My husband never did night feeds either,even with the last who was bottle fed from the start.I did feel the need to have at least the bedside light and often something rubbish on the telly to keep me awake was a minor but only fair disruption to his sleep.
I found it very tiring at first.We used to have a routine of taking all we needed for however many feeds I thought we needed overnight and having enough changing things,spare clothes and even a spare set of bedding all ready in our room,so there was as little disturbance as possible.With the breastfed babies it was just a case of take them out of the cot feed them in bed while I dozed then back to bed for them as soon as they settled,and back to bed for me.They did often choose that moment to fill their nappy anad we'd have to start again.With my son who was bottle fed,I'd put the bottle warmer on as soon as he stirred,make his bottle and warm it,by the time I changed his nappy the bottle was warm enough and he'd drink it half asleep and be back to bed.He was on a four hourly shedule quite early on .The only trouble we had was getting the wind up and I 'd sit ages doing that cos if I put him in his cot without getting it all up he was sick everywhere,and we'd be up and down all night,but that sorted itse'f out as he got bigger,just a few weeks
Mostly my babies have slept well.I wrap them in a sheet and they have a muslin as a sleep aid,right from the start and this helps them settle back in the cot,and stay asleep, rather than wake the minute they're put down.They've all been good sleepers early on.
I think the hardest thing was having a broken night's sleep and only just having got back to sleep,only to have to get up to get older children to school and carry on with he day as normal.I often fell asleep feeding the baby,just ten minutes at most I'm sure but I think it was just enough to make it through the day .It's suprising how little you can get by on.
