Breastfeeding /supply

[chardonm]

My dd is 10 weeks old, I've been breastfeeding with a bottle before bedtime as my supply gets a bit low at night. I haven't really been away from dd for more than a couple hours as I'm terrified of my supply diminishing if I don't feed her regularly enough. Anyone occasionally leave for 4 hours or so with partner/ babysitter giving expressed milk or formula with no effect on supply?
Thanks all!

Hi, I have an 11 week old and do the same with formula for the 10/11pm feed. I've often left DS with his father or my DM for a few hours and either used EBM or formula with no effect on my supply. I think if you were to do it for a few days in a row it would begin to have an effect, but every few days has been fine for me. Hope that helps

Thank you this is good to know

How do you mean that your supply gets low at night?
Why do you think that?

Because my little one is still hungry even if I nurse her for two hours. Pediatrician advised to take her off breasts after 45m and offer a bottle of formula. Before that I would nurse for up to three hours with a very fussy baby!

Not in response to your question and apologies if I seem rude but the paediatrician is wrong!
My current 7w.o nurses pretty much non stop from about 4-9pm sometimes a lot longer and my older child did this too. It's cluster feeding and is often/eventually leading up to a bigger sleep. A fussy baby constantly feeding in the evening doesn't mean your supply is low.

In response to your question I've seen no diminishing supply by leaving with dh for a few hours and giving a bottle. Dc sleeps for 5 hours at night now (touch wood) but not every night and that doesn't seem to effect it either

Not rude at all! Thank you for responding in fact! I've been told the same by the lactation consultant - baby cluster feeding, etc. But - the bottle of formula really settles her (my baby, not the lactation consultant) and she now goes to sleep from 9pm to at least 3am. So I'm inclined to think that I really do not have any milk by end of day. Doctor thinks by that point I'm just too tired.

Tiredness doesn't affect milk supply! And of course a full bottle of formula will knock out a baby, as it is less work to get it via a free flow bottle and is harder to digest than breastmilk.

Not that it matters, if you're happy to give formula and your supply overall isn't reducing as a result.

Hi OP, you need to breastfeed a baby that age regularly in order to build and maintain a good supply, so giving formula so that baby sleeps 9pm-3am could be counter productive. Cluster feeding in the evenings and at night can be exhausting but builds a good supply. Very few women don't have enough milk if nursing regularly. This period won't last forever I promise, baby is only 10 weeks old. Give the National Breastfeeding Helpline or ABM a call because you are being misinformed by your Doctor.

I'm happy with the one bottle a day if it means I get a bit more sleep

My main question is more if I need to go out; must I pump the same amount that is fed to my baby in my absence; or can I just rely on the fact that it's a one off and won't affect supply?

Previous posters have indicated no issues but would love to hear from others too!

What's more relevant is will you be able to comfortably go 4 hours plus without becoming uncomfortable?

If it's not a frequent/regular occurrence then you probably don't need to express to maintain supply.

If you wait until about 16 weeks, your supply should be established and you can pump every 4 or 6 hours. If it's just one evening then just pump when you get back! At this stage you might have to pump a bit more regularly

I can definitely go 4 hours without becoming uncomfortable. At night she sleeps 6/7 hours and it's fine.

If my baby sleeps more than three hours I get very uncomfortable as so full. He's started sleeping up to four in one go and by that point I'm very sore.
I'm not sure four hours will impact your supply.

I've been able to leave my daughter for a few hours without it affecting my supply. At around 10-12 weeks I seem to remember getting a bit engorged after two hours so I was very keen to feed her though!

Everyone is different but it's not been a problem for me and I do love the freedom to go for a swim with my older daughter.

I was very concerned in the early days about not disrupting my supply (didn't manage to bf my first daughter) but honestly it all seems fine. My husband gives her a bottle in the evening, at first I worried that this would mean I didn't have enough milk if I needed to bf but when he's away I do fine without a bottle. Best of both worlds!

Im not bothering with expressing this time so have just used formula and it all seems fine.

Also, if your baby takes a bottle now you won't have any issues introducing one later.

Well your Dr is talking bollocks I'm afraid.

Yes formula 'settles' her as it's thicker and harder to digest.

And by not allowing that cluster feed, you are ironically telling your supply to reduce

Zog

My baby took at bottle from 4- 12 weeks then decided it was the devil's invention, it's not true that early on = they'll keep taking them

Thank you Zog, this is good to hear!

True, @arbrighton, maybe i should have said 'makes it easier for some babies to introduce the bottle early'. No guarantees!