Is it bad to give young BF baby 1 bottle of expressed milk at night?

[Jayneypops]

Hi,

Im struggling at the moment with tiredness and keeping up with feeding LO on demand. Shes so unpredictable and im convinced she often goes on the breast just for comfort to nod off as there are times shes only on for a few mins before going to sleep, compared to 'proper feeds' where she feeds for up to an hour.

Im wondering if its too early to start making up a bottle of expressed milk for 1 of her night time feeds so that dh can help out and I can get a chunk of sleep. She is 11 days old. I used nipple shields for a few days around days 4-7 and she didnt seem to struggle alternating between the shield and the real nipple so im hoping she will be ok with a bottle teat too.

Ive read that breastmilk changes at night though and contains more of a sleep inducing hormone (?) So babies are more likely to sleep well if taking night time milk from the breast?? Anyone found that?

 

[CupcakeBaby]

You'd still need to pump when she was having the bottle anyway.

I know it's like torture when you're so tired and they want to feed so much. But if you want to EBF I'm afraid the way to go is to have a few very tiring weeks.

It's all worth it an much easier once you get to the other end Hun. Xxxx You can do it.

Xxxxx

 

[halullat]

I do breast feed at night every time now but my midwife suggested giving a bottle at night and at first I did have my LO on a bottle sometimes. One issue with it is that I would be soaked by the morning, not to mention then being very uncomfortable and then having latching issues due to the fullness of my breasts.

I worry a lot now that I don't produce enough due to those bottle feeds but he seems to be gaining weight, so I'm hoping I haven't damaged my milk supply too badly. Emotionally I wasn't doing well, I found feeding him agonising, he would refuse to latch on to my left breast, he was jaundiced so I lacked faith in my ability to feed him and we were having to top him up with formula at each feed too anyway, and was recovering from a c-section and using a bottle was the best decision for me at the time so I think it is something that would be good to talk to a midwife about as each case is totally individual.

As for the teat altering his latch, my LO seems to struggle drinking from a bottle as he expects a nipple but I think it was just chance he went that way rather than getting used to a teat.

Hopefully your LO will settle in to feeding at more predictable and manageable times soon and then you won't need to worry! But in summary (because I really waffled!) is ideally I wouldn't have used a bottle but in the end I think using it was the best decision x

 

[steph.]

I did that... And wish I never had. It went well at first but at around two months she started fussing at the breast. Long story short at 4 month's I am almost exclusively pumping, she will feed at the breast sometimes but only with a shield. Lots of babies do well though with one bottle a day, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't have done it.

 

[Jayneypops]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will try not to interfere with the BF and just see how I go. My mum is telling me to switch to FF but I think she is more concerned with me getting my energy back than anything else. Ive explained how I want to BF but she just wishes I could get some sleep - so do I!? FF doesnt guarantee a longer nights sleep anyway as I recall from DD1

 

[halullat]

If you feel you have the strength to stick with it I definitely would recommend it, I felt I couldn't keep going but then it really did begin to get easier all of a sudden x

 

[cocosianelle]

FF makes nooooo difference, you are right.

Definitely keep persevering as the ladies have said and you say you want to EBF so the more boob the better really.