would you set an alarm at night

honey23

So DS usually goes down between 7 & 8 depending on when he ate last and we get up at 5am, so thats9-10 hrs.  I don't want to go that long without nursing so I don't take a hit to my supply, and he usually wakes up at around 3 to eat most nights.  If he eats at 3 he doesn't nurse very good at 5 (or even 6) before work, so for a couple nights I set an alarm at 2 to get up and feed him.  I don't change his diaper or anything so he just nurses (usually a full feeding) and I can put him right back down after burping and we're both off back to sleep for the rest of the night.  Do any of you nurse your 2-4mo old once during the night?

tokenhoser

I nurse my 8 month old twice overnight... but he's just a terrible sleeper.

If I was you, I'd feed the baby before you go to bed (I'm guessing that's 10 pm ish) and ditch the alarm.

bumpuser2505903

If there aren't any weight issues, I'd ditch the alarm too. Enjoy your rest. My eight month old rarely sleeps that long, I'm sort of jealous!

jlsimon56

OH, my LO used to be like that!  The good old days.

I pumped at 5 instead of trying to nurse then.  I also pumped before I went to bed (I still do that).   

Some babies respond really well to being woken up to eat.  Called a Dreamfeed.  My LO was sleeeeepy and didn't eat well at all.  So that didn't work for us. 

bellelamb

I'd pump before you go to bed and then again in the morning but I wouldn't wake up on purpose at night. This coming from a momma who still gets up once a night with her 15month old because he won't sleep all night. I'm just praying he starts sleeping all night before this lo is born.

rodiesmum

FWIW my 18 month old child still nurses twice at night. Anyway, back then when my LO was STTN already, i set an alarm every after five hours so that i could pump and build a stash

kat81again2

at that age I nursed once per night. don't worry, waking 3-4x a night started up again after another month or two! haha.

If you're worried about your supply, you could pump one side while you nurse the other, at the natural time that you child wakes (e.g. 5am) I do not think there is any point to waking your baby (and yourself!) in the middle of the night, unless your child is having trouble gaining weight. 

honey23

we're not having any weight gaining problems (have been averaging 3# per month!!!) so I'll just let him go and try and do a dream feed before I go to bed at 9 or 10, it seems he wakes up at 3 or sometimes 2 (it seems to always be at the top of the hour almost always onthe dot so that's kinda of weird, but anywho...) and maybe I'll get random longer spells, I don't mind it too much cause he's such a fast eater and done in like 5 min with 5 min of burping, I'm usually back in bed in 15-20 min and he goes down so early, sometimes earlier like 6 because he doesn't nap well at the sitter's it's nice to have a little cuddle time....