In episode 9 Sam is sharing the story of breastfeeding and later combination feeding her daughter Harriet.

Sam had a low breast milk supply and explains how this impacted her, her partner Tim, and daughter Harriet.  The low supply challenges that Sam faced were something she had to constantly work on, and throughout the pre-solids feeding journey Harriet fed on a combination of breast milk directly from Sam and also breast milk from a bottle.  Sam was lucky to be the receiver of donor breast milk from a lovely friend who had a baby around the same time that Harriet was born.

Adding to the challenge of increasing and maintaining supply, Sam had to undergo surgery at around 4 months postpartum. She talks about how she thought this would put an end to breastfeeding for her and Harriet.

Following surgery came lockdown, and ultimately Sam and Tim introduced formula and solids to Harriet’s diet. At 9 months old Harriet is combination fed.

Sam mentions the following books in her episode:

• Smart Mothering - by Natalie Flynn
• The first 6 weeks - by Midwife Cath
• The Wonder Weeks book

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sam, it was lovely to have you on the show!