I was wondering if any if you had some advice for me re:supply if I drop a night feed. I have been bf my son for just shy of 12 weeks now - it has been a bit of a rocky road with lots of expressing and pain in the beginning (he was a tad early and jaundiced and would not suckle at first) and then some very exhausting times as he has fed pretty much constantly since then and is quite slow!
The positives are that he is gaining really well and looks a healthy little baby. I also genuinely enjoy the feeling that I am nurturing him in this way. But he is still small (was 5lbs - now around 9lbs) and feeds every 2 hours through the night. Sometimes we are up for an hour and I am truly exhausted after almost 3 months of this.
A few weeks ago DH started doing a night feed for me with expressed milk however then we sort of stopped as didn't have a routine and expressing was getting to be hard work as I don't get a huge amount and have to do 2 sessions to get enough for a feed. I am now trying to introduce more of a routine and DH is doing a feed ideally around 11.30 to midnight if I can get DS to sleep at the right moment!! He sometimes doesn't take much at this feed but tonight he took just shy of 6 ounces. This is 3 pumping sessions for me (I pump after feeds for 10 mins) and I don't usually do more than 2 sessions.
Anyway I am beginning to ramble .... I was struggling to cope with life when doing it all myself. With DH's help I feel so much better as I can usually get about 4hours sleep and then a couple more here and there. I have give from from considering formula just so I could sleep more (DH could help) to feeling much happier and enjoying my baby more after just 3 night with 4hour stints.