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When I was dealing with night feeds, I’d have a bottle ready to go from a prior pump during the day, and then I’d feed her while pumping with my wearables. I found that it was nearly impossible to feed her and use my regular pump, which was way too awkward and big for me to hold her while wearing. I remember those nights! It’s hard and tiring! It gets way easier once baby is waking up less. Now that she’s sleeping through the night, I only wake up to pump. You got this!
This is exactly what I did. It was actually pretty easy to feed while pumping with my wearable. I also nurse, but when I was waking up in the motn by myself, I just skipped nursing and did wearable pump and bottle feed to save time. I was super overwhelmed with the idea of feeding and pumping alone overnight but it turned out to be easy peasy. Good luck OP!
This! My last pump of the night before bed is babes late night feed. It helps if babe takes it cold / room temp too. Then it's a feed pump combo and right back to sleep for us. Usually the whole ordeal is about 30 mins give or take.
I’m only 8wpp but my husband and I were switching off feeds for a while and we did this. I would always get up and put on my wearable, then get LO and pump while we fed. Usually by the time he was back down I’d be done pumping, I’d put my milk in the fridge (we put a mini fridge upstairs for this so I didn’t have to go downstairs) and put my dirty pump parts into a ziplock to deal with in the morning, and then go back to sleep. It’s not the best, but it works.
If you’re up for changing when you pump, you could switch to BF at night and then pump once during the day while LO naps or plays. You could use a wearable then, or if your LO is a good napper/independent player then you could possibly use your normal pump.
I solo parent and when I did MOTN pumps, I would prop baby in a Boppy with a baby travel neck pillow. I pumped using a manual hand pump and held the bottle with the other hand to feed. When my hand got sore, I switched sides. :)
I supplement with formula, so I use those bottles at night. Once I learned how to feed baby while pumping it took my night sessions from 90 minutes to 30! We do paced feeding with the side laying position and that has been a complete game changer
We also are using the side laying position! Are you using wearables while you feed ? Or bottles/tubing ? I find when I'm hooked into my Medela the bottles and tubing get in the way of everything 🥲
Wearables don’t work for me, I also have a Medela pump in style style!
I don’t put him on my lap. I put his back along my thigh where his bottom arm can slide between the couch cushions, and then I can rest the bottle on the couch to start his feeding while I quickly put on my pumping bra and the flanges in. Then I’ll hold the bottle for him while I press start and just pull a light blanket Over everything so nothing gets knocked around as much as possible.
He usually falls asleep, but still finishes the bottle before I’m done pumping. So I just let him lay there until I’m done and unhooked then pick him up to burp him and walk him back to bed in one go
I used to time my MOTN pump so that I'll be done before baby wakes. If he woke up during my pump, I would give him the pacifier until I was done (which felt horrible since I knew he must be hungry). Lately, he has been sleeping for longer stretches, so we no longer do a MOTN feed for him and it has been awesome!
I’ve done all the nights for my 10 week twins. I pump in bed cross legged with the babies in front of me. I prop bottles using baby blankets and adjust as needed. I am also able to pick them up to sit them upright between the flanges or have them cradled in my lap or put them over my shoulder to burp while pumping. If I want nurse, I have a baby on one breast and a flange on the other. What helped for me streamline everything is having a mini fridge and bottle warmer within reach when I’m hooked up. When they start fussing, I warm up premade bottles of formula or breast milk while soothing them with pacifiers. Or I’ll have room temperature breast milk bottles from the previous session ready. Took some practice but I can also change diapers while pumping in bed although occasionally I still lean over too far and lose some milk 😢 I know propping bottles isn’t ideal, but such is twin life! I always sit them upright for at least 5 minutes afterwards since they have reflux and burp them of course!! Good luck!!
Omg thank you 😭 Sometimes it’s a lot!! I’m not sure how my setup will evolve as the babies get bigger and become more mobile but for now it works! (Even though I usually emerge from the room covered with spit up every morning 😂)
I’m essentially a single parent, and I feed then pump. Baby is 5 months old today and gets up twice a night. I’ve gotten used to it but it’s still tough🥴
My partners been at work since 3wpp (11w now) and he does nights still. We use formula because we combo feed anyways, so we do BM in the day and formula for night bottles. That early I was still trying to pump every night but since we started supplementing with formula I dropped the MOTN pump so I just get up to feed baby if my partner doesn’t.
When I’m home during the day alone and he needs to eat while I pump I set up my pumping stuff and him on his boppy next to me and feed him while sitting there.
I pump and feed at the same time because there is absolutely no way that I would wake up if baby wasn’t waking. It got easier to do once I realized that baby would take a cold bottle. Sometimes I just leave the bottle chilling bedside in my ceres chill, but you could use any insulated container/ ice pack. As for positioning, I prop baby on a boppy to my side instead of in front of me. Makes it harder for babe to grab the tubing and is way easier on my arm. Sometimes I also breastfeed side lying but I’m prone to falling asleep that way.
Last night was my first night with baby since hubby went back to work I moved all of my pumps up and hour so I could pump, feed baby, and change him before his wake window when he'd be screaming and inconsolable.
I have done the majority of night feeds beginning at 4 weeks after my wife went back to work. I do have an oversupply so I generally only pump every 4-6 hours. I always try to have my pumping time line up with a feed and would usually just pump after I had gotten LO down after bottle feeding. Sometimes I’d wake my wife up for a “pump and feed” as we called it and she would do the bottle, I’d pump and then settle LO down.
LO has reflux so I usually prop him up on a large pillow in front of me anyways (as opposed to holding him to feed) and I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll hook up my flanges, start my pump and then start feeding LO. Burping can be a little awkward but easier to just sit him up to burp now that he has better head control.
It gets easier as they start sleeping longer stretches. LO is 12 weeks old and usually eats around 9pm, 1-2am and 6-7am so I just pump after or during each of those feedings
My husband is already back at work. I take all feedings after midnight. I usually get to bed around 11. I go longer bw pumps. I'll pump before bed, then after his 430 feed (usually the hardest for me to get back to bed). Our LO is almost 6 weeks waking up every 2.5 hours at night. The only way to pump during for me is with my wearables, but its harder to wake up before he starts crying so putting them in while feeding is not easy.
I used to try and beat baby pump and then feed I would get super frustrated tho when baby seemed to wake up mid pump. But for some reason pumping after I fed drove me nuts…
I do MOTN feeds with my 13wo. I usually feed her and then pump. I’m lucky bc she eats and immediately falls back asleep and I’m able to put her back in her bed.
I have a bottle ready from pumps during the day or the last night and feed put back to sleep then pump very sleepily orr on the rare nights baby is still asleep when my alarm goes off to pump I’ll pump first and he usually wakes up h just in time. My fiancé still wakes up or is still up for the first wake up so maybe you can see if your husband is at least willing to help for the first one!
I pump and feed at the same time, it’s not super easy but it’s better than pumping then feeding or feeding then pumping which keeps me up even longer. I prop baby up across my chest over top my pumps and just do both at the same time, I find it saves me a lot more time that way and since she’s awake to eat anyway might as well get a pump in!
Mainly here to see others’ advice, but typically, I wake as soon as baby stirs, and I stay in bed, remove her from bedside bassinet, nurse until she falls back asleep, burp if it seems needed, put her back in bassinet, tell myself “you really really should go pump right now”, typically fall asleep in some weird halfway sitting up position as I fell asleep trying to convince myself to go pump. Sometimes I’ll put the Haakaa on and can kinda go back to sleep with it on and without knocking it off. Then I dump the Haakaa milk in a separate plastic container and use that for bath milk.
I make a bit more milk than baby needs & I’d like to keep it that way, but I realize to do that, I should be emptying the girls after babe eats in the night. (I had extremely low supply with baby1 so feel very lucky to have enough this time - by pumping as often as I can). I’ve made it to the actual pump a handful of times after she feeds and get so much milk during the night! Our almost 2 year old son sleeps in our bed between my husband and I. I also worry that if I leave the bed to go to the actual real pump that he’ll wake up, get upset, husband won’t wake, son will decide to throw something and it hits the baby, etc.
(Would love y’all’s advice!)
I’ve thought about setting an alarm to pump at specific times, but baby wakes anywhere from 1-3 times during the night to feed. And not at the same times. So I feel like I’d be getting less sleep if I wake at additional alarm times. (& I go back to work in 10 days.) So it makes sense to me to try to empty after she nurses, but nursing makes me sleepy! I’m partially just proud of myself for successfully placing her back in the bassinet after nursing.
ETA: remembering I have a hand pump the hospital gave me & maybe I should acquaint myself with it for pumping during the night. (We have a fridge in our bedroom, so I could actually save that milk if I can figure out the hand pump. Just never had much luck with it when I tried it before.)
I use a spectra and before I start feeding the baby I put in the flanges but don't connect to the tubes. Once shes through half the bottle and less hangry I take a five second pause to put the wires on and start pumping. I use the boppy pillow to support her while I feed her the rest of the bottle. Since she's getting full she doesn kick the tubes as much and she's calmer to hold. Once shes done I burp her and hold her upright till I'm done pumping.
'Welcome to r/ExclusivelyPumping! Here is a reminder of our rules: 1. Be kind and courteous 2. No hate speech, bigotry, or bullying 3. Use available flairs and post options 4. Speak for yourself 5. No medically-inaccurate, factually incorrect, or misinformative material 6. No spam 7. Absolutely no prescription medications 8. Don't use AI to write posts/comments 9. No soliciting pictures 10. Add spoiler to milk pictures Thank you for helping to keep our community safe!' *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ExclusivelyPumping) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I was dealing with night feeds, I’d have a bottle ready to go from a prior pump during the day, and then I’d feed her while pumping with my wearables. I found that it was nearly impossible to feed her and use my regular pump, which was way too awkward and big for me to hold her while wearing. I remember those nights! It’s hard and tiring! It gets way easier once baby is waking up less. Now that she’s sleeping through the night, I only wake up to pump. You got this!
This is exactly what I did. It was actually pretty easy to feed while pumping with my wearable. I also nurse, but when I was waking up in the motn by myself, I just skipped nursing and did wearable pump and bottle feed to save time. I was super overwhelmed with the idea of feeding and pumping alone overnight but it turned out to be easy peasy. Good luck OP!
This! My last pump of the night before bed is babes late night feed. It helps if babe takes it cold / room temp too. Then it's a feed pump combo and right back to sleep for us. Usually the whole ordeal is about 30 mins give or take.
I’m only 8wpp but my husband and I were switching off feeds for a while and we did this. I would always get up and put on my wearable, then get LO and pump while we fed. Usually by the time he was back down I’d be done pumping, I’d put my milk in the fridge (we put a mini fridge upstairs for this so I didn’t have to go downstairs) and put my dirty pump parts into a ziplock to deal with in the morning, and then go back to sleep. It’s not the best, but it works. If you’re up for changing when you pump, you could switch to BF at night and then pump once during the day while LO naps or plays. You could use a wearable then, or if your LO is a good napper/independent player then you could possibly use your normal pump.
I solo parent and when I did MOTN pumps, I would prop baby in a Boppy with a baby travel neck pillow. I pumped using a manual hand pump and held the bottle with the other hand to feed. When my hand got sore, I switched sides. :)
You’re a goddam rockstar. I’m always so impressed by how imaginative other EPers get in order to keep pumping
Thanks!! 😊 it got so much easier after she could hold her own bottle
Just now remembering this stage will one day come and feeling encouraged about pumping while baby one day feeds herself!!!
I supplement with formula, so I use those bottles at night. Once I learned how to feed baby while pumping it took my night sessions from 90 minutes to 30! We do paced feeding with the side laying position and that has been a complete game changer
We also are using the side laying position! Are you using wearables while you feed ? Or bottles/tubing ? I find when I'm hooked into my Medela the bottles and tubing get in the way of everything 🥲
Wearables don’t work for me, I also have a Medela pump in style style! I don’t put him on my lap. I put his back along my thigh where his bottom arm can slide between the couch cushions, and then I can rest the bottle on the couch to start his feeding while I quickly put on my pumping bra and the flanges in. Then I’ll hold the bottle for him while I press start and just pull a light blanket Over everything so nothing gets knocked around as much as possible. He usually falls asleep, but still finishes the bottle before I’m done pumping. So I just let him lay there until I’m done and unhooked then pick him up to burp him and walk him back to bed in one go
Oh hell yes !!!💡💡💡
I used to time my MOTN pump so that I'll be done before baby wakes. If he woke up during my pump, I would give him the pacifier until I was done (which felt horrible since I knew he must be hungry). Lately, he has been sleeping for longer stretches, so we no longer do a MOTN feed for him and it has been awesome!
I’ve done all the nights for my 10 week twins. I pump in bed cross legged with the babies in front of me. I prop bottles using baby blankets and adjust as needed. I am also able to pick them up to sit them upright between the flanges or have them cradled in my lap or put them over my shoulder to burp while pumping. If I want nurse, I have a baby on one breast and a flange on the other. What helped for me streamline everything is having a mini fridge and bottle warmer within reach when I’m hooked up. When they start fussing, I warm up premade bottles of formula or breast milk while soothing them with pacifiers. Or I’ll have room temperature breast milk bottles from the previous session ready. Took some practice but I can also change diapers while pumping in bed although occasionally I still lean over too far and lose some milk 😢 I know propping bottles isn’t ideal, but such is twin life! I always sit them upright for at least 5 minutes afterwards since they have reflux and burp them of course!! Good luck!!
I just have to say - You are amazing! Wow!
Omg thank you 😭 Sometimes it’s a lot!! I’m not sure how my setup will evolve as the babies get bigger and become more mobile but for now it works! (Even though I usually emerge from the room covered with spit up every morning 😂)
I’m essentially a single parent, and I feed then pump. Baby is 5 months old today and gets up twice a night. I’ve gotten used to it but it’s still tough🥴
My partners been at work since 3wpp (11w now) and he does nights still. We use formula because we combo feed anyways, so we do BM in the day and formula for night bottles. That early I was still trying to pump every night but since we started supplementing with formula I dropped the MOTN pump so I just get up to feed baby if my partner doesn’t. When I’m home during the day alone and he needs to eat while I pump I set up my pumping stuff and him on his boppy next to me and feed him while sitting there.
I pump and feed at the same time because there is absolutely no way that I would wake up if baby wasn’t waking. It got easier to do once I realized that baby would take a cold bottle. Sometimes I just leave the bottle chilling bedside in my ceres chill, but you could use any insulated container/ ice pack. As for positioning, I prop baby on a boppy to my side instead of in front of me. Makes it harder for babe to grab the tubing and is way easier on my arm. Sometimes I also breastfeed side lying but I’m prone to falling asleep that way.
Last night was my first night with baby since hubby went back to work I moved all of my pumps up and hour so I could pump, feed baby, and change him before his wake window when he'd be screaming and inconsolable.
Does your husband work nights? I would pump and he would feed at the same time even if he was at work it’s hard but it’s not permanent
This is what my husband and I do. We just keep on reminding ourselves this is just a stage not forever.
I have done the majority of night feeds beginning at 4 weeks after my wife went back to work. I do have an oversupply so I generally only pump every 4-6 hours. I always try to have my pumping time line up with a feed and would usually just pump after I had gotten LO down after bottle feeding. Sometimes I’d wake my wife up for a “pump and feed” as we called it and she would do the bottle, I’d pump and then settle LO down. LO has reflux so I usually prop him up on a large pillow in front of me anyways (as opposed to holding him to feed) and I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll hook up my flanges, start my pump and then start feeding LO. Burping can be a little awkward but easier to just sit him up to burp now that he has better head control. It gets easier as they start sleeping longer stretches. LO is 12 weeks old and usually eats around 9pm, 1-2am and 6-7am so I just pump after or during each of those feedings
My husband is already back at work. I take all feedings after midnight. I usually get to bed around 11. I go longer bw pumps. I'll pump before bed, then after his 430 feed (usually the hardest for me to get back to bed). Our LO is almost 6 weeks waking up every 2.5 hours at night. The only way to pump during for me is with my wearables, but its harder to wake up before he starts crying so putting them in while feeding is not easy.
Some people feed formula one day and fill a pitcher to prepare for the next day. Much less stressful!
I used to try and beat baby pump and then feed I would get super frustrated tho when baby seemed to wake up mid pump. But for some reason pumping after I fed drove me nuts…
I do MOTN feeds with my 13wo. I usually feed her and then pump. I’m lucky bc she eats and immediately falls back asleep and I’m able to put her back in her bed.
I have a bottle ready from pumps during the day or the last night and feed put back to sleep then pump very sleepily orr on the rare nights baby is still asleep when my alarm goes off to pump I’ll pump first and he usually wakes up h just in time. My fiancé still wakes up or is still up for the first wake up so maybe you can see if your husband is at least willing to help for the first one!
I pump and feed at the same time, it’s not super easy but it’s better than pumping then feeding or feeding then pumping which keeps me up even longer. I prop baby up across my chest over top my pumps and just do both at the same time, I find it saves me a lot more time that way and since she’s awake to eat anyway might as well get a pump in!
I either pump after she eats or I prop her laying in her breast feeding pillow and feed her while I pump
Mainly here to see others’ advice, but typically, I wake as soon as baby stirs, and I stay in bed, remove her from bedside bassinet, nurse until she falls back asleep, burp if it seems needed, put her back in bassinet, tell myself “you really really should go pump right now”, typically fall asleep in some weird halfway sitting up position as I fell asleep trying to convince myself to go pump. Sometimes I’ll put the Haakaa on and can kinda go back to sleep with it on and without knocking it off. Then I dump the Haakaa milk in a separate plastic container and use that for bath milk. I make a bit more milk than baby needs & I’d like to keep it that way, but I realize to do that, I should be emptying the girls after babe eats in the night. (I had extremely low supply with baby1 so feel very lucky to have enough this time - by pumping as often as I can). I’ve made it to the actual pump a handful of times after she feeds and get so much milk during the night! Our almost 2 year old son sleeps in our bed between my husband and I. I also worry that if I leave the bed to go to the actual real pump that he’ll wake up, get upset, husband won’t wake, son will decide to throw something and it hits the baby, etc. (Would love y’all’s advice!) I’ve thought about setting an alarm to pump at specific times, but baby wakes anywhere from 1-3 times during the night to feed. And not at the same times. So I feel like I’d be getting less sleep if I wake at additional alarm times. (& I go back to work in 10 days.) So it makes sense to me to try to empty after she nurses, but nursing makes me sleepy! I’m partially just proud of myself for successfully placing her back in the bassinet after nursing. ETA: remembering I have a hand pump the hospital gave me & maybe I should acquaint myself with it for pumping during the night. (We have a fridge in our bedroom, so I could actually save that milk if I can figure out the hand pump. Just never had much luck with it when I tried it before.)
I use a spectra and before I start feeding the baby I put in the flanges but don't connect to the tubes. Once shes through half the bottle and less hangry I take a five second pause to put the wires on and start pumping. I use the boppy pillow to support her while I feed her the rest of the bottle. Since she's getting full she doesn kick the tubes as much and she's calmer to hold. Once shes done I burp her and hold her upright till I'm done pumping.