sleeping through and breastfeeding

[NewYorkBellini]

Sorry if there is already a thread on this but i couldn't find one!

DD is 17 weeks old and ebf. She won't take a bottle. For the last 3 weeks she has been sleeping through the night from about 9 until 7. By sleeping through i mean we don't hear a peep from her for about 10 hours (yay!)

This is brilliant obviously but I have very painful boobs now on a morning as dd hasn't fed for so long. She has 2 or 3 cluster feeds for the 2 hours before she goes to sleep which pretty much empties each boob (well, they feel empty!)

My boobs seem to be taking a while to cotton on to the fact that they won't be used over night and i'm leaking a lot in bed and as i say, i have very hard painful boobs the next morning. Will they eventually settle down? I bottle fed ds so never had this problem!

thanks

Yeah, they will settle down.

Bet the sleep is worth the sore boobs, eh?

Oh totally nethunsreject !

Should I express some on a morning do you think? Or will that just keep my supply up instead of slightly decreasing it iyswim?

DD fed off my right boob this morning so am sitting here with a very painful left boob. very tempted to express although would have to chuck it as dd won't take a bottle which seems such a waste!

Well, you could if you wanted to build a wee stock in the freezer, but if you want to let them settle then leave it.

A lot of babies have a growth spurt and sleep rregression at 4mths, so don't panic if she starts wakin agin for a few weeks. Given that she is a decent sleeper, she'll go back toit. You lucky devil
Ds 1 was like that and his sleep regressions were minimal.

Just take to worst of it off maybe, make yourself comfy?

Yeah, i might just express a bit, it'll make it easier for her to feed if i do anyway. she'll probably find it way to hard to latch on properly, it's rock solid

Thanks again!

Oh and another question

Is it normal to be ravenous all of the time when bf? I stopped bf ds from about 8 weeks so haven't bf this long before. I am constantly hungry. Am hoping this is because of the breastfeeding and not just because I am a pig!

Yep, that's normal too!

I'm still bfing ds2 aged 12 mths and my boobs settled about 5 mths and my appetite about 6 mths. It varies, but yeah, your body gets really good at it after a while.

ah that's good to know

I'd express a little if its rock hard. You can always freeze and use it when you are introducing solids or try a cup later on (bm can be stored for 6 months in freezer). Your breasts should get the message soon, probably just before her next growth spurt...

Yes I'm ravenous most of the day too. Probably bf and cos ds needs constant carrying, rocking and chasing. And at 11 months he's never slept for more than 4 hours

You could freeze the milk for some porridge or cereal when she is on solids.

Your boobs will settle. My dc4 is now sleeping through and I'm desperate to feed him in a morning. At first I had to change my breast pads a couple of times a night.

Enjoy your sleep!

they will settle down takes a while though sometimes I used to get up and hand express down sink in bathroom to take pressure off in night!! My 9mth old wouldnt take a bottle but any expressing i did with pump was frozen and has been handy when weaning i have even used it to make cheese sauce for fish pie!!

Feeling hungry is normal I eat like a pig still even though he only has 3 feeds a day!

oooh, using the breast milk when weaning is a good idea!

Glad to know that there is a reason i'm being a pig hungrier than usual