BM supply/quality, u can go thru it.

Do check with ur doc abt bm supply, might help u.

For bm+bottle, how i did it was - when my baby was 2m it was proved (docs/analysis etc) that my bm was insuffifient and i hv to give bottle.
I analysed how long does it take for my breasts to get full/engorged, and i realised that i can give alternate feed to the baby. So one feed of bm and other of bottle was my pattern.

A 3week baby is expected to be fed every 2 hrs if it is breastfed, or by demand. For formula, i think it is longer as formula needs more time to digest.
Also, formula babies need to be kept hydrated else they constipate so ask your doc about timing of bottlefeed and giving water to baby.

Regarding sleep pattern-
ur baby is wakin up every half he most probably because she is hungry (u can check if che is colic/gas/pain in stomach).
assuming its bec of hunger ... well u need to wake up at nights and feed the baby as per schedule/by babys demand. For baby's that get full feed and 3 weeks old, they get up apprx 2 hrs at night.

If ur baby is waking up at night and asking for feed every half an hour, i think it is due to less bm supply. Moreover, u seem to get tired in day so ur supply even reduces at night.
See if u want to go alternate feed way, so that baby is full at night and sleeps for 2 hrs atleast (2 hrs timings are average, some baby's need more some others less).

so fact of matter is, ensure baby is full so she sleeps, unless any other reason for her waking up.

with formula, apart from water, u also need to take care for moth infection. BM generally contains anti-bacterial elements so baby doesnt get mouth infection even if little bm is left in mouth. This is not the case with formula. In day, baby is awake/plays etc so infection possibility is less in day. Pls check with ur doc how to take care of this thing.

Thus, ideally ur baby wd wake up for feed at night as per the schedule, at least for 2 months. I used wake up and fed my baby at nights as per my schedule till she was 4m and then i let her demand at nights. Today at 5+m she sleeps thru the night mostly, but sometimes asks at 3 am or 5 am.

Also, my bm supply had strenghthed later so i did not need to give bottle but i continued to give 1 per day, just to keep the habit, since i m a working person.

These days i give her bottle 30 mins before sleep. At time of sleep i give her bm, and she feeds for a good while. At night, i give her bm only whenever she asks. I hv kept a single seater sofa near my bed so i can sleep while sitting while feeding at night (support with pillows).

See if this helps. Dont worry, dont feel guilty and keep trying ur best.

Good luck mom replied. yes, arpita.. you can nurse your baby first and then burp the baby and then give her formula. there is nothing wrong with it.. i did that for 5 month with my son and he had no problem.