Stopped apologising for the formula top-ups, the ghutti-wale log can relax
Two months in and I've said "I'm still trying to increase my supply" to more relatives than I've said hello to. Truth is my supply never fully caught up after a rough delivery and we've been combi-feeding since week 3 — breast plus formula top-up.
The thing that actually helped was our pediatrician tracking her weight gain on the growth chart instead of everyone's personal opinion on how much milk I "should" be making. She's gaining well, 6-7 wet diapers a day, hitting her checkups fine. That's the metric that matters, not how full my chest looks to my khala.
If anyone's doing top-ups: paced bottle feeding made a huge difference for us, hold the bottle horizontal not tilted up, let baby control the pace, stops them from preferring the faster bottle flow over the breast. Also please ignore whoever tells you formula babies are automatically more "moti-taazi" or healthier looking, mine's perfectly average and thriving. Just wanted to put this out there for the next person getting the aunty comments in the hospital lift.