Combination feeding

[SarahDay1990]

My LO is a month old and breastfeeding has been extremely difficult - including tongue tie, poor latch, low supply and damage. However I’ve been on a 2 hour feed/pump regime and things are going well. I have a big baby so have been supplementing with formula. I normally feed her each side (approx 10 mins each side) and then top up with formula (she usually only takes 20-40ml). My question is - by supplementing with formula will my supply dry up if if keep breastfeeding for 20 mins total every 3 hours or so? I’m having to top up as I have damage to my chest so can only feed her for 10 mins each side. But I don’t want to undo all the hard work I’ve done to get breastfeeding but equally can’t really feed longer at this point so formula is needed. Any advice?

Ive just finished my breastfeeding journey - we were doing exactly what you did (although i did 30mins total) but we managed to make it to 6months. I was so happy about that as at 3 weeks, i honestly couldnt see how we were going to continue (SGA baby, sepsis, 2 weeks in NICU / SCBU, feeding tube and poor feeding). I did as much pumping as possible until 3months and then at 3 months, just kept 1 x 3am pump going until she was 5months. Over time, the formula upped to around 90-120ml by the time she was 6months. Then when we stopped bfing, she obviously went onto higher volumes - now at 9months, she just has one bf in the morning and the rest of the day is formula. I can't say whether that would work for everyone, but it did for us.

What pump do you have? I was advised to hire the hospital grade Medela symphony (£47 a month) and i found it was much better than normal pumps, so made the 3am pump much more efficient.

You are doing a brilliant job to keep bfing as it is - every drop your LO gets will help them