Exit strategy for 3 way feeding

Ideally I’d like to exclusively breastfeed but I’ve got stuck in this horrible 3 way feeding pattern as we were told to top up with formula to get Freddy’s weight up, then also for me to express to get my milk up. (He’s 4 weeks old.)

This was all following initial feeding issues due to a tongue tie. However, that’s now sorted, breastfeeding far is more comfortable & F’s weight is where it should be. However, I’ve no idea what the exit strategy is for not doing all 3 - the midwife says I should still express to produce more as he’s sometimes still hungry after a feed, so we top him up with formula… A bit of a vicious cycle!

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I would start topping him up with your milk more and reducing the formula till he's fully on your milk and then slowly decrease the amount in each bottle until youre fully feeding from the breast

I would reduce the formula first, and if he's still hungry after a feed put him back on the boob instead of pumping

This was exactly me!
It was so exhausting, especially with such a tiny baby.
I had to use nipple shields to get his latch right at first because it meant he could stay latched for longer and basically did the work of the breast pump. The best thing I found was just letting baby do all the cluster feeding he needed to because it is their natural way of upping the milk supply.
Honestly, the less I thought about it the better it got. Just keep boobing him. Relentlessly. Babies are so good at getting what they need and you are much better placed sitting and feeding than you are keeping track of sterilisation and bottles and pump parts.
Sometimes babies are still hungry, that's why they cluster feed. It felt so intimidating for me but he knew exactly what to do. Just keep a bit of formula in the house to put your mind at ease and enjoy that baby!

Thanks ladies - makes sense & reassuring to know there’s a do-able way out.

All the sterilisation is driving me crazy here too - yet another thing to do and track..

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