BF supply adjusting

[ItWasThePenguins]

So, I really struggled with BF DS1, but really want to try harder with DC2.
Just wondering, will be sleep training at 5 weeks again (same as DS1, he slept through from 5 1/2 weeks). However, also wanted bedtime feed to be bottle, from about 1-2 weeks old.
Would my supply cope with 14hours 'off', but still feeding every 3-4hours in the day?

Penguins, short answer is probably not, sorry.

Can you not leave the training and the evening bottle until, say, 10 weeks?

You're not only leaving a mahoosive gap at just 1-2 weeks old, the other feeds are v. infrequent for such a small baby.....it's just the biology of it, it doesn't work well with that level of 'intervention.

With DS1 I fed until 3.5 weeks, with bottle from 1 week. And he was fine with the above schedule on bottles, but maybe it just won't work for bf baby.

Hmm.. really wanted to sleep train early again, such a life saver and DS has been a perfect sleeper ever since. Best thing we ever did.

So you'd only be feeding 3-4 times a day from 5 weeks? Unfortunately I can't see bfing lasting much longer than 2m to be honest as your body would be getting the 'stop making milk' message not the 'baby needs lots of milk' message. In the early days it really is use it or lose it when it comes to milk supply.

What were the struggles with bfing DS1?

When you say "sleep training" at 5 weeks what does that entail?

With BF you need to feed regularly at the start or your supply will just dwindle. I wouldn't introduce a regular bottle before 6 weeks.

I have to ask, whats sleep training?

if your only planning to feed every 3-4 hours a day and not at night then your supply will drop off very quickly.
remember every baby is different and DC2 may not take to a routine, i know i wouldn't have had a chance with DD1 but DD2 has her own routine and has basically decided to sleep through with just one feed at night.

Sleep training we did with ds was when he started to go longer between feeds, water down night feed (he only had 1) over a few days. He thought it wasn't worth waking up for water and slept nearly 12 hours.
He still had more than the recommended total volume in 24 hours, wasn't starving, jumped up the centile lines. He just had a larger volume at each feed.

Bf issues were emotional. Not sure exactly, but had huge resentment to ds when bf, but i was fine feeding with bottle.

Guess it wouldn't work with bf then. Oh well. Formula never hurt ds.

Water isn't recommended for babies not yet on solids nor is watering down formula feeds as the excess water can lead to hyponatremia (aka water intoxication) which can lead to seizures and worse.

If DC2 isn't as 'open' to sleep training as DS so has multiple bottles of water a night or wants lots of nightfeeds (as is physiologically normal for a baby) they might get far too much water and this could put their health at risk.

This article talks about the risks of feeding babies water/overly dilute formula (amongst other causes of hyponatremia).

Tbh he was only having a small amount of watered down formula, about 3oz and never got to having plain water as he slept through, it was only a few days.
I definitely wouldn't push it if this baby didn't seem to want sleep, and would never feed large quantities or try more than 1 bottle a night, longer than say, a week.

My DS wakes up for no reason at all. Tried controlled crying, cuddling, feeding etc etc. No guarantee that watering down feeds will stop him waking up. i've tried it

Boom- we did it at 5weeks, just as he was starting to go longer between feeds. I don't think it would work much later.

I suspect that BF might not be for you then as if there was resentment the first time round, it could well come up again. BF is REALLY hard work in the beginning and there is an amount of self-sacrifice required, eg sleep and being the sole feeder of the baby if you have a bottle refuser like I do. You have to balance up what is the right thing for you and your family.

Perhaps I'll just do 3-4 weeks again then. Oh well, thanks anyway. X

Any amount of bf, even one bf is better for baby than none so 3-4 weeks will be good for your baby, admittedly not as good as longer but if that's the limit for you that's the limit.

Well they'll be getting the colostrum etc so that's great! :)

But I would say please don't give water / watered down feeds to DC2. It's not safe and though it was ok the first time round, as TruthSweet pointed out it might not be this time and it's not in the best interests of the health of the baby.

My DTs have a bottle of formula at bedtime and used to have a bottle of EBM for their night feeds. Bedtime feed about 6oz but night feeds restricted to 3-4oz. Logic was that EBM is less filling than formula. We started this at 2 weeks and they both dropped the night feeds by 12 weeks and dropped their 11pm feed at 5 months.

I am still bf them at 6 months although not exclusively. Expressing for the night feeds helped my supply but because I didn't feed or express during the night I don't have enough milk to bf exclusively.

Don't know about supply but I'll be bloody sore with boobs like boulders in the morning