Morning vs evening breast milk for sleep

[PopcornAndWine]

Hi DD is 12 weeks old and EBF. Currently expressing first thing in the morning and giving her the bottle of expressed milk in the evening. She will then take about half an hour feed from
each breast before settling.

I've heard that if you express in the evening instead of in the morning your milk will contain more sleep hormones and will therefore help them sleep longer. Reluctant to switch to expressing in the evening as once she has settled for the night I just want to relax! So just wondering if there is any truth to this? Anyone any experiences of morning vs evening expressing?

Yeah I've read this too. I think there is truth in it but if I'm right in thinking she has the bottle of morning milk followed by both boobs, I think it probably wont be making a huge difference as she will be getting the hormones from the boob. I prefer expressing in the morning as boobs are fuller but have been doing a bit in the evening for this very reason.

Can you just feed her from the breast in the eve? Why does she need the expressed too? I think it’s the level of melatonin that increases in the evening milk which should in theory promote sleepiness.

I heard this too, no idea if it’s true or not DD didn’t sleep regardless. However, if you want to try, I really recommend a naturebond (or haaka) pump (got mine for around £12 on Amazon). You stick it on the opposite side while feeding so no extra hassle at all. I found expressing a massive headache. With this I actually used to get more milk just using it for the first morning feed and one evening feed - enough for DH to give a bottle per night and to build up a good freezer stash for if I wanted a few hours to myself or a night out as she got older.

Morning breast milk is richer and creamier so more filling, as hormones drop as the day goes on so milk supply slows down.
Some babies cluster feed in the evenings as a result of the reduced supply in order to try and fill up for the night.

Rather than give a bottle as well as boob and bed time, you might try doing the bottle dream feed at 10pm (if your not already) or increasing feeds during the day. This helps when baby starts to sleep through the night and your milk supply can reduce naturally with it aka managing mastitis risks.

I'd be less concerned with which milk baby has and more planning the 'sleeping through' routine - but as ever with our little darlings nothing is ever that simple :)

I am in the throws of this myself with 14 week old!

What you feed at night help dictates what you produce for the next day (or so I was told) so when I couldn't BF but I expressed I made sure that after feeding my DD with the bottle I would stay up and express once she had gone back down.

Thanks all. Reason for giving her bottle in the evenings as well as both boobs is to help her settle a bit quicker, previously she would be breastfeeding for 2-2.5 hours before settling. She Sometimes wakes about 11-11:30 for a feed, sometimes not. I could certainly try a bottle there instead of the earlier feed. To be honest it is all still completely unpredictable at the moment! I have a haaka pump so starting to use that more instead of the electric.