Does your DH/SO ever get up in the night to feed the little one? Or are they happily snoozing away whilst you do it?

Since I breastfed Emma and didn't pump much , he couldn't really take over. He happily snoozed away. It amazed me that he never heard me get up most of the time.

He was never involved, even once I had enough pumped that he could feed her. Even once we switched over to formula, feeding was just "my job".

Sometimes he would on weekends if I asked or if I was sick. But I BF'd Sarah and didn't pump much either. So, mostly I'd get up with her. He always heard me get up, but was usually able to get back to sleep pretty easily. I usually did the night feeds half asleep since I didn't have to do a whole lot of work or thinking to latch her, switch, change her, put her back down. For a while she'd have to be rocked back to sleep, but she figured out how to get back to sleep on her own at about 3-4 months, thankfully.

He kept the couch warm for me until I got back :rolleyes:

He would get up, change Amelia's diaper, bring her to me & then put her back where she was sleeping. He would come back to bed & sleep while I nursed her.

He would get up, change Amelia's diaper, bring her to me & then put her back where she was sleeping. He would come back to bed & sleep while I nursed her.
:nod: It was the same here. I generally didn't have to get out of bed when the babies were little. It changed when they were older and not waking as much - then it was whoever heard them first (or would admit that they did...)

I do the middle of the night feeds. He does the 6.30am-7.30am one.

Never. I breastfed and didn't pump much so there wasn't much he could do. He's a very heavy sleeper anyway and never even heard them cry or me get up to them. I was/am a SAHM and he goes out to work, so it made sense that I was/am the one to get up.

David worked nights specifically so he didn't have to get up with our kids. Now that they are older, he's talking about going on first shift :lol:

If he was home on a weekend or something, he would take a night so I could get a little time off.

It is so much easier to get up and pop a boob in his mouth than to bother with pumping so he can take the time to warm up a bottle of ebm etc. etc. I just do it. I couldn't sleep through it anyway if he did.

With Jackson he helped out a lot. I was exclusively pumping for him, so there was always EBM available. We took turns as to who go up with him. I took more of the very middle of the night feeds though b/c he was working.

With Anna (it has only been 2 nights we have been home) I have done it all. Her first night, Jackson woke up at midnight, so Scott went in to get him back to sleep and never came back to bed. Last night I just did it b/c it is easier just to nurse, and I deal with sleep deprivation much better than he does! I'm sure it will stay this way - Jackson still doesn't always sleep through the night so Scott will have Jackson duty and I'll have Anna.

With both kids, Phil would get up when the baby would wake up. He'd change her/him and bring her/him to me. Then he'd go back to sleep and I'd put the baby back in the bassinet or crib. Both kids were exclusively breastfed.

Damon helped a ton when Nikita was first born. He would change him and bring him to me to eat. A few times, on weekends, he would feed him a bottle of EBM at 3 am, and even though I still had to get up to pump (too much milk and new mom thing-have to do everything right hehe) at 3 with D and the baby, it was still awesome to be able to get some uninterrupted sleep in our guest bedroom..Nikita slept in a cradle by our bed till he was 4 ms old, so I would hear every sigh he made. When I slept in the other room, it was bliss. We did that 3 or 4 times, I think, maybe more...
Nikita started sleeping really good at around 2 months, so I could deal with exhaustion just fine, and since then, I am the one who gets up and feeds him. He is breastfed, so it's totally not a big deal to bring him back into our bed, feed him and put him back into the crib. I stopped changing him during the night about a month or so ago (he'd wake up sometimes, and mommy didn't agree to no play time at 4 am hehe), so I'm up for maybe 10 min....
Damon has been a great help, though. Some nights, when he knows I'm super tired, when the baby wakes up, he'll tell me to stay in bed and will go get the baby and bring him to me. If I wanted him to feed Nikita EBM at night on weekends, he'd do it, but it's not difficult for me to do, so I do it :)

Jackson still doesn't always sleep through the night so Scott will have Jackson duty and I'll have Anna.
That's the way it is here. He gets the big one, and I get the little one.

Both of my kids were exclusively breastfed, and neither took a bottle, so it was all me. I didn't see the point in making him get up to get the baby when I just had to be up anyway. :dunno:

Even though we exclusively bottle-fed, Darren can sleep through everything and rarely hears the kids so I have always been the one to do the night feedings. If I did manage to wake him up to get up, he was never alert enough to make a bottle or be any help.

There have been a few times where I've been so exhausted that he's woken up and I haven't. He would get up then, but I can count those occasions on one hand (total, for both kids).

He's gotten up to give her a bottle of EBM a few times - when I've asked him to. And about 3 times she's been so fussy and unable to get back to sleep that I've made him get up with her, so I can get sleep.

It's all me. BF all 3 when they were babies. When they switched to formula, he may have made a bottle for nap or bedtime but he's never gotten up at night to help with anything. He started wearing ear plugs when our first child was a baby so he could sleep. My bad!

Nothing at all. I exclusively breastfed so there was nothing for him to do.

I nursed them until they didn't need to eat in the middle of the night so there was nothing for him to do. If the baby was in dire need of a diaper or clothing change in the middle of the night, about 1/2 the time he would be passed to Daddy. :nod:

(I am sure I changed Aidan and maybe even Colin a lot more in the middle of the night than I ever changed Jack...Jack was only changed if he really needed it.)

Reed is an extremely light sleeper and woke up a lot. However, we did have a system. Anything from midnight to 5am was my job and anything before midnight/after 5am was his. That way, we were both guaranteed some sleep.

He would get up, change Amelia's diaper, bring her to me & then put her back where she was sleeping. He would come back to bed & sleep while I nursed her.

That's how it was in our house when the babies were tiny. When they got a bit older and we no longer changed them at every feeding I would grab the baby from the co-sleeper next to me, nurse him, then quietly put him back and more often than not DH didn't even wake up. Which was just fine by me. I was happy he could sleep.

Both of my kids were exclusively breastfed, and neither took a bottle, so it was all me. I didn't see the point in making him get up to get the baby when I just had to be up anyway. :dunno:

Us too... in my case I had a C-Section both times so for the first week or so it was physically difficult for me to get out of bed, get baby, change baby, bend over, yada yada yada. I was so thankful that my husband was plugged in and engaged. I couldn't have made it through 2 C-Sections otherwise. And, unlike others have mentioned in this thread, I was lucky that Josiah was sleeping through the night by the time Nicholas was born. I can't imagine what you all are dealing with!

And, unlike others have mentioned in this thread, I was lucky that Josiah was sleeping through the night by the time Nicholas was born. I can't imagine what you all are dealing with!
She was sleeping through for a while, otherwise, I would have been more careful not to get pregnant. :lol: She waited until a week before he was due to start waking up again at night. :doh:

She was sleeping through for a while, otherwise, I would have been more careful not to get pregnant. :lol: She waited until a week before he was due to start waking up again at night. :doh:





OH... that is SO wrong! Hold that over her head for the rest of her life. :lol:

With regard to those that have two, how did your older one handle it when your DH was the one to deal w/ him/her during the night? Now, my DD only wants anything to do w/ me if she wakes up in the middle of the night. When #2 arrives, I am thinking that DH is going to have to deal w/ her while I am dealing w/ the newborn, since I am planning on nursing.

Well, after the twins were born, Jacob slept on the couch with me alot :lol:

With regard to those that have two, how did your older one handle it when your DH was the one to deal w/ him/her during the night? Now, my DD only wants anything to do w/ me if she wakes up in the middle of the night. When #2 arrives, I am thinking that DH is going to have to deal w/ her while I am dealing w/ the newborn, since I am planning on nursing.

Aidan was all mommy, all the time before I had the twins. But once they came home, he and daddy developed a bond b/c they were spending a lot of 1-on-1 special time together. And he was fine w/ daddy attending to him at night (which he did....alll the time). Of course, with daddy being a single parent for a month, he really had no choice :lol:

My husband helped out quite a bit with all 3. When I was nursing the twins, I'd nurse one and he'd give the other a bottle of EBM so we could get back to bed sooner than later. Once Elliott started sleeping through the night, I was the one to get up with Norah. But he'd still get up w/ Aidan, or if I had a bad night, he'd take care of a feeding for me so I could sleep. Even now, they all still get up...between Norah's night terrors, Elliott's misc. wakings, and Aidan's peeing the bed, we take turns. We agree that we both have jobs and I can't get through mine as a zombie, so he's got to pitch in. He has no qualms about it.

Mine started sleeping through the night before I finished breastfeeding, so I did the night feedings. Although for the first month with Addison, he got up with me sometimes out of sympathy because she'd cry and I'd have no idea what to do. Now that the kids are older, it's a free for all. I make him deal with the random nighttime issues as much as I have to.

With both Kaitlyn and Lauren - I have breastfed. When they woke during the night - Dh always got up, changed their diaper and then brought them to me to nurse. After they fed and burped, I took them back to bed.

Even now, when Lauren wakes in the morning - Dh goes to get her, changes her bum and brings her to me to nurse in bed.

Once Lauren moves to bottles - he will most likely take over feeding her the bottle she gets when he comes home from work, and the last bottle before bed.

As for getting up with Kaitlyn - again, Dh does that too. He seems to hear her much sooner than I do in the middle of the night.


I feel very lucky to have a Dh that has never complained about getting up in the middle of the night to help me out :)

Tony has never gotten up to the kids at night, I breastfeed and never pump so there isn't much he can do. I don't expect him to get up though considering he is working and I stay at home. I do work once a week, but I still get up to the babies.

As for getting up to the older kids he does do that sometimes if I am already feeding Jacob and something goes on with the older boys he will go to them, but I have to wake him, he is a very heavy sleeper and NEVER wakes up to them crying. EVER! :rolleyes: I am too scared to leave him alone with the kids due to this fact :errr:

When Ellie was a baby, she was nursing, so I just got up. DH was working anyway and I was home. I couldn't see making him wake up when he had to work the next morning and I had to get up anyway.

With Ian, DH was working at night, so it was all up to me again. DH is a heavy sleeper, so I doubt he would have heard anyway. Thankfully, by the time Ian came, Ellie always slept through the night. She's always been a great sleeper.

Usually, it was me even though both were formula fed. He was working 12 hour days at the time and really needed the rest. I was able to rest during the day if needed. However, nights when Emma wouldn't stop crying he would get up and help. Emma didn't sleep through the night until she was 18 months old and still wakes up with nightmares quite often. Although, praise God, she hasn't had nightmares in several weeks.