EBF/Pumping - When can husband help at night?

[Kaylakin]

Hi!
I'm planning to both pump and BF when my baby is born. I was planning to introduce a bottle fairly early, but not right away - just so that the baby will be used to it. I was hoping to have luck with nursing but also pumping so others can help feed.
When do you think it is feasible that my husband would be able to help at night? When will a good supply be established?
We were thinking of doing shifts at night (as opposed to with our first baby we alternated each feeding) of 4 hours at a time. I'm wondering if I BF the baby, then pump afterward each time during my four hour shift, will my husband have enough milk to feed the baby during his shift?

Can anyone help shed light on the logistics involved here? Thanks in advance!

 

[luna_19]

The problem with having someone else do a feed is that you would need to pump at the same time to maintain your supply. I would definitely not be skipping any feeds until at least 6 weeks which is when you have your first supply regulation. Night feeds are so crucial to supply so personally I prefer to still always do the feed but hubby can definitely help, he can bring baby to you, burp, change diaper and get baby back to sleep and you can just snooze through the whole thing

 

[LadyAphrodity]

I introduced a bottle the first week honestly. I needed the help but I did get up and pump when he fed her. I usually just got up pull for 10 min and went back to bed while he did the whole bottle change burp and get her back to sleep. It helped me get some sleep and I kept my supply. I did skip some feedings if I was tired but never went more than 4 hours except like 1 time on accident and my boobs were killing me. Now I have a great supply but I eat lactation cookies daily and if I feel a dip I drink mothers milk tea. I still get up to pump at 3 hours if he feeds her but she can go up to 4 at night sometimes and if she does I usually have to pump 5 min before feeding cause I'm engirged!! She has not had any nipple confusion and pretty sure it was like at 1 week when I introduced the bottle

 

[laurarebecca1]

My health visitor recommended introducing a bottle at 5 days old, think it was about 7 days when we actually did though. She recommended one bottle every few days to start with , if I remember correctly.
i too still do all the night feeds, at 13 weeks she is still waking every 2.5 hours! But I'd rather do that than pump, it's soooo much quicker!

 

[Kaylakin]

I introduced a bottle the first week honestly. I needed the help but I did get up and pump when he fed her. I usually just got up pull for 10 min and went back to bed while he did the whole bottle change burp and get her back to sleep. It helped me get some sleep and I kept my supply. I did skip some feedings if I was tired but never went more than 4 hours except like 1 time on accident and my boobs were killing me. Now I have a great supply but I eat lactation cookies daily and if I feel a dip I drink mothers milk tea. I still get up to pump at 3 hours if he feeds her but she can go up to 4 at night sometimes and if she does I usually have to pump 5 min before feeding cause I'm engirged!! She has not had any nipple confusion and pretty sure it was like at 1 week when I introduced the bottle

Thanks! When you say that you introduced a bottle - was it of your breast milk? Was it from earlier in the day when you had pumped?

 

[apple_20]

Bf at night is pretty fast. I pumped with DS as bf didn't work out it was such a faff!

Also I doth know about you but my oh sleeps through whinging and sometimes crying. By the time he woke up I could have her and fed her!

If you do chose to do it the plus side is expressed breast milk won't need refrigerating if it's going to be used on the next feed (double check this abd how many hours it lasts etc as it was over two years ago for me) that could speed up night feedings especiLly if they wil drink it room temp

If you have a high supply you could feed off one breast whilst pumping off the other for your oh. You might not be that lucky (I was had buckets of it but only becAuse I pumped often and my body must have thought I was feeding twins !)

Good luck x

 

[mara16jade]

The problem with having someone else do a feed is that you would need to pump at the same time to maintain your supply. I would definitely not be skipping any feeds until at least 6 weeks which is when you have your first supply regulation. Night feeds are so crucial to supply so personally I prefer to still always do the feed but hubby can definitely help, he can bring baby to you, burp, change diaper and get baby back to sleep and you can just snooze through the whole thing

Yup, pretty much this.

 

[Lyana]

Either co sleep or have husband get baby and put baby back down. Honestly pumping is more work then just breastfeeding yourself lol.

 

[staralfur]

Yeah, I would so much rather feed directly than get up and pump in the middle of the night. That sounds awful!

Knowing when to introduce the bottle is tricky, in theory you're not supposed to do it for 4-6 weeks but I struggled so badly with my LO that I ended up giving her a bottle at 3 days old so I could pass out and sleep whenever my husband was home. But she did get nipple confusion, her latch got lazy, and I skipped pumping when I would have been feeding so I got endless clogged ducts and a few bouts of mastitis. In hindsight it was really not worth it - if I could go back I would cosleep from the very beginning so I could feed while resting and not have to get up when she needed feeding.

 

[LadyAphrodity]

I introduced a bottle the first week honestly. I needed the help but I did get up and pump when he fed her. I usually just got up pull for 10 min and went back to bed while he did the whole bottle change burp and get her back to sleep. It helped me get some sleep and I kept my supply. I did skip some feedings if I was tired but never went more than 4 hours except like 1 time on accident and my boobs were killing me. Now I have a great supply but I eat lactation cookies daily and if I feel a dip I drink mothers milk tea. I still get up to pump at 3 hours if he feeds her but she can go up to 4 at night sometimes and if she does I usually have to pump 5 min before feeding cause I'm engirged!! She has not had any nipple confusion and pretty sure it was like at 1 week when I introduced the bottle

Thanks! When you say that you introduced a bottle - was it of your breast milk? Was it from earlier in the day when you had pumped?

It was a bottle of BreastMilk I had pumped. Either that I had recently pumped as BreastMilk can be at room temp for 5-6 hours or my husband would put refrigerated milk in bottle then put bottle in hot water to bring to right temp. For us that is just to where when squirted on wrost you don't feel it. She has been great with the bottle ever since which is awesome cause we have to give her pear juice daily at 6 weeks because of a medical issue and if we hadn't hace introduced a bottle she might not take it. The tommee tippir closer to nature bottles really are great!

 

[Kaylakin]

Thanks everyone. I'm not really a fan of cosleeping, but I see how it works for some people. Also, BFing was really hard for me due to inconsistent approaches in teaching me and also I have flat/inverted nipples. This time I'm pulling out all the stops and I'm prepared with more knowledge, but I'm also ready to pump to get a break and also in case I can't get the baby to latch again. I like the idea of BFing and then pumping after. Then, my husband can feed the baby with the pumped milk.