DD is 7 weeks old. We combo feed - I have borderline low milk supply (had the same with DS) so she gets breastfed every 1-2 hours during the day and topped up with formula as needed (usually 4 times a day/night). She only takes 120ml formula/day so she's mostly fed from me. Weight gain is good along 50th percentile.
Sleep is horrendous most nights. On good nights she will go down at 9, and wake every 1.5-4 hours for a feed - this is brilliant!!! But many nights she is up every 20-45 minutes even when we bedshare. I feed at every wake up (breast and formula top up if still unsettled). Usually she takes very little if any top up (5-15ml) from 2am onward which tells me she isn't desperately hungry. Some nights she's also screaming with tummy pain (screaming when she's been fed/topped up to full/nappy clean/cuddled etc). She also takes up to an hour to settle after a feed (holding/rocking/cuddling).
I have tried dummies off and on and they really help her settle. But I am so paranoid that I'm masking hunger. My milk supply is already precarious and I have PTSD from poor weight gain with my first (we didn't realise about the milk supply issues for awhile).
How do I use dummies? Do babies make it clear when they are hungry? Do I put it back in every time she wakes and only feed if she doesn't settle? I have no idea what I'm doing!!!