Questions, questions, so many questions

1. Dreamfeeds: Currently we give a bottle of EBM at 10pm each night. The girls then sleep through to 7-8am. Happy Days!
At the moment they are guzzling 240mls each at this feed and could go for more.

Those of you that dreamfeed, do you give your baby as much as they want or gauge it based on how long they sleep?

2. Milk Supply: For the last few weeks the girls have been falling asleep on the boobie. Each feed lasting about 20-30 mins. I never offer the boob again after burping but they are always happy.
In the last week they've only been sleeping for 45mins segments during the day and are hungry every 2 hours. I thought this was a growth spurt (they're 3 months old adjusted) but how long do they last for??

Also, I used to be able to express ~150mls off each boob at 11pm after the dreamfeed, this would be used the next night, now I'm lucky to get 150 - 200mls in total.

I think all this has started happening since they started sleeping through the night. I've started taking Milk-flow and Fennegruk and this has improved things a bit but I'm not quite back up to where I want to be.
I've started expressing in the mornings as well and for the next few days am going to try and express after each feed to try and increase supply again.

I'm reaching the end of the supply that was in the freezer so if things don't improve next week it's either hello formula or bye-bye dreamfeed and back to demand feeding through the night.

Is it common for milk supply to reduce once babies start sleeping through the night?

3. Formula: Regardless of what I decide to do about the night feeds, I've got a 2 day course in a few weekends time and now that the mountain of EBM that was in the freezer is now gone, we're most likely going to have to use formula for these day feeds.
(I would need 2 litres of milk to cover each day! )

The girls both have reflux which is controlled if I stay away from dairy and wheat.
Having said that should we stay away from dairy formulas?
My knowledge of the different types of formulas is zilch.

Thank you for your patience and any suggestions/comments are appreciated


Edited by tishy

The more you feed in the wee small hours the more milk you produce the next day, something to do with hormones, so this is probably why your supply has lessened. Knowing how wonderful it is to have a baby sleeping through I'd say keep up the dream feed and try other methods to increase your milk supply. The fenugreek should help, drink heaps of water, try pumping for 5-10 mins after each breast feed during the day. Also I always found I could express more when Michaela was latched on, have you considered BFing one of the girls during the dream feed and pumping the other side while you're feeding meanwhile DH can give the other girl EBM.

RE: formula I'd definitely stick with a dairy free/wheat free one. Check out www.mfd.co.nz under the dairy free tab to find out which formulas are ok. If you can buy the wee satchets to try out a few different types, I know the goats milk formula used to come in wee satchets.

eta: sounds like your doing better with 2 than I was with just 1 at the same age - well done

Edited by MrsMojo

Wow, lots of questions, but well done you still having them on 100% breastmilk/EBM at 3+ months! That's a hell of an effort with twins!

Yes, your supply will drop if you're not feeding/expressing during the night. You could try getting up during the night to express, but why would you want to if you don't have to lol? That would increase your supply but decrease your sleep!

If you're OK with giving them formula, you can mix formula and EBM as long as it's at the same temperature (ie. both from the fridge or at room temp), so you could still use what EBM you are able to get and top it up with formula.

I'd say talk to your doc or specialist before introducing a dairy based formula if they are sensitive to it in your breastmilk, you might be better to try either Karicare HA or one of the prescription formulas, your doc will be able to give you more advice on that.

As for how much at the dream feed, mine never took more than 150ml, but I always gave them as much as they would take so if your girls are happy to take 240ml then yay! I probably wouldn't give them more than that tho coz they might get a tummy ache!

The 45 min sleep thing could be age related rather than hunger related, babies have 45 min sleep cycles and as they get older they sometimes stir after one sleep cycle so you think they are ready to get up, but in fact if you leave them they will resettle and sleep another 45 mins or so. Sometimes they need help resettling. Things I found helped with the gremlins was closing their curtains so their room was dark, and introducing a sleeping bag as a sleep cue, altho they were a bit older than your girls then, at 3 mths I was still swaddling them.

Maya wrote: If you're OK with giving them formula, you can mix formula and EBM as long as it's at the same temperature (ie. both from the fridge or at room temp), so you could still use what EBM you are able to get and top it up with formula. .

Ah I knew there was another question I wanted to ask!!

I'm fine with giving formula, however at the moment the prospect of getting up for 30 mins to express in the middle of the night seems like a lot less hassle than experimenting with which formula will result in a screaming baby, or worse babies.

Also DH used to get up for the night feeds as well so I don't think he's too keen on having to go through that again anytime soon

I think we're gonna pull the dream feed forward to 9pm and then I'll express sometime during the night as well.
Hopefully this will solve the problem of babies falling asleep at the boobie during the day as well.
I can't believe I'd actually be happy with engorged boobies again!

I'll have a look at the websites as well to see about the formulas.

emz -How did you wean Jack off the dreamfeed? Did you reduce the feed? Change the time or just stop doing it?

Grrr! I just lost my reply!

I agree with Emz, you are a total star!

I kept the gremlins dream feed up till about 10 months but that was mostly coz they were so snuggly and cuddly and sleepy then. When we did stop it we just quit cold turkey.

I can so remember the night expressing tho, man there is some crap on the TV in the early hours of the morning!

wow you are doing soooooooooo awesome!!!
my boys have had dairy intolerance. I know many babies/mums have had success with soy/goats milk formula. We didn't. and it was a LONG process to get the subsidy number for the Neocate. IT also tastes pretty yucky, but I think it's worth getting onto that now to get the process started, then hopefully you'll be able to 'mix' 1/2 of each to start with and get them used to the taste.
you have to get the subsidy through a paediatrician the GP can't do it.
All the best! you're definitely MY HERO! :)
oh and I agree with Maya- my boys both did the waking at 45mins at about that age, I worked REALLY hard on resettling (patting /shusshing) to get them back to sleep ... it did take a while and probalby about 3/4days of doing the consistent approach but then they would start sleeping longer again. My sister used the pushchair through this time (during day naps) and would just 'rock' / push until her boy resettled, (then she didn't have to put him down after holding etc).

Well I got up to express last night We'll see how long that lasts. And if it does improve the supply during the day. Hopefully it will, otherwise I'm back to getting beauty sleep. We still fed at 10 last night as DH was on the phone to home, but the girls played nice this morning and didn't wake until 8am! yayy.

We are going to give them some formula at the weekend though to see how they react.

Eimear was sooo cuddly last night at the dreamfeed. DH had to pry her out of my arms


Sometimes I head to the shopping centre with the girls so that I can stretch out a nap. And a good reason to get some lunch out too
Eimear is the main culprit for the catnapping and just wakes Aoife up as she stirs at that 45minute cycle.

I've tried the shushing thing but didn't seem to work , but I know I don't do it long enough. Patience is not something I have much of

I have no answers for your questions but OMG you are amazing.