Combi feeding
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Yes it is possible, just keep offering the breast first, pump when babys having a bottle of formula, this will help maintain your supply. I combi feed my baby boy.
@Sophie completely agree with everything you said. Great advice. I pretty much do the same to combi feed my boy.
When you do bottle feed, pump It keeps your supply up
Thanks everyone - I've really struggled with pumping because I've gotten nothing when doing it, and I've been concerned about pumping and then she'll want to be fed and I'll have nothing left for her. Plus to be honest I've been trying to sleep when I get the formula break at night as my partner is now back at work, so little opportunity in the day. Will keep trying to fit it in!
@Becky what pump are you using? Only hospital grade worked for me- I used Spectra S2. And I've also heard it needs to be the right flange although I didn't actually check this when I pumped!! Pump straight after feeding or while bottle feeding. That way you have 'recovery' time before the next feed. It is worth persevering with the pumping to help establish your supply in these early weeks if you wish to continue to BF. Your supply ideally needs you to be pumping and/or BF in those early morning golden hours - as crappy as it feels on the sleep side of things!!
Yes am 7m into combi feeding after having to supplement due to supply issues and weight gain. I didn't pump but gradually added 2xff into the mix. We still mostly bf (she's always on the boob) and has worked really well for us as she kept to a slow and steady gain with the help of formula, but got to keep all benefits of the bf too (especially with night wakes in this random sleep regression we're in).
Speaking on experience I was combi feeding from newborn because “I thought he wasn’t satisfied” it ending up him wanting more of the bottle teat then breast so I just switched to full breast and he was fine, I just put him on when he wanted and offered when I thought he was hungry, the more you feed the more your body makes more milk of that make sense. I tried to pump, breast and bottle etc but I felt so much pressure especially that I was feeding on demand it was just easier for me to put him on as and when
I was told to give formula top ups from day 2, little man came early and had jaundice. Did the top ups after each feed for 3 weeks until he was well over birth weight and then reduced them. We then eventually switched to breast feeding during the day and formula feeding at night. At night when he is bottle fed I pump to maintain supply. I was getting absolutely nothing when I first started and now get about 2 feeds worth from 3 pumping sessions overnight. I then use this extra for any top ups during the day if he’s still hungry after a breast feed. It took trying a different pump eventually to get to this point. He’s now 9 weeks old
Yes we introduced formula day 4 (40ml after every feed, which then increased to 90ml after a few days). She'd dropped 12% of birthweight at day 4, and advised by midwives and Dr. I think we kept it up for 3-4 weeks until she was putting weight on and we started weaning her off it. I think I was weighing weekly at a BF clinic to make sure she was keeping up the weight, and the BF specialists advised us when it was okay to stop the top ups. By then my supply and her latch were better. We kept an evening feed to give me a break and she now loves her bottle feed still last thing before bed! While supplementing with formula I pumped at least 3 times a day - tried to do after every feed which I managed for a week but it was getting ridiculous as she was a hungry baby and fed every 1hr30 in the day - it gave me no chance to do anything else! Prioritise pumping between 2-4am as this stimulates supply best, it's hardest around 4pm as it naturally dips. Feel free to message me!