What time is best for expressed bottle?

[hollymonster]

Hi all

I've decided to give my 2 week old LO a bottle of expressed milk at bedtime - she feeds almost every half an hour during the day and almost constantly cluster feeds at night, so ideally she'll sleep a little more at night so I can get a little rest (I can't rest in the day as she feeds so frequently).

My question is what's the best time? Should I feed her at about 8/9 when she tends to drift off, or should I wake her at 11ish when I am going to bed to give her the bottle? I don't want to risk leaving her to sleep only for her to wake again and cluster feed when I go to bed. Any advice?

Ps. I do appreciate the fact she is increasing supply and that is is normal, but I desperately need some rest and am not worried about one nighttime feed, nor am I worried about nipple confusion as breastfeeding has been very successful since day one.

Thanks for reading x

Meant to add she has taken to a dummy and hasn't been confused by the breast - please don't judge me it's the only way I have been able to get even an hours sleep!

Anyone?

I don't think it matters? Whenever suits you best.

I used to get dh to give ds an expressed bottle dream feed, around 10/11pm. I'd go to sleep around 9 and then wake for the early morning feeds. That way I was guaranteed a decent chunk of sleep.

DH did an expressed bottle feed just before bed. Aww I'm getting all nostalgic and sentimental now, I used to love watching him doing it.

Same here as NotMrsTumble.

I hope the feeding gaps get bigger - something clicked around 6 weeks for us and the sleep for a bit better.

Good luck

It does get better!

I started an expressed bottle at about the same age. I fed dd about 9 and went to bed straight after. Dh kept dd downstairs, did the next feed with expressed milk, and then stayed down with her until she needed feeding again. That meant I got 2-4 hours sleep without waking up every time dd made a noise, so I was able to cope with rest of the night.

Within a few weeks, we realised that dd was sleeping a bit longer, so dh brought her up to bed straight after the bottle. And a few weeks after that, the gaps between night feeds were getting longer again, so we moved the expressed bottle to 6am ish, dh fed and resettled her before going to work so i could get a bit longer asleep in the morning.

Dd never had any nipple confusion and I honestly don't think I could have kept going with breastfeeding if I hadn't had that bottle to give me a bit longer to sleep. Hope it works for you.

Agree get your DP to do the expressed feed otherwise it's pointless!! Feed at 8/9 go to bed, then DP stay in charge until expressed feed at 11 and beyond. With a bit of luck you get until 1/2am that way.

Just be careful of your supply - 2 weeks is pretty early to start expressing.