Breast feeding day time & formula night time?

[Sunbeam638]

Yummy mummys! Do any of you ladies BF at day and bottle feed at night? do this & if so how to you manage it?

I'm going through a worry period of thinking of every eventuality! I have every intention of BF but also thought of trouble shooting if it became really hard.

Thanks!xx

 

[Hope81]

Sunbeam obviously no experience yet but it seems actually easier to bf at night rather than ff?
I got a co sleeper crib meaning put baby near you, get your boob out, feed the baby, put it back.
Instead of actually getting up and making a bottle or warming one?

I would guess that of you ff at night your supple will drop but let's wait to see what the girls here say.

 

[Sunbeam638]

I just want to get their tips

The co sleeper sounds like a good idea, for us getting up warming the formula is fine, I work on call so does oh so disruptive sleep isn't an issue. I like to have options in place xx

 

[Pickledonions]

I combi fed and at first did that it worked fine for us my supply wasn't affected during the day either

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[pinkyprincess]

That wouldn't help your bfing very much esp in the early days. Your milk production is at its highest at night do to increase and keep supply's night bf feeds can be essential. Having said that when your supply is established it could work but I'd really urge you to bf through the growth spurts as that keeps your supply up!

As someone who's up in the night, I CBA to make a bottle when I have a better milk supply attached to me. I promise bfing doesn't wake mum or baby up as much of you feed laying down. It's saved my life!

 

[Sunbeam638]

I combi fed and at first did that it worked fine for us my supply wasn't affected during the day either

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Thanks, did you express during the evening at all?x

 

[TORino]

Are you wanting to formula feed or feed baby expressed breast milk hun?

I don't have any personal experience with combi feeding but I have nailed the expressing/bottle feeding stuff. I can express a feed on a morning now so I have 1 per day i can use. I tend to use it out and about because T bag is awful to feed sometimes and it stresses me out the thought of her playing up while I'm feeding her in public.

It did take a while to get to that point though after my supply had settled down which was a good 8 weeks.

Xxxx

 

[mustard]

I know loads of people who intended to do that but in the end they have all breast fed during the night because firstly its easier than getting up to make a bottle (or to dig OH in the ribs till he does it) and secondly because if you don't feed during the night for most people your boobs get uncomfortably full for a while. In my experience while breastfeeding isn't easy at the beginning if you can get the day feeds sorted you'll be just as happy to feed at night (it isnt the night feeding that breaks you iykwim). I often fall asleep during night feeds as I feed lying down (not good as my bubs ends up sleeping next to me for the rest of the night instead of in her cot in her nursery).

 

[mumsy4]

I breast fed all my babies but the last bottle at night (11pm ish)I gave them all was formula, it keeps them fuller for longer and meant i could get longer to sleep, all my babies slept through from 6weeks, when i started to wean them on to bottles fully, i did it so it wad the last 2 bottles at night were formula and slowly less breast more formula. However when they woke up for a feed normally around 5 am i akways gave them breast so much easier then running downstairs xx

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[l_maclean]

I often fall asleep during night feeds as I feed lying down (not good as my bubs ends up sleeping next to me for the rest of the night instead of in her cot in her nursery).

I'm exactly the same - I have loads of expressed milk and it's barely crossed my mind to ask DH to do a nightshift. Boob is sooooo much easier at 2am. Lol

And like PP says its night feeds that keep your supply at its best. X


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[l_maclean]

I breast fed all my babies but the last bottle at night (11pm ish)I gave them all was formula, it keeps them fuller for longer and meant i could get longer to sleep

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It's worth noting that this is considered LUCK- formula does not ensure that LOs will sleep through the night any quicker than if you BF all feeds - as a fair few tired FF mums on here will tell you. xxx



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[mumsy4]

I have to disagree I'm afraid, my bff had a baby and my sister neither would sleep through as soon as I suggested this method they both started sleeping through.I also suggest dream feeding but that's a different subject, I'm sure it doesn't work for all women there are a few other factors that have to be done to coincide ie making sure baby is properly winded and not just feeling full but actually being full.
I don't think luck has anything to do with it
Xx

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[mumsy4]

Ps I don't have experience when it comes to ff babies, only combi feeding, so I couldn't give advice to mums who's babies are solely ff.

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[l_maclean]

I have to disagree I'm afraid, my bff had a baby and my sister neither would sleep through as soon as I suggested this method they both started sleeping through.I also suggest dream feeding but that's a different subject, I'm sure it doesn't work for all women there are a few other factors that have to be done to coincide ie making sure baby is properly winded and not just feeling full but actually being full.
I don't think luck has anything to do with it
Xx

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Not going to get into an arguement about this, but there are plenty of bf babies who sleep through from early on, and plenty of formula babies who wake frequently.


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[mumsy4]

Who's arguing lol? I'm not.
Every baby is different, every mummy does things different, I was just saying what worked for me and helped a few others on their way as well.. sorry if that's hit a nerve somewhere.
Xx

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[kanga86]

I ebf, with the odd ebm bottle during the day. I find bf at night so easy and as the weeks have gone on Harry sleeps longer, started with 4 feeds a night, then 3 and now we are at 2. I am up usually at 2-3 and then 6-7. So much quicker to whip a boob out too. Sometimes I give a ebm bottle aa he last feed and he might go a little longer than normal but I think at 6 weeks sleeping 4-5 hours is brilliant.

As for ff baby's sleeping longer just look at deedee's journal, I'm sure she is up more than I am at night!!

Also if I don't feed in the evening cos he had an expresses bottle my boobs become extremely full and engorged by about the 2-3 feed anyway and I need to bf to ease the pain.

 

[pinkyprincess]

I breast fed all my babies but the last bottle at night (11pm ish)I gave them all was formula, it keeps them fuller for longer and meant i could get longer to sleep, all my babies slept through from 6weeks, when i started to wean them on to bottles fully, i did it so it wad the last 2 bottles at night were formula and slowly less breast more formula. However when they woke up for a feed normally around 5 am i akways gave them breast so much easier then running downstairs xx

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Giving an exclusively bf baby FF can actually really upset their tummies as they are not used to such an un natural food to them. Not a good idea before bed! Don't get me wrong Tyler had some ff in the early days but it never helped and actually confused his bfing.

It is a MYTH that giving a ff before bed 'fills baby up' I have done a lot of reading into baby sleep and a lot of it comes down to the child you either have a waker or you don't!

What a lucky family you having having babies that sleep through early!

 

[Kirsty.Y.84]

In the first few weeks I would formula feed from 10pm and start breast feeding at around 6am. I don't think it affected my supply, but just to be safe, I started to give a bottle of formula at 10pm and then at his next 2 feeds I would give breast plus a top up of formula.
When I changed to this i started to hate the formula feed as, like other ladies have said, breast feeding is much less effort!
It's all about trial and error, I have found what works for us, but its taken about 9 weeks to get us into a nice routine. The only reason I still give 1 bottle per day is that I don't want Finn to lose his interest in bottle feeding, as I know that when it comes to weaning him off the breast it will be handy if he is already used to taking a bottle!

I was under the assumption that ff babies slept longer, which is initially why I started off ff at night, but it makes no difference to Finn.

Currently, Finn is exclusively breast fed, goes to bed at 7 after breast, and has a bottle at 11 ish. He will then wake every 3 hours.

I definitely believe sleep is down to the baby rather than method of feeding. Finn is an extremely hungry baby, and needs to be fed overnight, if he didn't then he wouldn't wake. He won't feed when he's not hungry so I know he is waking for milk and not for anything else. I actually find that he sleeps longer after his 7pm breast feed (4 hours) than he does after his 11pm ff (usually 2 and a half/3 hours).

Basically, for us, whether he has formula or breast he will still wake within 4 hours. This makes no difference if he takes 6oz of formula or 3oz, he will still want feeding a few hours later. I'm sure he is full after 6oz, so the theory of sleeping through after a full tummy doesn't necessarily work! I so wish it did though, I can only dream of getting more than 3 hours of slee in one go at night! x

 

[Sunbeam638]

Thank you for replying x

I have every intention to breast feed but if I did formula later on I wanted to know times & how much to give

I Defintely take on board that ff won't necessarily get LO to sleep longer. My reason for thinking of this method is I dont want to get upset if I'm struggling to bf, i can try a mix and then if I chose not to bf anymore I can make the transition to ff.

I went to breast feeding class & we have a support group too so there's lots of help if I get stuck. In an ideal world bf will be fine but just incase! I might be worrying unnecessarily but for me ff & the effort at night will out weigh the tears if I am struggling.

It's reassuring you can do both I naively thought it was all or nothing until breastfeeding class.

Again thanks for your responses xxxx

 

[Sunbeam638]

Torino-do you find expressing easy? I bought an electric pump but mums I have asked (not on forum) haven't used one so no idea what it's like xx