Supply issues now baby sleeping through

[lifechanginglemoncake]

Hi everyone. My 9 week old has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now. He usually goes down between 10 and 11 and wakes between 5.30 and 6.30.

In the evening he has a bottle of expressed milk about 9pm then goes to sleep. I pump when I go to bed around 10.30 to get milk for the next day and freeze any excess.

I've noticed the last week that the amount I can pump has been decreasing and he's been fussy in the day. I'm worried my supply is dropping after stopping night feeding. Any tips to up it again?

I've read that pumping in the night is helpful, effectively tricking your body into thinking you are doing a night feed. I'll do this if I have to but getting a full night of sleep was doing wonders for how I feel in general so I'm reluctant unless I need to. Surely most people aren't doing this when baby sleeps through? Getting established and weaning off formula top ups took so much work that I don't want to go backwards.

Just keep feeding lots in the day and can you drop the bottle of expressed and just feed him yourself?

My DD is 4 months and has slept through since 8 weeks. I don’t pump at all and seem to have enough milk in the day for her.

I could try and drop the bottle feed. It's leftover from formula top ups and is there because I seemed to run out of milk in the evenings. I still sort of feel like that happens and am always relieved when it gets to bottle time!

Hi

I've got to ask, how did you get your little one to sleep through? My 12 week old is going to bed at 7 to 7.30 after a full feed, makes it to anywhere between 11 to 1, usually nearer 11. I'm breastfeeding but on my husband's almost insistence, and to avoid starting antidepressants because of lack of sleep, we then give a formula bottle which he guzzles, and change his nappy. He drops off quickly then. He wakes again anywhere from 3 to 4.30 and I give a full breastfeed that doesn't usually tide us over till 7. Also after this feed he goes into a deep sleep for an hour, then stays in this light sleep where he seems to struggle to get back into deep sleep. I'm wondering if his reflux is what's bothering him then. OH isn't cl convinced it's a problem but neither baby or I get good quality sleep in those hours.
I'd be so happy if we could get from 11 to 6.30 onwards and I feel like he's capable of it (he's 6.5kg). Also I'm worried we're giving too many of his calories at night but find if he has a short breastfeed he just wakes up sooner.
What did you do? What am I doing wrong?
Thanks

I don't know what we did. We didn't do anything especially different to be honest. He just always slept well at night. The problem is he sleeps too well and we discovered he actually did need a feed overnight for his weight gain so we started waking him up. Now he still sleeps well but I have to pump overnight. He's small though - only 5.8kg at over 4 months.

Just do what you need to do. If you need to stick with the formula or express to give him milk overnight then go for it.

Hope it gets better for you.

It's still early days and a lot of your supply is established overnight. I agree that you need to make sure that any evening and bedtime feeds are given from the breast for now.

Formula fed / combination fed babies do tend to sleep heavily so if you don’t want to lose your supply I would be waking him frequently. 9 weeks is far, far too early to be developing a ‘routine’ - it’s more likely the formula top ups are making him sleep deeper and as he gets used to it his routine will change - but if you don’t manage it now your supply could reduce.

Go to the La Leche League website. It’s really useful

Your supply is regulating. It's normal to be able to pump less as time goes on- it's not as efficient as baby at getting milk now.

You do not need to be waking baby if weight gain is ok at this age.

But bear in mind that night feeds, especially around 2-3 am are when prolactin production is highest.

And your milk doesn't 'run' out in the evening. Your baby is trying to cluster feed to increase your milk.