What are your top tips for coping with night feeds? Share your advice with MAM - £200 voucher to be won

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Whether you’re breastfeeding, bottle, or mixed feeding, coping with night feeds can be really hard. Perhaps you found sharing the responsibility with your partner, establishing a routine early on or making small changes really helped you manage? Whatever your advice is on coping with night time feeds, share them on the thread - you could really help another MNer.

• Share your tips on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw
• One MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Here’s what MAM has to say: “Here at MAM we believe in supporting every mum on their feeding journey whichever journey they choose. We want mums to join us in supporting each other, MAM has a solution to help parents feel confident and babies feel good.”

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MNHQ

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My son sleeps for the first 4 hours in his Moses basket, then he comes into bed for a breastfeed whilst we're laying down. We then continue to co-sleep following the safe sleep guidelines, it works well for us.

The mam 6 in 1 bottle warmer has been a godsend got night bottle feeds since my toddler was tiny as it is portable so it can be plugged in upstairs to heat a bottle at the click of a button. That plus charging up.my phone before bed and browsing all the great mumsnet have definitely been hugely important at getting me through night feeds

Don’t stay in the bed! No matter how tired always get out - it’ll wake you up a bit. Staying in the bed is a recipe for dropping off 🛌

Also, write down feed times for the first few weeks. At times you’ll be so tired it’ll all blur together and you will forget when they’ve had what 🥱

Keep a drink, snack, muslins and nappy changing stuff next to the bed.

I tried to minimise any movement or disruption for DS. We Co slept - following safe sleep guidance- so I just breastfed lying down. DS would just fall back asleep after.

Big glass of water and lots of pillows/ cushions. Easy access pj's if breast feeding. Book to read.

Stop watching the clock. I used to feel the need to be able to tell people all the times he woke up to feed and count how much sleep we got. Felt so much better when I stopped. I just go with how I feel now and only check the time if I actually want to know rather than habit

Nursing chair helps
Remote control nearby
Cushion to support breastfeeding
Have drink in flask prepared
something good on tv to keep you awake

my saviour was cosy pyjamas and fluffy socks, If I was cold I always found it harder to get back to sleep despite being exhausted!

Drawer in the nursery with the following:

charger
iPad
mini snacks
bottles of water
socks

we check it’s topped up whenever we restock the nappy drawer

Try not to worry about what time it is / don't clock watch.

Have some water (& maybe snacks - I was always hungry breastfeeding!) to hand.

Easier said than done but maybe avoid looking at phones / screens as that may make it more difficult to get back to sleep.

Remember, it won't be like this forever!!

Hot Chocolate machine by the bed and a thermos of milk. I feed baby, hubby delivers hot chocolate, genuinely made me feel warm and happy rather than tired and desperate!

I struggled with night feeds. I really need my sleep. I used the wisdom in the Beatrice Hollyer book to encourage my three to sleep a reasonably long night from the earliest age feasible and can heartily recommend it to others:

Sleep: The easy way for peaceful nights

But I love the hot chocolate tip too!

Don’t think of it as ‘trying to get the baby back to sleep’. Think of it as spending time together and kiss and cuddle them lots while feeding.

I enjoyed the night feeds then.

I used to have a convector heater (silent) come on with a timer for the middle of night and nappychange in winter as we did not normally heat bedrooms.

I learnt to breastfeed lying down with my second, game changer. I don’t know how I did all those feeds out of bed and sitting up with my first!

I breastfed in a nursing chair- for comfort really - so night light, throw over the chair and a drink, no clocks in the nursery - then I don't think about the time.

Slippers by the bed, a feeding pillow, a very dim night light, and a few muslins by the bed. Sleep when baby sleeps - don't try to be the perfect housewife, give yourself a break when it's offered.

Prioritise your sleep as much as possible and don't do it alone if you have the option. I would go to bed at 8pm, asleep by 9pm whilst partner stayed up with baby until midnight. I then had already had at least 6 hours sleep by the time the 3am feed came around.
Also did the feeds and changes silently in the dark so baby quickly learned the night was for sleeping.

For me it was trying to have a nap in the day if possible, while the baby naps. Prioritise sleep over housework!

Keep the room as dark as possible and the feed as quick as you can with the minimum fuss. Only change a nappy if it really needs doing. Feed, wind, back in the cot. This worked for me, all my DC slept through the night at 8 weeks and were doing 12 hours by 12 weeks.

I used to take a flask of tea up to bed so I had a nice warm cuppa when I was feeding (obviously poured out well away from baby!) - We also kept a pale blue nightlight on throughout the night so I could see what I was doing!
Night feeds are tough & exhausting, so it's great to see tips for making them easier. I had friends who attended NCT classes & they would What's App each other during the night so they knew they weren't the only ones wide awake! (only advisable if you all agree to put phones on silent at night so anyone not up & feeding doesn't get woken up!!)
On the very toughest nights - remember, the night waking doesn't last forever & you will look back on these times fondly.. I promise! :)

1. Touch lamp by my bedside table
2. Snuzpod (or any next to me crib)
3. Snacks such as jelly tots, crisps etc.
4. phone charger near me to charge my phone
5. online shopping on my phone during night feeds
6. Washing my Elvie pump equipment and having it ready to go on my bedside table, so for the 5/6am feed I could express milk on the other side

V-pillow within easy reach, and a very low level nightlight. Baby also within easy reach!

Could breastfeed while barely awake.

Look at breastfeeding positions including lying down. Some are not obvious so you can use YouTube to view them from different angles to get them right and see what's comfortable.

Look up safe co-sleeping so that you are aware of how to do it so that even if you do not co-sleep you can be in a position that would be safe should you fall asleep, as often happens.

You could pump some feeds as an option and have them by the bed ready, since they can last 6-12 hours at room temp.

Have your Haka or other pump by the bed so you can empty the breast fully if baby drops off in case you are building supply, switching to formula, or weaning - and avoid blocked ducts or mastitis.