Advice on newborn feeds

[highheavenn]

I'm a mum of soon to be three. I directly breast fed both babies for the first week then went on to combo feeding.... so formula and boob for whenever baby needed it.

This time... I'm thinking if I breastfeed during the day and do formula during the night? Is that a good option so baby is fuller and sleeps (MAYBE) a little easier?

I could never pump but I have brought these silicone things that collect leaking milk.. I could use that for bottles but may not be enough for a full bottle who knows!!!

Your supply is created through feeding in evenings and at night. Hence cluster feeding being so common late evening as baby is telling your body I need more tomorrow 😊

I'd be worried about your supply - I was told that your milk making hormones are highest in the night (can't think what they're called). Also my DD was fully formula fed and slept horrendously until she was 2. Research doesn't show formula fed babies sleeping longer as far as I know.

Oh my silly me! How could I forget 😂 I forgot the milk supply through the night is at its best... maybe not the formula then!

I don't even know why I asked this question!! Your right prolactin levels are higher at night! Maybe I'll drop the idea x

I think there’s also something about young babies being reliant on the the sleep hormones in your milk at night until they can produce their own. Obviously not totally reliant or presumably formula babies would just never sleep…but yes, hormones.

I can’t think of anything worse than making up a bottle in the night to be honest. You can of course combi feed however I don’t think it’s recommended before 6 weeks unless for a medical reason as it may cause issues with your supply.
Sometime after a few months with my middle child I introduced formula once a day at the same time (bedtime routine) every day which worked well for me. And occasionally if I left her with anyone, as I wasn’t able to express, despite being able to express successfully with my first and also third.
lactation consultant said it was likely the pump didn’t suit my body, you should get one that fits you properly apparently.

Do yo have someone that can do a bottle during the day? If yiure going to combi feed that might give you time for a nap.....

I think your boobs would be far too uncomfortable overnight to do this! Also no guarantee baby will sleep better on formula overnight.

Anecdotally My BF baby was one of the best sleepers in our NCT group many of which were formula feeding. There's no way of knowing how they'll sleep

I breastfed all day and gave little one 2 bottles over night so just before we went to bed and once in the night just to give me a break and let dad do some feeding. It worked out just fine for me

Just to give you hope - DC1 was exclusively breastfed and slept 10pm-6am by 12 weeks. Don't assume that only formula fed babies sleep well at night.

Formula feeding at night is such a faff.

Maybe just do one bottle at bedtime to conquer bottle refusal later down the line and make it so you and other parent cam take turns x

I'm going by my own experience. I have two children already and once I started combo feeding they were more satisfied and fuller with formula! Maybe my milk wasn't the best or I wasn't breastfeeding as much as I should have. But yeah it deffo kept them fuller longer but I may just boob feed completely depends if baby is happy or not with it

@tinyshoppingbasket it can be a faff but we used the tommee tippee perfect prep machine it was a godsend. We put it outside our bedroom and we had bottles made within 2 minutes. It's my go to must have item now haha

After the 6 week mark I breastfed my son every 2 hours during the day. It got to about 11 weeks he started to sleep through the night. As long as they get enough calories during the day they can sleep through. Not saying it works for every baby but it helped. Plus there's a sleep hormone in breastmilk. X