evening bf vs formula question

[Monkeybrain10]

I breastfeed but in last couple of weeks we have had to use formula as I have had an operation. ..just back to breastfeeding yesterday .

So my question is this ....8 mo baby has been sleeping through with a bottle of formula after dinner, bath, story ....With the exception of occasions when he was really tired so didn't take much. However, with breastfeeding - he usually wakes hungry eg. 3 am. We know it's hunger as we first try everything else (cuddle, teething powder , fan heater white noise etc) and eventually he'll down a 7 oz bottle.
So 2 things...how do I get a tired baby to take a bottle or breast ? And what have other bf mums done ? Give up the evening bf in favour of formula or do both (maybe a dream feed in the later evening?)

My ideal would be to just be back breastfeeding with formula for nursery days and emergencies but maybe that's daft?

Any thoughts appreciated.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I don't think its daft at all. I did this and it really worked for us. If you want to bf, do it and maybe try a dream feed like you said

[Noodledoodledoo]

We moved to an expressed bottle at bedtime (730ish) and a dream fed at 1130pm at about 12 weeks. Dropped the dream feed around 18 weeks.

She seems to feed better from the bottle at that time of night, we know she has had a good feed never sure with breastfeeding.

Sleeps through till 630/7 most days.

[HesBeenAVeryNaughtyBoy]

We like noodle did an expressed milk bottle at bed for the first 16 weeks you could do this with formula if you prefer. I think you should do what makes life easier for you it's bloody hard anyway be kind to yourself and do what works. We do a dream feed at half 9 so maybe give that a go only problem is we now don't know when to drop it!! You know your baby best so go with what feels right for you.

[Monkeybrain10]

I tried a dream feed with formula at about 9 pm and he woke at 2.30 and downed another 5 oz bottle. probably would have taken more. We did a later one again last night and he went til 4 am and took 7 oz. Then he has a bf at 7 am then breakfast at 8 am.
I just thought people dropped the dream feed younger than this ....my baby is nearly 9 months but still seems hungry in the night. ?

[Noodledoodledoo]

I was advised to bring the dream feed forward 10 mins every couple of days to get her used to going a little longer and drop it that way. To be fair we carried on with it partly due to selfish reasons for me as my supply struggles to adapt and without it I was being woken up at 3am by my boobs! So it might be worth trying a later feed and then bring it forward slowly.

[Monkeybrain10]

Thanks noodle - what age do u think we should aim to be dropping the dream feed totally? (I'm worried my breast milk just isn't going to fill Him up but I guess in a few months we can move to cows milk instead of faffing with formula anyhow)

[Noodledoodledoo]

We did it when she was about 4.5 - 5 months mainly as she wasn't waking for the feed or particularly early the following morning. We missed a couple of nights and it didn't cause her any bother - just me with excrutiating boobs!

She has about 6 oz (180ml) of expressed milk at her last feed which I express first thing in the morning, which given this is supposed to be when its most calorific this may also be helping see her through.

She has always been a sleeper though.

[Monkeybrain10]

Ah yes - ours has never been a good sleeper! At nearly 9 months he's slept through about 6 times (all in the last few weeks). Before that it was waking every 20 mins, hour or 2 hours....so we are definitely making progress! :-)