Bottle for last feed before bed

Sept07b2b

So my LO is 15 weeks old and is EBF.  I have found recently that she gets very frustrated with her last feeding before bedtime (~8 or 8:30).  I understand my supply is at its lowest in the evenings, but I also think it's because she is tired, so she doesn't want to expend the energy to nurse (she's never been one to fall asleep while nursing). 

I returned to work a couple weeks ago, and she's been getting some bottles from the nanny, although she doesn't seem to love the bottle and only consumes about 8 oz while I'm at work and doesn't seem to have any trouble nursing when I get home from work or on the weekends, so I really think she's just tired.  Last night when I knew she was hungry, but she kept pulling off and crying (presumably because she was really tired and not getting a ton of milk), I decided to give her a bottle of expressed milk (3 oz) and she slept through the night (10 hours) for the first time!!! 

So my question is, do you think the bottle has something to do with this or was this a fluke?  Is this a bad practice to start?  Will this make her a lazy nurser in general?  I will pump before going to bed to make-up for the feeding, although I honestly HATE pumping and would really like to avoid pumping at night if at all possible, but if it means my LO STTN, then it's worth it.  Has anyone else done this?  If I don't do a bottle, any suggestions for getting a very tired, but hungry baby to nurse?  TIA!

emilyknelson

DS gets like this at night too.  Probably about 3 nights a week DH rocks him to keep him calm while I pump and bottle feed him before bed.  When I try to BF he gets fussy and doesn't have the patience to wait for milk to come fast.  He still only sleeps 4-5 hour stretch though, so I don't know if it contributed to your baby's sleep, but 10 hours is amazing!!! I would try to replicate it and see if she does it again.  I don't think it's bad practice.  Lots of LC and moms recommend giving LO a bottle a day to get them used to it, maybe it will help her to take one from your nanny.  GL 

harmonicbabe26

I honestly preferred giving K a bottle in the middle of the night when she was still waking up. Getting up to pump and then giving her the bottle when she woke up took me less time than straight BFing and she was less woken up afterwards.

I would think that giving a bottle as the last meal would make the process faster and LO would go to sleep easier. Couple of times when K was super fussy in the evening I gave her a bottle and later after she was put asleep I pumped so as not to lose the milk.

Not sure if that would help with sleeping through the night. Maybe. Maybe because LO expends less energy (calories) that way, they have all the calories from the bottle to take them through the night?

littlev

I have wondered this too because DD slept much better when she was being bottle fed BM, and now she's EBF.  The thing that makes me think a bottle isn't the answer is that there have been occasions where she has had a bottle before bed for one reason or another and not slept any better than she currently does.  It happened once where she had a bottle before bed and she slept 7 hours, but the next night we tried it again and she was up every 2 hours.  Unfortunately if there was a magic trick to get babies to STTN, I think every mom would know about it by now.

blu-eyedwife

I feel like we had the nighttime fussies around that time too.  If you want to give a bottle before bed, then give a bottle before bed.  I don't think it will affect her nursing.  Before I went back to work my DH gave a bottle for his last nighttime feed as part of their bedtime ritual (now that I'm working I nurse him at night).  It never affected our ability to nurse - BUT it also didn't help him sleep any better.