congrats on your new baby

i'm not an expert, but i know i found the early days of BF quite overwhelming. your baby is trying to establish supply and is feeding frequently to make sure there's enough - i think giving formula may well interfere with this so probably isn't a great idea.

also, i think the feeds seem even more frequent in those early days because they can take so long - by the time you feed one side, change a nappy, feed on the other side it's almost time for the next feed! i remember my MIL said to me to expect to spend the first 6 months tied to the couch it certainly hasn't been that bad but in the first few weeks i thought she might be right!

i know things really settled down for me by around the 12 weeks - my DS was feeding 2 hourly but i knew the pattern & he was having more awake time etc. so things were far more predictable. your LO may still have bouts of 'cluster' feeding as he gets older, but these seem to happen more or less at one time of day (eg early evening). plus your LO will get more efficient at feeding so the feeds themselves won't take so long.

it certainly won't be like this forever - fwiw, i have a very frequent feeder but even he is starting to settle down a little bit more! so it does get easier & better.

hope you can hang in there - it must be tough with a toddler as well, i hope you have people around who can help out.