Co-sleeping and breastfeeding..........perhaps a slightly dim question..........

[fannyannie]

I'm currently co-sleeping with DS3, who's breastfed, at the moment each time he wakes up for a feed in the night I'm sitting up and switching sides causing me to wake up more than I want to and meaning that DH is sleeping in the spare bed.

Could I just leave him on one side and let him feed off only one side during the night - will he get enough milk from if he's only using the one side for that period of time? Or should I just keep swapping sides???

Also - just please remind me that even though my norks quite frequently feel 'floppy' and empty that's theres plenty of milk in there for him...........

[LordVenger]

If there isn't enough milk, he'll scream his head off. Don't worry about that. And if you only fed off one side, wouldn't your unused side be like a super-heated, rock-hard block of concrete by morning?

[ZoeC]

When I did this with dd2 I use to stay on one side, if I happened to wake I'd switch sides and go back to sleep - I'd kind of roll over taking her over me as I did it rather than actually sitting up which helped. I didn't always wake though so sometimes she would just stay on the one side.

And yes you have plenty of milk

[fannyannie]

Thanks for the reassurance (one of those things I know but just needed reminding of IYKWIM).

Don't know about the rock-hard block of concrete...........would have to try it out to find out I guess . But I could, in theory, feed him just off one side in the night?????

[PinkTulips]

i try and feed from the boob i don't night feed from last thing before bed, keep to one boob all night and when we wake in morning switch sides and let him feed from that side.

that said i think i switched a bit more when thye were very young..... dp learned very quickly to lie on the very edge of the bed, baby was in the middle of the remaining space and if i ran out of milk in one boob or the opposite one was getting too hard and sore i'd move myself to the other side of baby, i never moved the baby if i could help it

and......... YOU HAVE ENOUGH MILK!!!!! silly goose

[mawbroon]

fannyannie - I used to have this problem too. I realised many months down the line that I could just lie further over towards my front and ds could feed just fine off the top breast. You hardly have to move at all!

[Amberjee]

i think that would be fine fanny, just depends on how your breasts feel like others mentioned. i did actually master the ability to sort of roll onto my belly a bit so LO could access top boob and feed from that one a bit, but not necessarily as comfortable. i think like zoe c, if you sort of wake up in the night, you could do the roll and feed the other side for half the night.
anyway, if it seems to be working, i would'nt worry too much. sounds like its going well.

xx

[Amberjee]

x post with mawbroon, agree, its possible to do!

[Amberjee]

yeah, ps. there's always milk in those boobs no matter how squishy they are.

[gillhowe]

When I co-sleep DS always just has one side, seems to be fine.

Yep, there is milk there

[fannyannie]

phew - that's good to hear - will give it a try tonight and then hopefully DH will be able to sleep in a proper bed again soon LOL.

[bionicley]

When you get used to feeding lying down, you can hold your baby against your chest and roll him over to the other side without really waking up at all. Once your baby is a bit bigger he'll be able to reach both breasts from the same spot.
A king size bed is a good idea so dh has room too. Certainly worth persevering as a good night's sleep makes the world of difference and breastfeeding in the night is so lovely.

[serenity]

I used to do what bionicley said (grab and roll), but also mawbroons and amberjees lying half on stomach, dangling top breast thing too. When you're tired and it's 3am it's amazing what you can do that works, and doesn't involve any real effort Dcs did have nights though when they fed off one breast - usually when we both fell asleep 'attached' and they'd wake up a few hours later and just continued where they left off.

[JodieG1]

I feed from both sides at niht without changing about. I just turn over more so my other boob reaches him. It's easy after doing it a few times.

[fannyannie]

I may try the lying half on stomach thing - problem with rolling over is that I still have to rearrange our duvet/DS3's sheet/blanket/etc so he's safe which would still involved disturbing DH (and as he's been getting up EVERY morning with the older DS's I feel it's only fair to give him a chance of a decent nights sleep - me out of bed any earlier than about 9am is a bit of miracle so far LOL.

Not sure we'll go to the expense of a King Size bed - as once he's 6 months (if we haven't cracked the sleeping in cot on his own by then) we'll be doing sleep 'training of some description.....

[TooTicky]

I've found I can bf from both breasts without rolling over - saves a lot of hassle

[JodieG1]

I have ds2 on top of the duvet with a blanket covering him and that works well for us. Dh is in the spare room for now so that we all get as much sleep (and room!) as possible.

[fannyannie]

my DH is in hte spare room (on the uncomfortable sofabed - so not good for his back which he does sometimes suffer from) and it would be kind of nice if we could both sleep in the comfortable bed again.

Shall try out the feeding from both norks without turning over tonight and then perhaps tomorrow night DH can join me again LOL.

[cazee]

I feed from one side in the night, so that the other one is bursting in the morning, making it really easy to express!!!!

[bionicley]

Some babies have a strong preference for one breast over the other and some mums breastfeed only ever from one breast. Your body is remarkably adaptable when it comes to making milk. So if you are more comfortable then stick to the same side. Your baby will soon let you know if he wants the other one.