To ask you how you copes with the tiredness when breast feeding?

[parkersnose]

I'm a few days overdue with my second baby. With my first I was determined to breastfeed but struggled so much with being totally exhausted. It broke me and my dd was on formula from a few weeks old. I was prepared for pain etc but just not the total exhaustion I felt. I ended up with quite bad post natal depression and I am sure this all contributed to how bad I felt. Please hit me with your tips for coping with the tiredness this time around? How did you all manage?

I could never manage bf lying down. I just got up and did it on the couch, quick back rub / burp for the baby afterward, swaddled then back into bed.

I agree with everyone else.

I moved into the baby's room and had a bed there next to the Moses basket. At the first signs of any movement, I'd reach over, bring them into bed with me and feed them lying down. Sometimes I put them back, sometimes not. Neither of us really woke up at all and they never got as far as crying because they were cuddled and fed within a few seconds of becoming restless.

I say 'they' because we did it this way twice, but only one at a time!

The first couple of weeks were the hardest, but after my supply had settled down it genuinely was very easy - and much easier than when they got older and wanted to talk or play!

With the exception of day 5 with ds and day 3 with dd (had to call my mil for back up as xh didn't take anytime off) I don't think it was all that exhausting, I'm not sure Id have been less tired FF.

Safely cosleeping in bed was a game changer!!!

Loads of dark chocolate and high calorie snacks. Hot drinks - I loved oat milk hot chocs!

Sit down and ask for help, you are feeding bubs other people can bring you food.

Oh and I also drank 4 litres of water a day for three months

Good luck - I'm still breastfeeding 12 month later and I love it. I always said to myself never to give up on a bad day and that has got me through some tough times.

cosleeping. I’ve bf all 4 of mine and without a partner around for help (single parent) . I really enjoy Bf tbh, still feeding the youngest who is 2.

Another one who coslept and fed lying on my side.

Hi. Thanks. Should explain, the duvet is there otherwise he'd be lying on the bumpy drop-down side of his co-sleeper crib, which seems like it would be too uncomfortable for him.
I'm not sure I could get used to sleeping without a cover, and just lots of layers of clothing. So I don't think I can make co sleeping work for us.

Hi.. Yes already seen this, thank you. Still not sure if I want to sleep without covers and in layers of clothes, which is why I was asking if there's a safe way to set it up. Thanks anyway

@AnotherUserName19 I had my duvet on, I just tucked it behind me so it was hanging off the bed, it meant that if it moved it would fall off the bed rather than onto dd.

I really dislike not having a duvet but it wouldn’t be safe with a baby in bed so I have that up to my waist, fleece pj top and a dressing gown on. It’s not forever and she needs me close. It’s much less tiring than having to get up and get bottles of formula.

Currently nearly at 4wks with first baby. So far bf without co sleeping but husband has had 4 weeks off work and we combo feed breast plus expressed milk in bottle meaning though baby feeds like a crazy person with little gaps between, we give her a couple of expressed bottles a day usually by husband giving me a break and ensuring she has a full tummy feed rather than snacking which she seems to do more often on the breast. Test will be next week when he is back at work but at night she often falls into 2.5hr gaps between feeds which is enough for me to recharge a bit

Having a new baby is exhausting whether you breastfeed or not.

Even if formula feeding you need to feed on demand, which might mean every 20 minutes at times, or lazily snoozing whilst feeding for hours at a time. At least with breastfeeding there's no preparation, washing up or sterilising. No trudging up and down stairs to make up bottles in the middle of the night.

Breastfeeding does mean that you have to do all the feeding, but it also means that your partner can be better rested to do what he can in the daytime and get up in the mornings with your older DC.

I never got the hang of feeding lying down (small boobs!) but did snooze sitting propped up in bed.

As long as you manage to eat well and get at least some rest, breastfeeding shouldn't wipe you out any more than formula feeding, and the endorphins your body makes when feeding will give you a little boost.

Good luck :)