by BabyCenter Guest Blogger posted in Parenting

By Brent Reed
Shortly after my son was born, we discovered my wife had a low milk supply. Combine that with the baby's latching difficulties and we soon had to start supplementing feedings with formula. While that wasn't our initial plan, we quickly realized that being able to use both breast milk and formula was going to be a huge benefit to our family. Not only could I take some of the workload off my wife, I also got to experience more bonding time with my son.

Combo feeding allows me to give my wife longer breaks where she can disconnect and truly relax, whether that's sleeping in, reading magazines and watching television, or actually getting out of the house by herself for a bit. As her husband, partner, and as we say in our family, her teammate, I want to make sure I'm taking care of HER as much as I am taking care of HIM. Oftentimes those things go hand in hand. Now that we both can feed the baby, I can better take care of my wife by taking care of him. For instance, this Saturday morning I got up around 5 a.m. with the baby and did his morning feeding and then another feeding around 9 a.m. By the time Mom woke up, she had slept a solid seven hours and felt rested and ready to enjoy our full and happy baby. As they say, "Happy wife, happy life!"

Combination feeding also gives me extra one-on-one time with my son. Hearing his hunger cry and being able to mix up something that is going to satiate him and...