Please explain!

[IcouldstillbeJoseph]

dd2 is 4 wks and ebf. Is gaining weight well. Typical BF baby in that very nocturnal and cluster feeds in evening/late evening. I have 2 yr old and have been co sleeping with baby in an attempt to be semi-functional in the daytime.
So last night, DH stayed up after 8pm and gave DD 3 1/2oz of ebm with bottle at about 21.45. He then cuddled her for an hour or so while he watched shit on the tv, brought her up to me, put her in the gathering dust Moses basket, where she slept till 2am. Then in my bed feeding on and off until now.
This is the second time he's given her ebm and the second rime she slept better after. If it was formula he was giving I would understand but it's not?
I wonder if my supply dwindling in evening and she isn't getting satisfied by me? Wondering if giving ebm will have detrimental effect on supply....

[IcouldstillbeJoseph]

Can I also add that DD considerably less windy after not feeding at breast too....

[MrsHoarder]

The evening cluster feeds are to build up your supply rather than satisfy your DD iyswim. So it could have a detrimental effect on supply as your body isn't getting the signals that more milk is needed.

DS was a monster for cluster feeding in the evenings and is right at the top of the charts, so it wasn't that he didn't get enough milk.

From what I understand your milk supply does reduce/slow down in the evening. It is still being made, and your DD is still getting milk, but slower.

If you can't do the cluster feeds and manage the daytimes though you will have to compromise on something, and doing a short cluster feed then letting your DH do a later bottle might be what you have to do and hope that it doesn't impact too much on supply.

[HappyAsASandboy]

I haven't got much time so can't write a full reply, but wanted to comment in the 'full after a bottle' bit.

When a baby feeds directly from the breast, he has to move his tongue/jaw to push the breast against the soft palette at the top back of his mouth. So he chooses to talk each mouthful and will stop when he is full (or he has jaw ache!).

When a baby feeds from a bottle, the action of swallowing creates a vacuum in his mouth that sucks more milk out of the bottle into his mouth to fill the vacuum. The natural reaction to a mouthful of liquid is to swallow it, so he does, which creates a vacuum, which gets filled from the bottle .... You can see the loop. To stop feeding, the baby or mother has to break the seal if the babies lips on the teat (and so release the vacuum with air not milk).

So a baby fed from the breast actively chooses to take another mouthful and when to stop. A bottle fed baby has no choice other than to swallow and swallow until it occurs to him (or his mother) to stop it by breaking the seal. Bottle fed babies are hence far more likely to over feed during a feed, and so may sleep longer (just as you might doze on the sofa after a big roast dinner, whereas you wouldn't after soup and a roll!).

I hope that helps you understand some of what is going on :)

[IcouldstillbeJoseph]

Thank you so much
Do you think it'll be ok to do feeding from 6-8 ish and then give ebm a couple of times a week?
I messed my supply up with my first baby and expressing and ended up with mastitis - dreading a repeat performance

[HappyAsASandboy]

I can't see a reason not to give an EBM bottle a few times a week. Just don't go overboard with the expressing says she who liked to see just how much she could get in a day. If you express a lot, you'll increase your supply, get engorged and might suffer with blocked ducts or mastitis. But expressing a few bottles a week shouldn't do that :)

[Victoria2002]

It's actually a really good idea to give a bottle 3 or more times a week, as if you don't keep up the habit your baby may refuse bottles in the future, so your options for leaving baby with a babysitter or relative will be limited to 3hour dashes!

[cleoowen]

I ve been doing the opposite and giving my baby an expressed bottle in the morning and,expressing during this time for bottle next morning. Could this be why I feel like my supply has reduced? Although not bf in morning doesn't expressing do the same thing?


If my supply is low,after about 3 when should I express to try and increase it.