Have I messed up?

[SjandPeanut]

Hi all.

My daughter was born on 19 November and the plan is to breastfeed. Problem is she is a night owl. She fed for 10 minutes every half hour for the 1st two nights and obviously didn't want to be put down so I really struggled with the lack of sleep.

We got home and she fed for 30 minutes every 1.5hrs overnight, but at around 3am she was very fussy and just wanted to comfort suck. I know this because she would spit out the nipple and just hold it in her mouth.

Last night after just 3 days we have her a pacifier. It was after her cluster feed and it enabled my OH to settle her to sleep and I got 2.5 hrs of continuos sleep.

She is feeding well ( I think) and I don't want to ruin my supply, but I am tired and I have 19 month old who I've not had any alone time with and I need to get some sleep. I plan on expressing an evening bottle to so my oh can do a feed while I put my toddler to bed - but didn't plan on doing this until 6 weeks.

Is the pacifier going to stop me building up a good supply/ have a negative impact on breast feeding?

 

[bananaz]

Ideally pacifiers shouldn't be introduced until baby is at least a month or two old but I don't think giving it to her once is going to do her any harm. Going forward I would try to keep it to a minimum and probably hold off on bottles for another few weeks if you can. Obviously you've gotta do what you've gotta do to survive though Hang in there!

 

[QueenMummyToBe]

The cluster feeding is key to building up your supply hun.
I would recommend safe co sleeping so you can feed laid down & cat nap.
My lo is 12 weeks today & we are in major growth spurt/wonder week territory & I was up from midnight onwards with her feeding all the time, i was lucky to get 15 mins of sleep at a time but I know she will be boosting my supply.

xx

 

[SjandPeanut]

I don't want to co sleep knowing how tired I am. I lost a fair amount of blood in labour and I'm anaemic. I know I would get more sleep if I co slept, but I think in too tired to co sleep safely. It's kind of catch 22.

The cluster feeding in the evenings doesn't bother me so much at the minute. I know it's only temporary, but knowing the pacifier will help her ( well me lol) sleep is going to be in the back of mind :/

It's just my son is very busy and I need a hell of a lot of energy to keep up with him.

 

[overseasbaby]

Get a co-sleeper or bassinet next to your bed to make the night feedings easier. It's true that building supply happens the best at night because of the higher levels of prolactin at night. Not what you wanted to hear, I know! It WILL get better, just give it a few more weeks. And use the pacifier. Our daughter had one from the start and I thought we would never use a pacifier! Funny how that works, right?

Does your older child go to daycare or preschool at all? You definitely need time to focus on the new baby without feeling guilty. At preschool or playgroup or daycare, toddlers have lots of fun and new experiences. It could benefit everyone!

 

[luna_19]

I don't think the pacifier will necessarily mess things up. We gave bottles starting at 1 week because Devyn wouldn't latch properly but he had no problems going back to just boob after about two weeks of that. We also have my hubby offer a paci early because I desperately needed some sleep. He prefers to use me as a pacifier and will just spit it out if I am close by. Just make sure he is always fed before giving it