Triple feeding
Also called triple feed, triple-feeding, triple feeding routine
Triple feeding means breastfeeding, then giving a top-up of expressed milk or formula, then pumping, all around the same feed. Lactation services describe it as a short-term plan to raise milk supply while making sure the baby gets enough to eat.
How it's said
Just wondering if anyone is doing triple feeding (feed at breast, pump, top up with expressed milk/formula)?
So then I expressed and topped up, it's called triple feeding because latching is one feed.
Another member of the "triple feeding broke me" club: I didn't last very long at all, I'm afraid.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- Combination feeding means a baby has breastfeeds at some times and formula at others. Triple feeding adds pumping after feeds and is meant as a short-term plan.
Where it came from
The name counts the three jobs in one feed: feeding at the breast, giving a supplement, and pumping or hand expressing. La Leche League Canada and hospital lactation clinics such as the University of Rochester Medical Center use it in their handouts for parents.
Researchers use it too. A 2024 study in Breastfeeding Medicine spells it out as a regime of breastfeeding, pumping and supplementing, in mothers' own accounts of low milk supply.