I cried when I gave Phoebe my first daughter a bottle of formula. Not because there is anything wrong with it (spoiler alert / there’s not) but because I thought it spelt the beginning of the end of breastfeeding.  She was three months old and I weaned her at 18 months (my choice not hers).

Hugo my third also has formula. His first bottle was at 5 months as I was away and didn’t have time to pump enough before a girls night.

I am here to tell you that you can mix feed and continue to breastfed for as long as you and your baby want. 

I would like to hope you know and understand that Franjos absolute purpose, our “why” is to support and empower mothers on their breastfeeding journey. This journey can come in a million different ways and mix feeding is one of them.

Hugo is now down to 4 feeds a day, all of which are breastfed (he also has about a million at night - but that’s another story (help me!!)). I have given Hugo a bottle of formula on and off since 5 months for the following reasons - I was out and didn’t have any pumped milk around, I had too many wines and didn’t want to feed him, we hoped it might help him sleep longer (spoiler alert - it didn’t) and because we thought he was still

Hungry and I was over breastfeeding for the evening. I fully intend to breastfed him (with the odd bottle of formula) until either or both of us are ready to stop.

I just wanted to share this with you to let you know that you are not alone. If you are reaching for a tin of formula, for whatever reason, at whatever time in your babies life, please know that that is TOTALLY fine.

If it’s early on, I do recommend you speak to a lactation consultant if you intend to continue breastfeeding long term as supplemental feeds can impact your supply. Cluster feeding is a super important but super tiring thing that happens in the early days (first 12 weeks) which is an important step in building your milk supply so introducing supplemental feeds at this point can have a detrimental impact to your supply later on.

But hey mama? Please remember, fed is best and you are amazing.

Love Fran xx