how did you split nighttime feedings?

sweetsugarmama

If your DH helped I mean.

Did you do shifts? each took a baby? rotated nights? I know it will be trial and error but I'm wondering what worked best for you Moms. I'm hoping to breast feed but never got milk in with DD so who knows. How much did bf affect how you handled things? 

blondek8

We both got up to feed them. Shifts didn't work for us. I can count on 1 hand how many times I fed them alone during the night. H got up everytime. 

jcath

My dh only got a week off from work so the first week we both got up -or never went to sleep who knows

Once he went back to work I would feed them around 8 and go to bed, he would do the 11-12 ish feeding and go to sleep and I'd do the night feedings.  It worked b/c I would get at least 8 p.m. to 2 or 3 a.m. of sleep.

Once I went back to work at 4 mos we just switched off nights.

I wouldn't handle them separately - you really want them doing the same things at night.  I'm a big believer in one up both up at night. We fed them in their RnPs with the bottle propped in the middle of the night so it was easy enough to do it with one person.

cookiemonster03

We tried shifts and it didn't work for us. We both got up, every time, and each took a baby. In the beginning it was a 45 min ordeal (change, feed, burp, keep upright for a while...) but by 3 mo only took 15 minutes.

OrangeSmoke

jcath:

My dh only got a week off from work so the first week we both got up -or never went to sleep who knows

Once he went back to work I would feed them around 8 and go to bed, he would do the 11-12 ish feeding and go to sleep and I'd do the night feedings.  It worked b/c I would get at least 8 p.m. to 2 or 3 a.m. of sleep.

Once I went back to work at 4 mos we just switched off nights.

I wouldn't handle them separately - you really want them doing the same things at night.  I'm a big believer in one up both up at night. We fed them in their RnPs with the bottle propped in the middle of the night so it was easy enough to do it with one person.

This for us too.  Shifts saved us.  Both of us really needed that solid block of sleep so we can function the next day.

 

candasmom

We did shifts too. We did bottles of pumped milk at night because it was quicker than BFing and easier to ensure that they were getting enough to eat. I would go to bed around 9, I'd pump before bed. My husband would handle them until about 12:30 or 1 am, he'd do a midnight feeding and then wake me up so I could pump when he went to bed. Then I handled any other feedings until morning, I gave bottles and then pumped afterwards.

MrsLnt

We did shifts during the week and both up on the weekends. We both did the 11pm dreamfeed together, then I'd get up and do the 2:30a feeding, and he'd get the 6a feeding. We EFF so it was as simple as warming bottles. After several weeks of the shift system, I did have DH get up to help change diapers before the feeding because it was just taking me too long on my own. It's not like he slept soundly through me being up and about with the babies, anyway. 

cocojack10

BTW - my babies were bottle fed.

DH is a night owl, so I'd go to sleep as soon as possible after babies were down (usually @ 10pm for me), and he'd handle the next feeding (usually at midnight).  That gave me some time of uninterrupted sleep.  and I'd handle the 3am feeding, so that gave him some uninterrupted sleep too (in theory).

Since babies' feeding schedule was 1/2 hr apart, gave me time to change, feed one, burp and put to sleep (or swing), then start with second baby.  The process took betweein 45min-75min from start to finish.  At about 6-8wks, I got brave and started tandum feeding (i'd prop them facing me on a pillow between my legs and I'd hold both bottles - stop to burp and continue).  This saved a bunch of time, but dind't feel comfortable doing it the first few wks.

jxd215

We took shifts. I BFed, but had to supplement with formula, so that made things extra fun. For most feedings during the day (last one around 10 pm), I would tandem BF first, then we would each give a baby a bottle. The 1 am feeding was formula only, DH would do that solo and wake me up just to pump for 15 min. For the 4 am feeding, I would BF, then wake up DH and we'd give bottles together. I did the 7 am feeding solo (BF and bottles).

Doing shifts saved our sanity, although luckily they were STTN before I went back to work full time at 5 months. We were also lucky in that my parents are earlybirds and live nearby, and once or twice a week they would come over around 7:30 am to help with the morning feeding and then watch the babies while I got a little more sleep.

McGibbon51311

Breast feeding definitely affects how we do night feedings. I started out with a very low supply so it was essential I was up for as many feedings as possible to help increase my supply. Shifts don't work for us either. Both DH and I get up to feed because one is breast fed and the other gets a bottle. I suppose shifts would work if both got bottles, or DH could sleep if they were both breast fed at the same time. He was able to let me sleep through some of the feedings when the boys first came home and I really needed the sleep which was nice. 

kafunder

blondek8:

We both got up to feed them. Shifts didn't work for us. I can count on 1 hand how many times I fed them alone during the night. H got up everytime. 

Same here. I think DH got up and did more feedings alone (maybe 3x) than I did. 

Mrs_MBed

I'm EBF, so there are no shifts.  Its all me.  Plus DH is in med school, so I handle all child-related things. 

Eriksgal

shifts-it worked very well.

PolarBerry

We bottle fed, and we did shifts.  One of us would take all feeds until 2am, and then the other one would take all feeds after 2am.  We ended up sleeping separately because when it was finally my chance to get an uninterrupted stretch, i didn't even want to hear them cry... I needed the sleep, so I would sleep in our room with the fan blasting to drown out all noises.  The other one would sleep in the guest bedroom next to the nursery with the monitors.  We would switch off who got the first vs. second shift too, to be fair.

That was our schedule when I was back at work.  Before I went back to work, DH would always do the first shift until about 1am... and I was responsible for anything after 1am.  

macchiatto

We split the night shift evenly. Our boys were up a LOT in between nighttime feedings the first 4 months so if we had both gotten up every time, neither of us would've gotten any sleep! When it was our turn, we usually fed them one at a time (one right after the other) b/c if we woke the other up (like we did during the day) they tended to get too worked up and it was then harder to get them back to sleep.

MagPie08

We did shifts, and it worked well for us. We bottle fed (but I still had to pump). 

I would literally go to bed at 7pm. DH took over until 11 or so. And I would take over from there. I found that as long as I got a 4 hour stretch of sleep somewhere, I was good to go. 

I should mention my kids were pretty easy newborns; we did feedings in the boppies, burped, changed, and they'd go right back down.  

Dustilou

We both get up..well I wake up first and then I wake up the H. We do the same thing each time: Change, feed, burp and then back to sleep. They have started to do longer stretches, but stay on schedule for the most part. We feed at 8 and then again at 11, they sleep until about 2:45-3am. Then they wake for their morning feeding and change at about 6:30-7am. Sometimes our dd will sleep longer than our ds, but we wake her so they stay together. The whole thing takes about 30 to 45 minutes, but we get some blocks of rest.

As for BF I usually rotate babies at each feeding, but if he or she is still hungry I give the baby 2 oz of formula.

my supply is lowish sometimes so I play it safe. Good Luck!

politelypink

DH and I have our nighttime routine down to a science. When one starts to fuss, I grab the bottles and start to pump. We both feed them, and who ever is done first starts burping and changing. We can usually get them both fed, changed and back to sleep in a half hour if we are both awake enough and on the ball.

besu-chan

When I was EBF, my mom and DH took shifts and I got up for every feed for the first 4 weeks or so. My mom went to bed at 7pm and DH would help me with all the feedings (I just nursed, he did everything else- getting them up, changing, getting them back down) and sleep with the monitor out on the couch until midnight, then he gave the monitor to my mom and switched places with her (they slept in the guest bedroom for their sleeping time and I nursed/slept in our bedroom). That worked out great for them, although I was so tired I was dilusional (literally) because they were eating every 1.5 hours and it took them about 45 minutes to nurse! We couldn't have done it without my mom there overnight.

After the first 4 weeks (still EBF) things settled down a bit and my mom left. Then we both slept in our room with the monitor but DH responded to all cries until about 11pm and I responded to all cries after that. For feedings, I would get up with them and feed them, then called DH on his cell phone by the bed and he would help change them and get them back down so that they didn't get worked up. So he got up for every feeding but only the end.

Now we are moving to FF only at night. Girls go down for the night at around 7:30, I scarf down dinner and try to get to bed by 8-8:30. DH does the 11-ish feeding with a friend who comes over to help, then brings the monitor to me and he goes to bed. I respond to all cries and get him up whenever it's time to eat (usually 2-3am these days). We tried having us do night feedings alone but we don't want to use bottle props and it seems to go faster/girls wake up less if we each feed one and get them back down.