Feeding
Nourishing your baby,
nourishing yourself.
Evidence-based guidance for breastfeeding, bottles, combination feeding and pumping, including the practical problems and mixed feelings that often come with them.
Your starting point
Optional — helps us nudge what might be useful first.
Your feeding journey
Every section stays open to you. Choosing one just brings the relevant parts forward.
On this page
Section 1
Feeding foundations
Tap any tile to open. Small ideas that make almost everything else easier — for any feeding method.
Section 2
Breastfeeding
Switch tabs to explore. Expand a challenge to see what's typical, what may help, and when to seek a person.
- ·Golden hour: skin-to-skin in the first hour when possible — and a different first hour is not a failure.
- ·Colostrum is measured in drops. That is enough for a brand-new stomach.
- ·Milk usually 'comes in' between day 2 and day 5.
- ·Biological nurturing — laid-back, baby on your chest — lets baby use their instincts.
- ·Bring baby to breast, not breast to baby. Wide-open mouth, chin first.
Common challenges
Tap to open one at a time.
Section 3
Bottle feeding
Formula, bottle choice, paced feeding, preparation and sharing night feeds.
Formula basics
- ·Iron-fortified infant formula is a complete food for the first 6 months.
- ·Standard cow's-milk-based formulas suit most babies. Specialty formulas are for specific medical reasons.
- ·There is no need to switch brands frequently. Most differences are marketing.
Section 4
Combination feeding
Some at the breast, some from a bottle. One of the most common shapes — and one of the least talked about.
Introducing a bottle
- ·If breastfeeding is going well, many parents introduce a bottle between 3–6 weeks — but earlier or later both work.
- ·Offer a bottle when baby is calm and just-hungry.
- ·Try a different person, a different room.
Section 5
Pumping
Equipment, output, storage, work and the mental load of pumping.
Building a routine
- ·Output varies by time of day. Morning pumps are often largest.
- ·Most pumping parents settle into a rhythm by week 2–3 of regular pumping.
- ·Pump output is not the same as breastfeeding intake — babies are usually more efficient than pumps.
Section 6
More than milk
Feeding can affect expectation, identity and grief. Choose a prompt if you want to put some of that into words.
No one else sees this.
Section 7
Growth spurts & leaps
Tap a dot to see what often shows up. They almost always pass.
Days 7–10
Often the first 'all they want to do is feed' stretch.
More feeding does not mean low supply. It is how a body keeps up with a growing baby.
Section 8
Feeding is a team effort
Whether or not a partner is part of the actual feed, they are part of the feeding.
Section 9 · Feeding SOS
For the feed that is not going well.
Practical support for constant feeding, sore nipples, worry about supply, bottle refusal, guilt, and thinking about stopping.
Open Feeding SOS →Library
Short reads, by age
Pieces you can finish before a feed ends. Tap a card to open it.
A quiet one
"My worth is not measured in ounces."
What's coming, slowly
- · An AI feeding companion you can talk with at 3 a.m.
- · A latch reflection tool (with clear limits — never a diagnosis).
- · Personalized feeding plans you can edit at any time.
- · An IBCLC directory near you.
- · Partner coaching cards.
- · Audio companions for night feeds.
- · A return-to-work planner that bends to your life.