Anyone just breastfeed at night?

[scratchandsniff]

DS is 20 weeks old and is mainly breastfed with DH giving a bottle of formula at around 10pm so I can go to bed early. I'm going back to work in July and have a few things before that which means leaving him for the day. I was planning to go over totally to bottles at about 26 weeks when I introduce solids, but now I'm not so sure I'll be ready to stop. Thinking a happy medium would be to do formula during the day and breastfeed at night and early morning.

Is this feasible? Will my supply adapt ok?

I did this with DD1 from about five months and it worked a treat. I had a history of mastitis but this stopped once I was feeding only at night as a sleepy baby seems to feed more efficiently so my bf woes came to an end when I cut back and fed at night only. Breasts are very clever and adaptable.

Good luck with the return to work!

I did this with DD1 when I went back to work at 3 months. It was fine and I carried it on until she was passed months.

The one thing I would say was give yourself plenty of time to get the feeds switched round. I had to stop rather abruptly and was still leaking all over the place when I went back to work

I just feed at night (with the odd emergency feed on weekend days to sooth falls and persuade my babies to sleep!). I went back to work when my twins were one, and have pretty much just fed at night since then.

Good luck :)

I ended up doing this with both mine, one I returned to work full time at 4 months, the second I was/am a SAHM. Just kinda fell into that pattern for different reasons, but it worked best for me.

Great question as am hoping to do the same for same reason. It's hard to imagine milk staying for just 7pm, night feeds and I'd like to do 7am too, but friends keep telling me it will. I wonder what will happen if they don't feed every night. I remember when my DS finally started sleeping through, he'd sleep through two nights, then wake the next 2 ( or 5) then sleep through again.
Out of interest, how often is your LO feeding at night? Have just posted about my DDs night feeds. She's 18 weeks, and reverted back to newborn feeding style at night.

MacMac - DS started behaving like a newborn again at about 14 weeks and it stayed like that for several weeks. He's a bit better now. I feed him about 7ish before I put him to bed, he then wakes at about 10.30/11 and DH gives him a bottle of formula as I try to go to bed at about 9ish and then if I'm lucky he'll wake again about 3.30/4 for a feed and then seems to be up for the morning at about 6.30. He had been waking at about 1.30 but I knew he couldn't be hungry so I'd do the whole shush/pat/dummy thing and he's been going back to sleep. Fingers crossed he seems to not be waking every night now at 1.30. I'm sure he wakes out of habit most of the time and could go through from bottle till 6.30. Once he's properly established on solids I'm going to try hard to get him to drop that feed if he's still waking. I also find it hard to imagine that my supply will maintain itself, especially if no two nights are the same. All we can do is try.

Thanks for the other replies. Not sure what I would have done without Mumsnet over the past few months.