Breastfed baby night feeding - experience wanted!

[asatru]

@forgiven4ever 6-7 times!

 

[shatteredprincess]

@linka81 I went back to work when my daughter was 4 months old. Around 5 months, her night feeding picked up significantly. She drank from a bottle during the day (breastmilk) but I think she preferred to breastfeed, so we made up for lost time during the night. Because of that, she slept in bed with us for several hours every night. There were weeks where she would eat 4x a night and others where it was once or twice. That lasted up until she was about 12 months old and she weaned herself at 13.5 months. For reference, prior to me going back to work, she slept through the night and she ate about every 90 minutes during the day.

 

[lwh]

@shatteredprincess I had a similar experience when I first went back to work, but thankfully she eventually decided that she would rather drink the bottles than go hungry/thirsty all day, and then sleep improved a lot.

 

[waxwing85]

@linka81 We currently bedshare at 7 1/2 months. He nurses around 3-4 times throughout the night. Sometimes it's more often.

 

[alangeh]

@linka81 I’ve been bedsharing with my son since day 1, he’s now 18 months. He’s been exclusively breastfed as well and we’re still breastfeeding. He eats 3 meals a day with 2-3 snacks, and does one nap a day for 1.75 - 2 hours. He usually nurses to sleep, so we do mornings, before his nap, and at bedtime, and sometimes he asks for it in between those sessions. We do a later bedtime as well, around 9pm.

He’s going through a big growth spurt right now so he’s eating 2-3x a night, but before that he was nursing 1-2x at night. It was like every couple hours at night up until 15/16 months then he stopped waking as often.

 

[rlj]

@linka81 We’re at 9 months tomorrow (!!) and sleep improved dramatically about three weeks ago. Up until then she was up every 1-2 hours and nursing back to sleep. Without any intervention, she dropped down to 2 wake-ups per night (around 11 and 3) after 7 pm bedtime. She wakes at 7 am. We room share and often bed share, it just depends on the night and if I feel cuddly or if I’m sore and want to stretch out.

We were EFF for a while and then combo feeding until I got my supply up, and I didn’t notice any change in sleeping habits. If she had slept better on formula, I definitely wouldn’t have been fighting so hard to breastfeed! I’m a whole new person now that I’m finally getting some sleep at night again,

 

[rahmcd]

@linka81 Baby is 8 months and we started bedsharing at 6 months. I don’t have a good estimate of how often I nurse at night because I’m half asleep when it happens. Maybe 2-4 times a night.

 

[cherish616]

@linka81 6 months today! He feeds every 2-3 hrs. We just committed to bedsharing 100% and it is really working so much better for us.

 

[eawilli23]

@linka81 Every 2-3 hours with the occasional 4-7 hour stretch. Kiddo sometimes sleeps an 8 hour stretch at 18 months, but only 1-2 times a week. The rest still breastfeeding ever 3-4 hours. Every 2 if she’s sick or teething.

She starts out in her own room, I bed share from the 1st or second waking. Whenever I’m too tired to keep moving back and forth.

 

[beardedbloke]

@linka81 I’m on my second baby, cosleeping w the second who is 9m. He nurses 4-5 times but mostly to settle himself. I nursed #1 to sleep til she was almost 4, and I’m going to keep going w #2 til he self weans. W #1 I went on about 3 two week biz trips when she was 2/3 and she still resumed nursing as soon as she saw me LOL

 

[superio02]

@linka81 10 month old. She feeds once, sometimes twice a night and it’s been this way for a few months (she dropped her own night feeds). She sleeps in our room in her own bed, although we end up bedsharing towards the end of the night so we aren’t dealing with five AM starts to the day.

 

[spidercall]

@linka81 I bedshare with my baby a lot of the night - he goes to bed in his crib, wakes up around 11-12 and then comes into our bed. He usually nurses once or twice during that time frame! He’s about to be a year old

 

[malcolmsdad01]

@linka81 Baby is 8.5 months now and I've been bedsharing since 1st month basically. Returned to work when he turned 6 months. I bf before work and when I get home (get home around 10-11pm) and he wakes up to feed when he hears me and then we bedshare and he wakes up about every 2-3 hrs every night to feed. Sometimes feels like more. I ebf when days I'm off work and had to start pumping on days off for a bit to bring back up my supply.

We tried formula once when I couldn't pump enough because I had my period and it affected my supply. he refused to drink it! Hes also on solids now, started at 6 months but he didnt really want to eat it until 7.5 ish months. Hasnt seemed to affected his night sleep though. Likes others said, seems more for comfort and connecting sleep cycles ..

 

[mardisaaron]

@linka81 Still breastfeeding through the night at 2.5. Woke every two hours until about a year old when we switched from a crib to a floor bed in his room. I start out in his room, nurse him to sleep then roll out. When we switched to floor bed he started waking up about 2 times a night until just recently he has cut down to one or sleeping through the night. If dad goes in instead of me he sleeps through the night. Never did formula at night so no input there

 

[horace909]

@linka81 I breastfed until 13mo and co-slept until about 7ish months. While we co-slept she nursed 4-5times a night even when we started solids. The nursing sessions were shorter.
But she started being rrstless in bed with me, wanting to stay up and play rather than sleep. So I tried moving her to her crib (note naps were mostly in the crib since about 4mo, it just magically happened for us as she was an exclusive contact napper up until then and has recently become a contact napper again)

I’d nurse to sleep, put her to bed and she’d wake up around 1-2AM for one good long feed at which point we’d co-sleep again and she’d wake up again around 5AM for another good feed and sleep until 7-8AM after
A couple of weeks after this she stopped falling asleep after the first night feed in bed with me so I’d nurse to sleep in her room and put her back in the crib where she’d sleep until 6ish and be ready to start the day. I was fine with starting the day early because I was much better rested.
It was gradual for us and totally led by her. She slept so much better without me. As much as I thought she’d need comfort, unless she is sick or in a new environment, she sleeps better alone and prefers it

Around 11mo when she started daycare she started STTN and did not wake up for a night feed anymore. Was still nursed to sleep for naps and bedtime, but my supply decreased considerably after daycare started and she lost interest by 13mo.

 

[73552]

@linka81 10 month old, room sharing (we’ve never bed shared), currently in perpetual teething purgatory.

I usually do a dream feed before I go to bed around 9-10, then he could get up to nurse anywhere from 0-2 additional times. 1 is normal right now with teething, but before that he would often sleep through.

We haven’t sleep trained per se, but did implement a solid bedtime routine with breastfeeding as the first step so he doesn’t feed to sleep at bedtime. It helped a ton with making bedtime easier and reducing night wakings.

 

[thanhcongk83]

@linka81 Baby is almost 9 months old. We’re bedsharing and she eats 3-4x a night, but I think it’s mostly for comfort. She eats solids 2-3x a day and takes 2 naps a day. She doesn’t like her bottles. She’s almost crawling and scoots
/rolls everywhere. We have not sleep trained and don’t plan on it.

 

[rockyjohn]

@linka81 So we started solids at 6 months, are 7 months now. Baby still sleeps a 6 hour stretch first (from 9pm to 3 am more or less) and then wakes up once again around 5-6am to feed, goes back to sleep and wakes up for thw day around 7. He sleeps in his crib in our room

 

[kimstar]

@linka81 I have a 2.5 year old and a 1 month old. They both breast feed. The 1 month like every three hours and the 2.5 as needed if he wakes up with a nightmare or something. He was losing interest in breastfeeding but with seeing the new baby matching he’s renewed his interest so now I’ve occasionally got two latched at once lol.

 

[katrina2017]

@linka81 My girl is 8 months and we cosleep. She eats at least 1-2 times a night. We ebf