Breastfeeding / combi feeding

I’m combi feeding and pump to compensate for every formula bottle baby has to keep my supply up. My little had no issue taking the bottle because we introduced early. If you’re planning to just feed breast milk be careful pumping more than your baby needs because you can end up quite engorged which is quite uncomfortable. You find you will be significantly more comfortable pumping each time he feeds but I miss a pump at night in order to catch up on as much sleep as possible. This may have affected my supply in the long run but I was getting delirious with the lack of sleep so I’ve made my peace with supplementing with formula once or twice a day.

This is just my understanding and I'm not a professional by any means! My advice would be to speak to your midwife or health visitor and hopefully be directed to a lactation specialist. However, if you give baby a bottle of formula then they say to pump to ensure that your supply stays. It's purely to tell your boobs to keep making milk. If you don't pump and you give baby formula then your boobs may think maybe doesn't need as much milk so may stop producing as much. As baby is so young, your body is still working out supply and baby is still trying to tell your body how much milk to make. This takes a while. My LO is a month old but I'm still leaking, this is because my body still isn't sure how much to make. It is all so iverwhelming and everywhere you look there's different advice so as I said check with a professional! All the best

You will need to pump anyway because your boobs will go hard and sore if you’re not feeding her however long. So ur partner may aswell just give her the pumped milk instead of formula and it saves money. But also when baby gets bigger she won’t be eating as much as she does now. So if you do decide to just breastfeed it will get easier and you will notice she’s not feeding as much x

I wouldn't recommend combi feeding yet personally. They say the first 6 weeks is to establish the latch and breastfeeding, then introduce a bottle! But I would also say pump missed feeds where they're having a bottle of formula or even pump then put in a bottle, or just freeze it for in case you have to go out. If you're going to be pumping also, if you feed formula say anywhere between 2 and 4am that's when the milk production is at its highest! I got the best pumps of milk around those times and I'd pump both at the same timenif you can xx

I had a similar problem with my LG, I wanted to combi however she was insistent if being on me constantly. If she's feeding for longer for a couple of days she's likely cluster feeding so she's training your body of her new milk requirements as she grows, likely following a growth spurt. My best advice is to do a formula feed scheduled at the same time every day, we tried first feed of the morning so my partner could do it, your milk will adjust accordingly to demand or if you're worried about supply then try and pump whilst your partner feeds in the morning. This wasn't great help however I hope it does help somehow, you're doing great x

Also, the babies stomach is only the size of an apricot and will require milk more often. At 2 weeks will be leap 1 of they're first development, you may find she becomes fussy and unable to settle, if you latch her on to breast, she may feed more and longer hut it won't last forever. At 6 weeks is leap 2 Same as leap one, maybe more wingy, hard to settle, and she'll require more feeding. Leap 3 is around 10-12 weeks, notably unsettled, and will want to say with her person, be feeding more and will be grumpy, and over tired because of sleep regression, waking up more in the night. Leap 4 is 6 months, sleep regression l, grumpy af, may requite more feeding, waking up more in the night, separation anxiety. Leap 5 is 9 months. This one wasn't a joke for me, waking up more in the night, fighting naps, separation anxiety, leap 4, and 5 is where I coslept most! It just made it easier. There's more leaps, but they're ages away. Some babies don't have sleep regression at all! But these are rough things to go by.

The above are based on my own experiences, and I can't speak for everyone else. As stated, not all babies have sleep regressions with leaps

@Jay thank you. That Is really helpful. How long do you pump for when baby has a formula feed? How do I know how long I need to pump for? Sorry for all of the questions!

@Grace also really helpful advice, thank you! I have an appointment on Tuesday so will definitely mention this with all my questions. How do I know how long to pump for? I have read such mixed answers. (E.g. pump 10 minutes after a feed or pump 15 minutes every few hours. Or even if I replace 1 feed with formula then pump during that feed. But how long for?) x

No worries!! I pump the other side until I’m empty basically. Usually takes around 15-20 mins but sometimes I just let the pump go until it stops automatically at 30 mins if I’m doing something else or unable to switch it off due to holding baby. Make sure your pump setting is on as low a suction as you can as having it too high can wreck your nipples. I learned the hard way. Next feed I switch sides because baby is definitely more efficient than the pump at removing the milk and the pump seems to miss some of my ducts so I’ve had to hand release some clogs / get my baby to draw it out.

@Sophie thank you so much! How long do I need to pump for (or how do I know how long I need to pump for) when my partner is replacing one feed with formula? X

Depends on the age of your baby/ size etc. I found pumping for average 10 mins should give me 2.5-4oz. The volume can vary so much for many reasons so don't worry too much either if at times you only get a drop. I used to freeze the milk to keep the pouches for emergency but I've never needed them as my LG wouldn't take a bottle. It's all a guessing game as each mother and baby are so unique to needs etc x

I have always just pumped until either no more milk comes out or it slows down or I get bored/fed up 🤣 probably not the right thing to do but that's what I do 🤣 If you're just adding a formula bottle for baby then I would just pump whenever you do the replacement and no other time if you're offering breast all the other feeds because then you'll be producing too much milk!