working moms. Question about night feedings

So as of now I do all of the night feedings. DS "USUALLY" wakes up between 2-3 and then again between 5-6.
I go back to work in a month. Did you ladies share the responsibility of the night feedings with DH since now you both have to go to work???

Just wondering what everyone else does.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

we share it when i work and when i'm on maternity

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Yes, when I went back to work DH helped out a lot. At 3 months Mason had a feeding around 1 AM and then one at 5 - 6 AM. DH took the 3 AM for a while. Around 4 months the 3AM feedings stopped and it was a 5 AM feeding. EIther me or DH took it.

Now, DS is 7.5 months old and he STTN. I get up at 5:50AM and get ready for work... shower, dressed, make-up, pack the car then wake up Mason. Change his diaper, get dressed then goes right in the car. We're at his daycare around7:15AM and he gets a bottle when he gets there.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

When I went back to work Kaydyn was usually only waking once a night. I would do all the weekday night feedings and DH would take one or both weekend night feedings. I functioned much better with less sleep so I ended up doing most of the night feedings.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

we are going to do the every other night thing. I stopped my babywise and decided to make bedtime 8pm-830pm...(since he decided that for me), so then I will be the one to dream feed him since I go to bed earlier (& DH just doesn't know how to do things quietly lol)...then every other night one of us will do his 5am feeding, whoever had the 5am feeding will do his morning bottle (usually 730ish), and the other person will get his stuff ready for daycare.....

KWIM?

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

hey lin!

i'm planning on continuing to BF at night, so looks like I'll be doing all the feedings! if i pump and use a bottle, then i guess steve can do the feeding...

loey is still waking every 3 hours to eat though - so to me there's no real "bedtime" - it just seems like the days run into the nights, KWIM?

we figured this would be approximately when he'd eat if he stays on this every 3 hour schedule...

5am - i'll BF before work
8am - steve will feed (frozen BM or supp with formula)
11am - steve will feed
2pm - steve will feed
5pm - i'll BF
8pm - i'll BF
11pm - i'll BF
2am - either i'll BF, or steve can feed with pumped BM

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

I've been back at work for 2 months, and I can't recall a single time that my DH got up and did the middle of the night feeding.

I ALWAYS did the 2-3 a.m. feeding, and pretty much always got up again at 5 a.m. for the next feeding.

Now DS STTN and on occasion my DH will get him first thing in the morning. We're still trying to work out a routine.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Posted by SweetCaroline

Posted by maybeamommy

hey lin!

i'm planning on continuing to BF at night, so looks like I'll be doing all the feedings! if i pump and use a bottle, then i guess steve can do the feeding...

loey is still waking every 3 hours to eat though - so to me there's no real "bedtime" - it just seems like the days run into the nights, KWIM?

we figured this would be approximately when he'd eat if he stays on this every 3 hour schedule...

5am - i'll BF before work
8am - steve will feed (frozen BM or supp with formula)
11am - steve will feed
2pm - steve will feed
5pm - i'll BF

Holy I give you breastfeeding ladies credit!!!LOL
8pm - i'll BF
11pm - i'll BF
2am - either i'll BF, or steve can feed with pumped BM

Hey Hayley - the only prob with Steve doing the pumped feeding in the middle of the night is that you will probably still have to pump or you'll wake up ready to explode - or it could screw with your supply

OP, I EBF so feedings are all me. It was good fun with Ryan since when I went back to work he was still up 2-3x night until he was 6 months old

I'm hoping Colin is a little better when I go back this time.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Posted by Linda1003

Posted by DPerotti

we are going to do the every other night thing. I stopped my babywise and decided to make bedtime 8pm-830pm...(since he decided that for me), so then I will be the one to dream feed him since I go to bed earlier (& DH just doesn't know how to do things quietly lol)...then every other night one of us will do his 5am feeding, whoever had the 5am feeding will do his morning bottle (usually 730ish), and the other person will get his stuff ready for daycare.....

KWIM?

I know our sons are about a week apart.. so when you say "bedtime" what do you mean? You put him in his crib at that time and then when does he wake again to eat???
I never know when ds will be "done" for the night. His "last bottle" is usually around 7:30 and sometimes he'll fall asleep around 8:30 and not wake until 1:30-2:00 but last night he was up until 11:00!!!

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Posted by DPerotti

Posted by Linda1003

Posted by DPerotti

we are going to do the every other night thing. I stopped my babywise and decided to make bedtime 8pm-830pm...(since he decided that for me), so then I will be the one to dream feed him since I go to bed earlier (& DH just doesn't know how to do things quietly lol)...then every other night one of us will do his 5am feeding, whoever had the 5am feeding will do his morning bottle (usually 730ish), and the other person will get his stuff ready for daycare.....

KWIM?

I know our sons are about a week apart.. so when you say "bedtime" what do you mean? You put him in his crib at that time and then when does he wake again to eat???
I never know when ds will be "done" for the night. His "last bottle" is usually around 7:30 and sometimes he'll fall asleep around 8:30 and not wake until 1:30-2:00 but last night he was up until 11:00!!!

yes, bedtime is 8-830....read to him, play lightly, feed in dark, then placed in bassinet. Then since I know he'd eat again, I dream feed him at 11ish, then he actually wakes to eat between 5-6am. It seems to be working for us. He would be exhausted around 8ish, so we decided to make his "bedtime" then, where as we would feed then let him hang with us in the den until his next feed, whichmost times resulted in a meltdown b/c he was just done for the day. He's always been a good night sleeper though (not so much during the day)

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

While on maternity leave I did it myself during the wee unless they were both going crazy and screaming then I woke DH up. Now that I am back to work we both do it.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

On maternity leave, I would sleep from 8pm-12am and he would take the baby, then i would have the rest of the night while he slept. Once I went back to work (12 weeks), DD#2 was still not sleeping through the night so we alternated nights. She usually woke up around 3-4am, so it wasn't too bad as long as we got into bed early! We continued that schedule until she was about 9 months old and decided to sleep through the night!

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

No, I did all of them. Because DH claimed he didn't HEAR DS, and since I hear and wake up when he screams/cries, it would defeat the purpose to wake DH who is still sleeping? (That was DH's rationale, and not worth a fight to me since DS gave up night feeds at 5 months).

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

I go back a week from today to work. Right now, I feed 5 oz to DS at 11pm. He goes to bed and doesn't wake up until 5am and DH will feed him another 5 oz. He puts him back in the crib and comes back to bed. DS goes back to sleep until at least 7am.

I am hoping he stays on that schedule when I go back to work. The only thing that stinks is that DH travels for work and his next business trip is next week. He'll be gone from Saturday until Saturday so I'll be responsible for all the feedings.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

I don't do nighttime feedings. DH is responsible for getting up- I carried the baby for damn near 10 months. And I have sleep issues so getting up once will keep me up all night.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Posted by nov04libride

No, I did all of them. Because DH claimed he didn't HEAR DS, and since I hear and wake up when he screams/cries, it would defeat the purpose to wake DH who is still sleeping? (That was DH's rationale, and not worth a fight to me since DS gave up night feeds at 5 months).

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

we were praying that DS would STTN before I went back to work at 10 wks, and it worked!

He ate at 7pm and fall asleep within 30 minute of finishing. DH would dreamfeed him at 11/11:30 (right before we went to bed), and then he'd sleep through til 6:30am, when DH's alarm went off. I did the 6:30am feeding, diaper and dress him, then I'd prop him up in the middle of my bed while I got dressed and put my makeup on. He'd fall asleep within minutes. I'd pack the car, load the baby, and go.

When he was about 3.5 mos old he started delaying the 6:30am feed to 7:30, so we moved the dreamfeed to 10:30. Within days he just stopped that early morning feeding altogether.

[I make the bottles at night and stick them in the fridge. When DH leaves for work in the morning (1 hr before me), he carries the bottles and diaper bag out to the car.]

Now DH feeds him between 10-10:30pm, and DS sleeps until I wake him up in the morning to leave for work. He gets his first bottle with the babysitter around 9:30am. This is AWESOME for the weekends - we all sleep til 9:30am!!!

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

When DD was an infant, I used to go to bed between 8-9 and DH would do the 8-midnight shift and then I would do the rest. He leaves the house for work at 5:45am so I wouldn't expect him to do any more.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

we dreamfeed em - so she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night!

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

Well DD was STTN by the time I went back to work (he never did a nighttime feeding except maybe her first week home He says he never heard her)

With DS he'd wake up once around 230 to eat & I'd always do that feeding until he STTN at 12-13 weeks.

Re: working moms. Question about night feedings

On maternity leave I'm on call for all night feedings. On the weekend, DH will take the girls out so I can rest, or I'll go back to sleep when he wakes up so I can get a few more hours sleep if needed.

Yael is STTN so he won't need to step up once I go back to work in a week, but I'll be out of the house by 6am so he'll have to get up with Yael when she wakes up at 7am, and get her and Alex ready for school. And if there ARE any night wakings for any reason, we'll share the responsibility, as we did when I went back to work after Alex was born (she didn't STTN until over a year)...