Breastfeeding / combined feeding

[Sophendo]

Hello,

I'm 29 weeks pregnant and hoping mums who've breastfed in the past can advise me. A friend of mine (with two littluns) advised me that expressing milk, so that my partner can bottle feed a few nights a week, is a good idea. Therefore we can sort of 'tag team' night feeding, and take it turns to get a good chunk of sleep. I mentioned this in my antenatal class (I think I used the phrase '8 hours' which could have been a grave mistake!) and the midwife teaching the class laughed at me. I think she thought that was a wildly ambitious plan.
Just wondering how long I should expect to solely breastfeed my tiny new friend? I don't want to have unreasonable expectations - is there an earliest point I should think about expressing at all, say 6 weeks? Or is combined feeding fine to aim for quite soon after birth? (I'm not talking about formula, hoping to avoid that but we'll see).

Any thoughts gratefully received! x

Hey you won’t beable to express for atleast I would say 6 weeks until your milk supply is really established and you have both learnt how to latch on etc. 8 hours sleep is a very high expectation lol. I breastfed until baby was 6 months and found expressing a pain even if Dad does feed in the night you will need to be up to express to keep milk supply going or to ease the pain of very full boobs. Bf is hard work especially at the beginning but it is worth it,grit your teeth and expect to be doing all the feeding make your partner pick up in other areas ie cleaning , cooking etc. Another point I would make is that bf during the night for me was the easiest and most positive point to bf it would make baby fall back to sleep within minutes and no messing about with bottles etc

Learn how to feed your baby whilst laying down on the side the mw shown me at the hospital this means you can really rest whilst feeding , expressing does work well for many women but you must remember every time baby drinks from the bottle you need to be expressing again as not to lose milk supply but as I said before I would wait atleast 6 weeks before expressing

And if you do express for a feed, you then need to express again while that feed is done to maintain supply and prevent blocked ducts or mastitis.

Get baby's dad to take immediately after a feed, do winding, nappy, cuddles etc. I used to sleep from about 7-11 just being woken to feed, then did about 11-5 so DH could get a night's sleep then he did an hour or two, including walking the dogs in the morning.
So we both got about the same amount.

8 hours???????????? Hmmm, DS is 1, I definitely didn't sleep well from about mid pregnancy so I'd say nearly 18 mo since that last happened!

You learn to cope. I get 2 3-4 hour chunks on good nights plus an hour or two of bed sharing to prevent DS 5 am feed becoming waking up and getting up. I'm fine. I occasionally crash and go up at 8 but mostly 9-10 and i'm fine

I expressed at 2 weeks once breastfeeding was established so my partner could feed baby. But i also expressed as my milk was coming in to help relieve pressure.

Some babies sleep, others don't. Mine always has slept really well, started goibg 5 or 6 houra from a few weeks old and now at 5 months sleeps 12 hours at night.

I have 4 DC and they were all EBF. DS1 stopped at 5 months, DD stopped aged 18 months, DS2 stopped at 19 months and DS3 stopped last month (aged 3). DS1 had formula but I didn't use it with the others. They all drank cows milk from 1st birthday.

I could write a book on my BF experiences, and those of mums around me. (I come into contact with a lot of pregnant ladies and new mums through my job).

I had a plan like yours. I also received the same reaction! In my instance, she was absolutely right.

What I will tell you is this. All babies are different. Some settle and sleep. Some don't. It's not something you can predict. My last one slept ON me for over six months (I was more relaxed). You just have to suck it and see.

For me, BF was the easiest solution. It's so easy, no prep, always ready to go. However, it does mean that you can't share feeds. It does mean that you can feed and then hand the baby over to DH to take for a walk while you sleep.

It does initially hurt (in a toe curling way) for the first few weeks and it takes a while to get the hang of it. (DS2 took a MONTH! The others, it took us about the two week mark, although I don't remember exactly). Babies lose weight in their first week. If I remember rightly, up to 10% is normal. Don't panic about this.

I used lanolin to prevent cracked nipples. I slathered it on. It worked wonders for me.

I had to express to get my milk flow started as one boob wasn't producing much. I had to do this with each baby (same boob!) and it took about a week. Electronic pumps are wonderful things.

Breast milk can be frozen. I also stored some in syringes for eye/ear infections. It really is magic stuff.

In the beginning, I would syringe expressed breast milk into my baby. I was told not to give the bottle and the breast as both required different reflexes and it could be confusing for the baby. So the nurse taught me to syringe very slowly, whilst using my little finger (in the position on the photo) to gently stroke and stimulate the roof of the baby's mouth. Apparently this is the same reflex as feeding from a nipple rather than a teat. It worked wonders for me.

As I said before DS2 took a month to fully establish. He was the hardest and I really had to work. But we did manage, and it was worth it.

I would say, on average, I spent the first six weeks feeling like a milking station. Supply/hormones/learning about what the baby needed, night being day and day being night... it was crazy. But after the first six weeks, things started to settle down into a routine.

Google 'the newborn Ten Commandments'. It's wonderful and spot on.

I hope you don't mind me writing an essay sharing all this (extra) information. Happy to chat by PM if you need. Enjoy the last bit of your pregnancy!

Thank you SO much, everyone. This is really helpful. x

I started expressing when ds was five days old, he lost 13% of his birth weight and was sent to neo-natal where they put us on a feeding schedule which involved 10 mins on the breast, then a bottle of expressed milk. When we left hospital we carried on doing combined feeding so dh could do some feeds, it never affected my supply and ds was happy to switch between breast and bottle. 8 hours might be ambitious in the beginning, as pp said you'll be uncomfortable from engorgement and it's recommended to do at least 1 feed/express at night to establish supply. However, you will be able to get more sleep if you take it in turns on night feeds.

Ds is 12 weeks and I've just had my first full night off. It was lovely