Night time feeds, can I ask......

[Sassy306]

This will probably sound like a stupid question but what do you do when the baby wakes for a night time feed. My DP will be sleeping beside me and he will be up for work at 6.30am so don't want to disturb his sleep too much so I'm just curious how you all do it....

Do you get up and go to another room? Do you switch the light on or have a night light? Im hoping to breastfeed and I have a next to me crib so hopefully won't have to get up and prepare bottles.

Ive heard people say they just whip out their boob and feed the baby and got back to sleep but surely this can't be safe and won't the nappy need changing anyway?

I have an 11 year old but it seems like a lifetime ago, she was bottle fed and her DF was not in the picture.

D'S is 3 months old, hes breastfed and has the next2me crib (it brilliant). He stirs and makes little noises (not crying). I pick him up and lie him next to me. I feed him lying down. I don't turn the light on but in the early days I used a little nightlight app on my phone to provide a tiny bit of light. I then pop him back in the next to me and I fall asleep.

I do a nappy change at midnight and one again at 7am unless there has bern a poosplosian. He feeds like this at 10pm, midnight, 4am and 7am. I've felt tired some mornings but used to it now and never need to nap in the afternoon.

Baby is Moses Basket, I would just lift him out, bring him into the bed for a feed and read things on my phone to stay awake. Once fed and asleep I’d put him back.

Once 4 month regression hit he wouldn’t go down in his basket or cot, so now he just co-sleeps with me. He has my side of the bed, I’m in the middle and DP on my other side. We all sleep much better and I don’t even notice feeding anymore.

I couldn't bf so mine is ff. I used the small ready made formula. Take a sterlised bottle and a ready made to bed. I usually can't be bothered putting remaining 2 oz in fridge so i leave it out and bin next morning. I change nappy if full or soiled. Baby is kept upright for 30 to 40 mins after to reduce reflux which makes a difference and i play on my phone to stay awake. I don't leave my bed as all change stuff around me and use them maternity mats/puppy pads to protect the bed.

I have a low lamp on all night. Will change this once he is about 8 weeks to phone light or leave landing light on maybe.

I wanted to do all the night feeds as dp drives a lot for work and i dont want him falling asleep at wheel. Dp might wake occasionally if baby very unsettled but dp goes to sleep quickly.

I used to go to the nursery room, I had a comfy chair there, feed them, changed nappies and then put them back to cot, which was in our bedroom.

In the beginning, we had a Moses basket but DS wouldn’t sleep in it, we then moved to a next to me crib (should have just got this in the beginning). DS is EBF. For the first month when I was getting the hang of breast feeding I used to bring him through to our living room for a feed. Kept it dark but watched an episode of something on my ipad as the feeds were long at that point, about 45 mins at a time, to pass the time. He was a tiny baby and I needed my pillow for feeding in the beginning, and couldnt get comfy in bed at first. After about a month (he was also a bit bigger) I had mastered lying down feeding with no issues, so I stopped getting up with him. I have a set of fairy lights wrapped round the top end of our bed frame so I just used them for light during the night as they are pretty dim. Eventually I only needed to put the light on to latch him on properly. I’d highly recommend feeding lying down, especially if you go through phases of frequent waking. Lots of times I just popped DS on after first wake and pretty much left him there till morning, waking only briefly when he did.

I only changed the nappy when I had to. In the beginning it was every feed as he pooped every feed, and it’s a good way of waking them a bit to take a proper feed when they are really little. In regards to DP, well, if he was disturbed by any of my goings on I left him to problem solve that. As im are breastfeeding a bottle refuser he’s always had the luxury of not needing to get up in the night at all as when DS wakes through the night it’s only ever for a feed, even when teething/I’ll its the only way he will settle at night.

Now DS is 8 months and in his own room, he still wakes for a feed once during the night, normally about 5am. I have a comfy nursing chair in there, we do quick feed and then back in cot and sleeps till morning.

I have cot next to bed and a touch lamp with diff brightness settings.
Baby’s stirs but doesn’t cry, pick up, nappy change, feed and burp halfway through, second half of feed, burp then cuddle upright for ten mins (colicky baby) then back in cot where sometimes baby goes back to sleep easy and sometimes not.
DH sleeps through anything so is beside me.
I always change nappy If it’s been more than 2 hours . Not worth the risk of a leak for me when If nappy gets too full by the next feed.. having to change vests n sleepsuits and blankets is much more of a faff than a quick nappy change. I’m quite fussy with that though, just don’t like baby going back to sleep with a heavy nappy and figure a clean one creates space for the next feed .
I’m sure it’ll all change at 4 months anyway x

First month or so we had to have the light on, so DH would wake up too (he was on paternity leave for the first two months). Baby started off in a cot, so he would wake up when baby cried just as I would, and would help with nappies, winding etc. (He was a bit grumpy about this as he said I got to do the nice sitting-with-tit-in-mouth bit then he had to spend an hour trying to wind the baby while I went back to sleep. But he did do it.)

After a couple of months, baby and I had both got the hang of feeding in dark and we'd brought him into bed with us (well, I'll be honest, he just ended up in bed because I'd just fall asleep feeding him, I was so tired. It wasn't really planned.), so I just used to roll over, stick tit in mouth and go back to sleep.

My baby is 13 weeks old and exclusively breastfed. She sleeps in a pod next to me. During the night if she wants to be fed, I put my bedside lamp on, unzip the side of the pod and lift her out to feed her. Once fed, I wind her and return her to the pod. I did try feeding with the light off a couple of times, but I ended up falling asleep, either while she was feeding, or while I had her on my shoulder to wind her. It is a horrible feeling to wake up suddenly, realising you've fallen asleep with the baby and worrying for a split second that you may have smothered her!!

My partner doesn't seem to be disturbed, so it works for us. I have friends whose partners slept in the spare room so that they could get sleep. Our baby is a good sleeper and for the last few weeks will often have 6-7 hours sleep without waking. Sometimes I have to wake her up as my breasts get uncomfortably full!

I rarely change her nappy at night, and if I do, it will be before or after the feed when the lamp is on.