My baby is 4 weeks. DH and I want to introduce a bottle of expressed milk as her last feed before ‘bedtime’, in as much as she has one currently. She is typically taking her last breastfeed anywhere from 10-11pm at the moment. Then she’s awake for another feed anytime between 2-3.30, and again between 5-6.30. I understand that I need to keep these ‘proper’ nighttime feeds in order to keep my supply up and that’s ok, if I can get a solid chunk of sleep from say 9pm-2am.
When should I be expressing for this bottle feed? I have a Haakaa pump which I’ve been using on one side while she’s been feeding on the other. Or should I be expressing separately from her feeds? I don’t want to compromise my supply, or her feeding. The information about expressing is a bit confusing for our situation, as most of it is aimed at parents using far more bottles than we intend to, so advice like express 8-12 times a day seems excessive.
I’ve tried expressing a few times now and get around 60-70ml per time. I’m just concerned about affecting my supply in some way, or leaving baby unsatisfied from the breastfeeds.
She took the bottle very well during our trial run so hopefully that continues, but we put too little in (around 70ml) and I had to top up with the breast. So we’ll try with more like 100-120ml, feeding responsively.
Any advice is welcome!