Breastfeeding at night is not enough

[lasma]

Hello ladies,

My newborn baby is almost 3 weeks old, she has been exclusively breastfed since day 10. However, it seems like breast for night feeds is not enough for her, I always have to top up with bottle with breast milk or formula. During the day there is no problem, she eats and sleeps.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm not sure if my milk is decreasing or she is just getting more tired of sucking at night.

Any advice/thought/experience would be appreciated! 🙂

Firstly you're right in the middle of the most difficult stage. Between 2 and 8 weeks they grow the most and are the most difficult to satisfy. You're doing well and it's completely normal to doubt that you're enough.

By the evening, after a whole day of feeding (and still recovering from birth!) it's normal for your supply to tail off a little.

It's ok if you want to top up or offer a formula feed - I used to do it with DS2. He only had a small amount of formula and only ever as that last feed before I went to bed.

Night feeding is exhausting (I did it for three years!), but at the moment it's nature's way of getting your body to make more milk. Those feeds in the "twilight hours" of 1-5 are the ones that make your supply greater. So ideally you wouldn't be replacing those with formula at this stage as your supply needs to increase before it stabilises.

This really is the hardest bit, it's where many give up or really struggle with breastfeeding. But it is completely normal. If you can push through the next few weeks I promise that things get better. If you want to bf exclusively or mix feed or formula feed, it's entirely up to you. But make the decision on a good day not a bad one.

What’s making you think it’s not enough?

Baby feeding all night? Baby won't settle unless on the boob? Totally normal. It's just what newborns do unfortunately!

@SaveWaterDrinkGin

What’s making you think it’s not enough?

Baby won't settle to sleep, she keeps moving around giving cues that she is hungry such as sucking her hands etc. When I give her 'a top up bottle' I can see she is hungry!

@nutellamagnet

Firstly you're right in the middle of the most difficult stage. Between 2 and 8 weeks they grow the most and are the most difficult to satisfy. You're doing well and it's completely normal to doubt that you're enough.

By the evening, after a whole day of feeding (and still recovering from birth!) it's normal for your supply to tail off a little.

It's ok if you want to top up or offer a formula feed - I used to do it with DS2. He only had a small amount of formula and only ever as that last feed before I went to bed.

Night feeding is exhausting (I did it for three years!), but at the moment it's nature's way of getting your body to make more milk. Those feeds in the "twilight hours" of 1-5 are the ones that make your supply greater. So ideally you wouldn't be replacing those with formula at this stage as your supply needs to increase before it stabilises.

This really is the hardest bit, it's where many give up or really struggle with breastfeeding. But it is completely normal. If you can push through the next few weeks I promise that things get better. If you want to bf exclusively or mix feed or formula feed, it's entirely up to you. But make the decision on a good day not a bad one.

Thank you so much for this!!! Very helpful and reassuring, we will keep trying and topping up wherever needed 🙂