Should I start to mix feed

[lla]

My 11 week old has been exclusively bf but due to the fact I am worn out I'm considering mixed feeding. He is feeding every 2-3 hours and will either stay up feeding until 11pm and the wake again at 4am and 7am or falls asleep at 9pm and then wake at 1am and 5am. I've tried to express but never seem to manage it - I also have a 3 year old. If I do manage to I can only get 50ml off despite investing in a good electric pump.the whole thing is making me feel really low. Does it get easier?

This sounds like fairly normal (but tiring) feeding behaviour to be honest lla.

Personally I'm not sure mixed feeding would help as you'd just have to spend more time sterilising and faffing around.

Have you tried pumping first thing in the morning? That's when most people say they can get the most.

Can you try and find ways to make things a bit easier for you? Hard I know with a 3 year old in tow, but can you squeeze in some early nights or co-sleep?

It does get easier of course, but I can't say for sure when.

Congrats on your new baby :)

I have been mix feeding DS from around a similar age, he is now almost 8 months.

To be honest, mix feeding hasn't badly effected my supply and DS is happy with both - no nipple confusion or any problems.

Waking a lot at 11 weeks is normal, DS did it too. I know that it's hard.

You can store the expressed milk and add to it to make enough for a full bottle. Or mix it with formula.

I never really got the hang of expressing, so hopefully others can give better advice. One thing a friend told me is to try to express at different times of the day to see when your supply is fullest.

Thank you for your support crikeybadger and trylikingclarity I really appreciate it. So far i've persevered with putting him to bed earlier on an evening to give me some time to rest. I'm still up in the night with him but feel I'm coping a bit better. I haven't used formula just yet - it's ready in the cupboard just in case.

I never realised bf could be so hard and emotional. It's great to be able to get advice on here because I think my family have had enough of my constant moaning about how tired I am. I think they want me to give up bf and start to ff.

Thanks again for your help.

Glad things are getting a bit easier for you lla.

Would co-sleeping help? - that way you could feed and doze.

lla this is normal, although its knackering. And it really does get easier. Between 12 and 16 weeks was an almost magical time for me, where DS suddenly started sleeping better, settling better, feeding more effectively and less often. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, its just beyond reach right now for you maybe, but it is there.

Remember there is no guarantee that formula would help your DS sleep better - if he is hungry, he will still wake, regardless of how he is feeding.

Also, it might interest you to know that EBFing mums actually get 45 minutes extra sleep at night, because the hormones produced during the night feeds allow us to stay almost semi-asleep, and drop off easier after we're finished too.

I know this is a really difficult point, but it does pass, and when it does it really is such a relief!

Do not let your family pressure you into something you don't want to do. If you decide for whatever reason that you want to stop / reduce breastfeeding then that is different. But don't just stop because your family think you should.

Big un-MN hug - it does get easier very soon. x

All sounds normal.
Just set yourselves targets, say if I feel this way in 2 days, I will do it. Depends how you'll feel if you start to mix (which without determination can easily be the start of the end).

We went every 2 hours until 6 months, with even we tanked her up with loads of EBM. So did I when I was a baby and I was FF. Just the way the cookie crumbles.

i am mixed feeding very randomly. I hired a pump that is amazing and gets loads out, more than any of the ones i have bought When i say mixed, i mean I am bottle feeding a mix of breast and formula. I just find that she drinks it from a bottle relatively quickly, rather than snacking and snoozing on the breast. i would love to indulge her but she is my 3rd and I just havn't got the time.

I think that if you introduce formula, your breasts might start to produce less milk, I find mine slowly diminishes and I have to express every 3 hours again to get it back.

Thank you for the advise. I think I have been blaiming my lack of sleep on the breast feeding and felt that by swapping to ff this would be solved.

It's also the fact that people I know who are ff 'appear' to be less tired than me or I feel like they are coping better than me. I'm up again now because he won't settle, he too
brings a lot of his milk back up so he is onto a second baby grow and is therefore wide awake. He is adorable though which makes up for it.

Thanks for all your support.