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Currently, my husband is a stay at home dad and I get pretty exhausted with working and being up all night breast feeding our son. We have talked about him getting up one time and giving a bottle so I can get a little more sleep. Do any of you do this? I’m curious to know what your arrangements are. -- Julie, StrongMoms Facilitator
Oh if only i got any real help with Hazel.. that would be a dream. In theory having your husband doing a night feeding would be awesome, but will you be able to actually get him out of bed to do that? I know some dads are good about taking their share of the child duties, but as for my fiance I can't name a single time he has gotten up with our daughter in the middle of the night for any reason. I really hope for your sake that he can do a night feeding for you, i know it can be exhausting doing it all on your own. You will never know until you try.
Yes, he should most definitely do this! My husband works and I am the Stay at Home Mom, so it doesn't happen for us, but I sure wish I could give away a middle of the night time feeding! I think that your husband should get up and take the 3 am feeding! Good luck!
I think he might be willing to give it a try - I'll have to see how it goes! He's already gets up to get the baby and change his diaper before I nurse him...wouldn't be too much more to feed and bottle and put our little man back to bed once. I'll keep you posted!
My wife handles most of the duties, especially while she is on maternity leave. What I do is give her a night off now and then on the weekends. She can sleep in and I do overnight with the baby. It's amazing how much one good night's sleep can do to recharge her batteries. The only downside is I don't like feeding baby in bed, so I sleep him in downstairs and sleep on the couch. I try to do this for my wife at least once a month. It's not much, but it really helps her... and us!
When babies are needing every three or four hour feeds as a nurse, I usually suggest to families that mom and dad alternate feedings at night so that they can each get a good chunk of sleep t some point in 24 hours. So if baby eats at 8-11-2-5, then i typically suggest that one takes the 11 & 5 am feeding and the other takes the 2 am. That way one parent can sleep from 11:30-5:00, and the other can either go to bed early or sleep in. It seems to really help a lot to get a good 5 hours of sleep in a row.
-Jess
Oh i never could do that Jess.. When Hazel was little i did every feeding except one bottle in the evening. that was her bonding time with dad since he works all day. I do agree that whichever parent says at home should get the brunt of the baby duty, but that parent also has a lot to do during the day while taking care of a child who is entirely dependent on them. (ever hear the song MR. Mom by Lonestar ) Even though you can sit down and take a brake at home you can't fall asleep while there is a toddler running around. and any stay at home parent know that nap time is really the only time that you can make good progress on housework. It isn't always easy when you have only had a few hours of sleep or very poor sleep because you were on the couch all night with a screaming baby.
In my opinion being a parent goes both ways and both parents need to realize and respect the others position in the household, then take their share of the responsibility for the sake of their partner. In our house i do EVERYTHING except make the money. My fiance is a contractor and works with very dangerous tools like saws and nail guns so for his safety and the continuation of our little family i take all night time responsibility. We don't need him having a work accident due to being sleepy. This is why i don't get any help even though sometimes i desperately need it. anyway each family has their own situation, but just because you work doesn't exclude you from helping your husband or wife with baby duties at night. Both parents need their sleep. (This isn't directed at any one person by the way)
Well, it was sort of a no-go anyway. My little man was NOT happy about a bottle versus nursing from me. It took my husband over 45 minutes to get him to go back to sleep, at which point I was awake anyway...a lot easier for me to just nurse him in 10 minutes and put him back in his crib. Oh well! :-p