Those with 2 or more children: night feeds

[SausageSmuggler]

Wasn't entirely sure where to put this but hoping someone could give some suggestions.

I'm pregnant with DC2 and DS will be 17 months when baby is born but I was wondering what people with 2+ do when it comes to night feeds? I'm still going to be studying when baby is born so will probably try to mix feed in order for others to help if I need it. I'm hoping to coerce get DH to help a bit with night feeds so thought of this routine: Sunday to Wednesday I'll do nights, Thursday to Saturday he does them and we give each other a lie in at the weekends. Luckily DS is normally a very good sleeper but I guess whoever has the night 'off' will look after him if needs be. Does this sound ok or does anyone a bit more experienced than me have another idea? I want to be fair and appreciate that DH works but taking care of a toddler and newborn will be exhausting enough without trying to finish a dissertation too!

Tbh you'll just have to give a it a try & see if it works for you when the time comes. It seems fair & I'd definitely recommend sharing so you both get a chance to sleep. You'll definitely be just as tired with 2 babies as dh is going out to work.

Personally we handled things a bit differently with older 2 (just under 2yrs apart,) we shared nights by dh taking 1st feed (2am ish,) & me doing next (5am ish). Dh actually copes far better with sleep deprivation than me & also finds it easier to get back to sleep after being disturbed. Then when it dropped to just one night feed we did alternate nights.

Oh, just one more thing when you say mix feeding, I'm assuming you're going to formula & breast feed? If that's the case you might find it better not having 3 nights off in a row (unless you plan on bottle feeding every night feed yourself as well as when it dhs turn,) as it may reduce your milk supply for the nights you're on. With mix feeding (which I did for dc3,) again it might work better to share each night, eg bf at 11, bottle @ 2, bf @5, or something similar. You have to decide on the right mix of bf/bottle for you. Tbh in the end I stopped giving her bottles at night & chose to do them all myself & cosleep but that was a very personal decision & a lot harder work (she took a lot longer to sleep through, for instance, than her formula fed brother & sister).

Thanks ladies,
Actually when DS was tiny we would do what has been said - first off DH would do til midnight while I went to bed early then I would do from then onwards. Only think was I would get really narked if DS hadn't woken up at all while DH was 'on duty' because he'd inevitably wake up about 5 minutes after he (DH) fell asleep. When he was in more of a routine we would do first feed or second feed but only at the weekends but we would often get confused with how many times he'd woken up.

This way I think at least it's clear who's turn it is to get up but it is a good point about having a big gap in bfing. To a certain extent we will be playing it by ear I just don't want to end up in a situation where i'm doing all the donkey work AND trying to study because DH uses the excuse 'but I work'.