WWYD - night feedings?

[loitering]

I'm wondering what you all would do about the situation I'm in. Gavin is 3 months old, and gets 50% breastmilk. I feed both boobs at every feeding, and a bottle afterwards during the day.

During the night, however, I only breastfeed. After his evening bottle, he falls asleep and wakes up 4-6 hours later and nurses. Then we get a couple hours of sleep, and then for the last few hours of the sleep we breastfeed on and off the whole time. From when he falls asleep to when we get up is about 12 hours. I think I could definitely benefit from some less interrupted sleep, but I can function without it.

I'm wondering if I should start doing a full feeding (including bottle) the first time he wakes up? EBM isn't a possibility because he takes every bit of milk I make nursing (I have low supply problems). I'm thinking the benefits are that I'll get better sleep, he'll get better sleep, and I won't be setting myself up for problems with sleeping later. The con, of course, is giving him more formula. And I'm not sure how much it would affect my supply?

Whoops, long post. Sorry! And thanks in advance for replies.

[spughy]

Tricky! I feel for you. I had low supply problems too but fortunately they resolved at about 4 mo, and my DD slept through the night until then. And, after 2 mo she was more than 80% bf so not such a bad situation as you.

Are you pumping? I would think that if you add a pumping session or two during the day, particularly in the early morning, you could supplement at night without worrying about your supply, and you might find that the extra sleep actually helps your supply somewhat. But, it may also just be a natural rhythm. My DD usually sleeps from 10 til about 3 or 4, then feeds every hour after that, and she has pretty much always done that, with some variation on the exact timing. I think it is because she falls asleep before she finishes feeding. Your DS might be doing the same thing, in which case there is very little you can do about it.

[operamommy]

How about just giving it a try and seeing what happens? I breastfeed only at night too, and if ds wakes more than once then I know I need to drag out the lact-aid 'cause otherwise he'll pop right back up. If he just wakes once I can nurse without a supplement. I know you hate the thought of giving more formula (believe me, I know!) but he might just need a bit more in his belly. Good luck no matter what you decide. *hugs*

[jenny-g]

I have the same, exact, issue. Kid is 3.5 months, get about 50% breastmilk (that's with pumping, domperidone, etc). I only bf her at night. SHe usually wakes up at 2, 4, 5.30, etc. I"m thinking I'm not giving her enough to stay asleep, but I hate the thought of breaking out the bottles and when she wakes up for the morning she IS happy. She will take more suppliment in the morning, though, showing she is running a bit of a deficit by that time.

What is bad is that I'm not getting enough sleep, so I usually sleep through the morning, being woken up by my husband at 10 to feed her, and then at 12 if I'm not up yet. I get barely any sleep at night (I'm also have terrible problems with insomnia!). I usually pump at midnight to get at least something for the next day. Occasionally if she's had a particularly large suppliment before bed she will not wake up at 1:30 or 2, but that's only happened a few times.

I've been experimenting lately with dropping all pumping so I have more milk for her in the middle of the night, but I'm not sure it is making a difference, and then I've lost that little bit of milk for supplimentation the next day. It's hard to figure out what to do! -j