Formula feeding at night only

I’m 12 days PP… and I’m EBF during the day, but at night I BF for a little then my husband tops her off with formula because I’m too exhausted to stay awake and BF 😩 I noticed that when I pump at night I get about an ounce and a half less than I do during the day… also I notice that once I start breast feeding at night, my baby cries like if it’s not coming out as much? So I give her formula …. But again this is when it starts to become night time… It’s as if my body produces enough milk during the day and not enough at night… I heard it was a supply and demand thing, so could it be possible that my body “shuts down the milk production factory” at night time because it knows I don’t work it as much at night like I do during the day? I was always worried that if I skipped night feedings my supply would decrease even during the day… Anybody with some experience/ insight on breast feeding during the day only? And topping off or mostly just formula feeding all together at night ? 😩 I’m new to breast feeding… I formula fed my first born… Thanks in advance moms!

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Generally speaking your body is likely to produce less at night because or I should say if you are exhausted. Try to get more rest during the day. Your supply won’t be established yet so the inclusion of formula will not be helping in the long run if you want to EBF My advice would be to 1. Get more rest, make sure you’re nourishing yourself and staying hydrated 2. Learn how to hand express. Super simple of you look up the Thompson’s method hand express, start doing this in the evening after you have offered the breast and baby has rejected. Hope this helps xxx

Can I formula feed / and breastfeed at night or would that affect my daytime supply? I’d love it if at night my husband can formula feed at least for 2 feedings at night to help me sleep… however will that mess up my supply? I’d like to breast feed all day… but at night I’d like to sleep a little more but idk if that’s going to effect my supply during the day 😫

@Judith breast milk works on supply and demand. It’s a real intricate balance between mum and baby. Cluster feeding increases demand and therefore increases supply for growth spurts, for instance. Your body will only produce what it thinks your baby needs over a 24hr period. It is likely your supply will not meet babies needs if it is receiving supply elsewhere. So I would say from my knowledge that it will impact your daily supply. I may be proven wrong though. You can try to pump or hand express more either after feeds or during one of the bottle feeds etc to simulate that demand for supply purposes. But I don’t believe doing nothing will work Hope this helps x

I actually bottle-feed before bed. I find she gets a longer sleep strectch. Then bottle again when she wakes up at 2:00am. Then her morning wake at 5:30am I will breastfeed. Then during the day we breastfed or supplement with formula as needed. My supply is still good and produces what she needs. I believe this is because she is on the breast so much during the day. Honestly! I find I produced the most when I was less stress. This combo worked for me, and allowed my mom and husband to help with feedings more. Hope this helps!

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