Half & Half

Breastfeeding and supplementing

With sore nipples or even cracked and low sleep levels there is a lot of pressure!! (I used nipple butter from earth moma for moms with this issue). https://earthmamaorganics.com/products/organic-nipple-butter

 I ended up breastfeeding, supplementing and pumping. I did not come across many moms who also have gone through this journey and wrote about it.

This is a brief overview for the first month as this currently where I am.  I had no issues with latching with my baby. When I came home from the hospital, I noticed I was not producing enough milk. This and along with other issues after covid, such as to going to my doctor appointments and other places I went alone. I did not take my newborn out with me all the time.

So, I decided started to supplement my baby when I was away or had to top her up.  After a few days I would top up my baby after feeding. It was not every feed as I found my milk supply was good for the morning. It was only afternoon/night feed, this lasted for a few weeks and helped a lot. It helped with sleep and for my husband to have the opportunity to feed her. Also, my baby was a cluster feeder after the 4^th day at home. For moms with cluster feeders the supplementing helps to relief stress along with any other issues that may arise, like cracked nipples so you can keep most of your breastfeeding up.

Now since my milk was not keeping up to our baby, I decided I had to start pumping. So far, I have pumped when she sleeps or when I could as you will sleep when your baby sleeps. The pumping is usually 2 or 3 times a day. Now I found a you tube blogger who said to pump every hour for 3 days to increase your supply. I currently did not have the time to do these 3 consecutive days in a row. For moms who can or have please leave a review. I am hoping to try this soon and will link a separate blog if needed of results.

Since I was pumping breastfeeding and supplementing many of you will say wow how do you have the time. I did not start pumping until a week and half after she was born. So do not stress out moms, if you just have a schedule to get even one extra pump a day right from the beginning this will help.  I only decided to pump because I wanted to see if I pump enough that I would not need to supplement as much.

The 3^rd and 4^th week I have had to supplement more because I ended up with an infection in my c section. The infection left me sleepy along with more doctor appointments. Once my infection is gone and my incision in heeled, I am going to try out techniques to increase my milk supply.

I did not notice any milk supply reduction, so I am happy with the results of our choice to supplement. It gave me some relief as a mother to feed my baby and some time for the father to care for our child. Hope this helps any moms out there who need a little support.

All content found on the Amanda Brethour Website, including text, images, audio, or other formats were created for informational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this Website.

If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, go to the emergency department, or call 911 immediately. Amanda Brethour does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on Amanadabrethour.com. Reliance on any information provided by Amandabrethour.com is solely at your own risk.