Breastfeeding

Hi all, I am exclusively breastfeeding and my little one is starting to sleep longer stretches at night (5-6 hours) and she’s 9 weeks old. As amazing as it is that she’s sleeping longer stretches, I’m finding that my breasts are getting engorged and more often than not, I’m having to wake her to feed to relieve it during these long stretches. I’m also worried of getting mastitis. I sometimes pump to just take the edge off but I don’t want to keep signaling to my body that I need to produce milk if she doesn’t need it. Does anyone have a similar story or method for how they are managing their bub sleeping longer at night while BF?

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You can hand express for comfort and dream feed her

I just pump for comfort at night if I need it. So I don’t pump to empty, only maybe 5-7 minutes worth. Or I’ll hand express into a letdown collector.That seems to maintain my milk production while helping me be comfortable :)

Hi I’m a mum of a 6 week old baby and I use to breastfeed every 2/3 hours and my breast would be engorged and be painful bc it wouldn’t come out so I had to message my breast to bring it out or breast pump depends on if baby is latching on or not. But I’m now bottle feeding every 3/4 hours

So the trouble is like you said, if you wake & pump you are telling your body to continue making this amount of milk. I would personally say if you do pump, just do it enough to relieve. Have you got a Hakka pump? This might be a good way of relieving some of the engorgement? Eventually, your milk supply will naturally regulate to how much little one is having with the drop of feeds overnight 😊

If I have days where I’m more full than others (baby is 13 weeks now) I will pump for around 3/4 minutes just to take some of the pressure off - I also have a fast let down that affects his feeds so it sort of helps with that slightly xx

Ok thanks so much for the advice☺️ she’s a very efficient feeder and can empty a full breast in about 5-6 minutes. I have a Tyhan wireless pump but have been nervous to pump at night just incase. So I’ll give it a go just to relieve it as mentioned🙏 my milk supply won’t drop altogether though and she’ll still get getting what she needs? I’m also worried that it’ll drop too low and she’ll loose weight.

Have you got a BF clinic nearby to you that you could pop into for advice? I completely understand your worries about your supply reducing, especially with your little one sleeping through the night. I’ve just seen you’re not in the UK- this post just popped randomly up on my feed. I presume you have similar support where you are to what we have here 😊

Yeah that’s a good call. We have lactation consultants here, so I’ll arrange an appointment😊thank you for your help and advice l!!! X

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Hour night wakes and 5am get up

Can anyone shed some light as to why on earth my child doesn’t want to sleep??? My eyeballs are bleeding!!

Never been a good sleeper, but the problems always changing. He’s nearly 9 months old.

Beginning of the month he dropped to 2 naps. We could put him to bed at 7pm and he’d get up for the day at 6am, with multiple wake ups every 2/3 hours.

Now we put him down at 7pm, he can do a good 4/5 hour stretch, but come 1/2am he’s up every hour then getting up for the day at 5am. This then completely messes up the day because I can’t keep him awake long enough to even get to 7pm, let alone later.

He has 2 naps, roughly about 1hr10 each but it changed based on when he wakes and trying to get him to a reasonable bed time.

What could be the reason for this? 6am is fine, but 5am is not 😩😩

Over supply of milk

I am nearly 5weeks postpartum and I have such a big over supply of BM.
Has anyone donated / sold their supply, if so where do you recommend for this?

I think its fair

Me and my partner agreed to sleep in 1 day of the weekend.
He doesn't find it fair to look after both kids (my 4 year old isnt his) while i sleep so he looks after the baby while i sleep and my toddlers at his dads and ill look after both the next day.
Straightaway it was pretty unfair as i let him sleep in until he wakes up 10-12
He wakes me up when baby starts fussing because he wants milk (doesnt need it)
I cant pump as i dont supply enough.
So i get woken at 9/9:30 to feed baby then i get him sleep then theres no point sleeping in as my toddlers being dropped off.
I also find it unfair that i get both kids to sleep most night, i get my toddler to sleep everyday hes home (4/5days) and i get my baby to sleep most nights with the exception of maybe twice a month as his dad struggless then about 95% of his thru the day naps.
I have also been unwell for a few months (tumor scare) and am waiting 18 weeks to see a specialist so im obviously petrified for that, so unbelievably tired and alot of aches and pains, specifically these pounding headaches ive been having.
After i had been up til 11:30 getting both kids to sleep lastnight and my partner falling asleep at 10 then him ignoring the baby cries all morning until my toddler woke up im fed up slammed to door and rold him not to expect to sleep in unless he gets the baby to sleep the night b4.
I keep having issues with him not feeling the wet from baby being sick or weeing himself or being able to smell it do about 98% of the time hes given to me i have to clean him up n change him.
Including at night, we agreed my partner would change nappies (1 a night at 5am) while i feed (2,4,5,6:30) but every night when i get him hes pissed through and my partner gets annoyed when i wake him up n moan about it.
Then the morning after hes annoyed at how much washing there is (thats his job) and moans about how often i change myself (baby constantly shits thru and sicks on me) and baby
Honestly im just so tired all the time

AITA

In the uk there is an outbreak of meningitis, in a specific area mainly. My BD has family from that area and decided to go and meet up with them, I said if he does then he cannot have contact with the kids for 7-10 days after incase he picks anything up. Am I being over dramatic? I reallyyy don’t want my young kids getting anything serious

Help meeee

!!All advice welcome!! My 5 month old (nearly 6mo) is just not sleeping . Not for naps and not at night . She can’t connect her cycles . We started sleep regression at 3 months but in like how is this nearly been going on for a further 3 months . Like surely not . She has 10 min naps in crib ( which take so much effort ) and maybe 20/30 min naps in my arms/pushchair . She wakes minimum every hour at night with guaranteed false start 20 mins in . I combo feed. I breastfeed her until almost asleep then place her in the next to me crib give her the pacifier and put my hand on her cheek/face for 20 seconds and she drifts off . It’s not really getting her to sleep that’s the issue it’s she just won’t stay asleep . She doesn’t even need to feed much at night usually 1-2 breastfeeds . The rest is comfort wakes needing her pacifier or my hand on her cheek . I’ve looked into sleep associations and independent sleep and I broke the feed to sleep association and rocking and do bedside comforting instead for most wakes which has now lead to my hand being a sleep association on her face . I’m just so exhausted my husband is working mon-fri 9-9 and it’s just me . I haven’t had more than 4 hours in a row since her birth . I can’t get anything done during the day . She is so clingy and cries if I leave room /put her down etc. I love her so much but we both need rest . If anyone has any tips or a routine that could help PLEASE tell me I’ll try anything 🥲❤️❤️

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