Combi feeding help

Little girl is 3 weeks old. I stopped breastfeeding after just 5 days and switched completely to formula. We had a fantastic birth experience but she was very sleepy and a reluctant feeder for the first few days - that along with her being so tiny terrified me that she wouldn't get enough from me alone and would become really ill. I've regretted stopping ever since and I would love to combi feed her (she will need to have formula at some point as I will be going into work for KIT days while on mat leave so will be with her Dad all day). I just cannot wrap my head around how it works. Until my supply is back up, do I just top her up at each feed with formula? Will the combination of formula and breast milk confuse her feeding schedule? Will it affect her tummy / cause constipation or digestive issues etc? Please share your tips and tricks - in case you couldn't tell I'm an over thinker🤣 and I'm struggling to picture how I can make this work. I want to breastfeed so badly 😢

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Can I ask why you feel you need formula whilst on kit days? I’ve been breast feeding a year and back to work full time. I just express every day so LO can have milk at nursery

Hi @Ella if you want to go back to breastfeeding, try feeding her and hand expressing milk into a bottle. Breastmilk can be frozen so on the days you are doing KIT days, her Dad will still be able to feed her.

I have low supply so combi fed my first till 11 months. I have a one week old and am combi feeding again. I breastfeed then top up with formula. When I have time I pump as well and then the next top up will be a mixture of breast milk and formula. I don’t breastfeed at one feed which my hubby does while I sleep. I don’t follow a feeding schedule. I feed on demand but leave it no longer than 4 hours because he is not back to birth weight yet. It hasn’t given either of them tummy issues.

@Michele My supply is so low at the moment that I couldn't express enough to last her a day. My first KIT day is next week.

@Ella if you keep demanding though your breasts will keep supplying x

Always offer boob first, your body will learn it needs to produce more. You may wanna hand express afterwards for a few minutes, again, just to stimulate your breasts to produce more. One of the 'tricks' to increase supply is to spend 2-3 days with the baby in as much skin to skin as possible, offering boob as much as possible. You wouldn't get much else done, but that should kick start the production. Good luck and I'm sure soon you will be able to have some extra milk frozen for the days you're on KIt days 😊

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