Will giving DS a bottle of formula tonight mess up my milk supply?

[LetThereBeCupcakes]

My 5MO DS has been sleeping really badly lately - after about 6 weeks of deterioration he's now waking every hour to hour-and-a-half. I've pretty much reached the limit of what I can cope with so I'm thinking of giving him a bottle of formula tonight in the hopes that the heavier milk will keep him satisfied a bit longer. I don't want to give up breast feeding him yet, and certainly wouldn't want to drop the bed time feed any time soon, but I'm getting pretty desperate and need to get some sleep. Will a bottle as a one off be OK or will I struggle to get him back on the boob?

[chocoluvva]

I'm not a breastfeeding expert Cupcakes, but I think that the odd bottle here and there won't make too much difference at this stage. He'll be starting to have little bits of other food soon anyway.

I don't know if giving him some formula will help with his sleep, but I don't think it should affect your supply at this stage.

Hopefully someone who's an expert will come along soon.

[welshfirsttimemummy]

Hi, I have a 5 week old DS who was EBF and I was like you with my LO waking every hour to hour and half for the first couple if weeks and I was exhausted.

We started giving a bottle of formula last thing at night and hasn't messed up my supply, definitely hasn't affected DS breast feeding and has helped him go to waking every 3-4 hours

So works for us.

[LetThereBeCupcakes]

Thanks guys, didn't try it last night as DS was too busy having a screaming fit. I have no idea if it will help but have heard people say that formula doesn't digest as quickly so they may still full longer, which certainly ties in with your experience welsh. Might give it a go tonight.