BF night feeds, dropping one as baby sleeping longer, any advice?

[lizanne135]

Hi,
My 5 week old DD is now starting to sleep longer at night, last night was 9pm-4am, (thanks to baby massage before bedtime!!). Which sounds great, but, I naturally a wake up at her 'usual' feed time of half 12 and 3am, with breasts hard and ready to feed her.

I know not to wake her, as she will let me know when she wants to feed.
My issue is with the hardness and supply at night, I pump 1oz (~25ml) to remove the hardness, and go to the bathroom to massage with a hot flannel the hard bits on the breast.

Is there anything else I can do, does anyone have any advice in this transition to longer times between night feeds? Day feeds are still erratic - can be every hour, or every 3 hours, which isn't helping my supply at night!

[lizanne135]

PS- I should add I have already had a 2 week course of antibiotics for mastitis at 2-4 wks and I'm super paranoid about it returning hence I'm vigilant about the 'hardness' of my breasts.

[ClearlyOpaque]

I've got absolutely no advice, I'm afraid, but I'm in the same boat, so watching with interest!

[DirtyThree]

It should ease off after the first night.

Don't express too much otherwise your boobs will keep thinking they need to produce milk at that time for a feed.

It's horrid isn't it? I used to just try to hand express off a bit into a muslin to take the edge off then let dd do her thing ASAP!

Good luck!

[5YearsTime]

They'll naturally settle down. My LO originally fed at 1/4/6 at 4 weeks and today at 12 weeks wakes at none of those times! Your body will gradually adjust, the same way your baby will as your supply ups at certain times too. Make sure you have decent breast pads!

[Awakeagain]

As 5years said, decent breast pads, I use the lansinoh ones, they're more expensive but I probably use less so works out the same.
With ds1 I used to put a towel on the bed as well, just in case, but it does pass

[5YearsTime]

Yes to lanisoh pads. They are expensive but if you can wait a few days tesco direct have then cheapest or ordering online from mothercare.