Did your breastfed baby sleep longer when given formula?

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DS is currently ebf he is only 6 weeks so don't expect him to sleep through at all yet. But after another comment from a another mum about how her 3 month old ff DD now sleeps through the night it left me wondering whether I should just give him one bottle last thing at night.
My DD was ebf and never slept through the night until she stopped bf at 2. She never took a bottle so formula was never an option.
My worry is though that it could affect my supply or cause mastitis. Also that it might have no affect on his sleep. Has anyone else given a bottle of formula just for the last feed before bed? Did they sleep abit longer? Don't expect/want him to sleep through but would sometimes appreciate a stretch longer than two hours. TIA

Didn't sleep any longer, and i had the awful guilt that I'd sacrificed the benefits of ebf for the sake of trying to get more sleep (albeit at the time i was so exhausted that sleep felt like the be all and end all)

no, it made no difference.
Some are just not good sleepers

The research says no, FF babies don't sleep longer. But mothers of FF babies over-report sleep compared to mothers of BF babies (apparently).

Mine did (4 months when given formula), but that was because my supply was poor and she'd been hungry!

Also, someone else can give formula, of course, so you get more sleep.

My ff first born woke for milk during the night until 13 months. She also woke up loads of other times to check bin with me.

No, it didn't make her sleep any longer BUT it did mean that DH could give her a bottle in the night so I could sleep for longer, thus saving my sanity. Giving DD that bottle was the best thing we did!

Yes formula made my DD1 sleep for much longer stretches.
You could try a dummy also?
If you are desperate for sleep, it’s worth a try.

Mine might have slept maybe an hour longer or so, but I can’t be sure if that was the formula or just his development as he got older...

My baby certainly slept longer, but that's because I had poor supply and he was hungry while EBF. His weight gain was very poor until I added formula.

As PP have said, the main advantage of combi-feeding, in the absence of supply issues, is the fact that someone else can give a feed, so you can get a longer stretch of sleep.

DC1 slept through at 4 weeks. He was ebf. If your baby is hungry then it might help to top them up, but I think a lot has to do with luck of the draw!

No, but I think he was just a terrible sleeper for the first 6 months anyway.

Yes. Right away.

Then again I wasn’t producing anything and the poor thing was starving for the first 3 weeks of life.

I've had 3 babies, all EBF for the first few months. None of them slept any better when we switched to formula.

Mine never had formula, but didnt sleep through for years after milk stopped. He night weaned himself at 9 months, but still woke roughly every 3 hours. Milk wasnt the cause in his case.

My first slept badly when ebf and ff, it made no difference other than adding time to make bottles up through the night so I got less sleep. She had a dummy but would wake if it came out which meant more wakes, we tried night time milk which is thicker and supposed to keep them satisfied for longer but she still woke the same.
My second is now ebf and sleeps amazingly well for 2 months, still wakes 2/3 times between 9pm-7am but is pretty reasonable about it.

Both have only slept at all if I coslept from a couple of weeks.

Some babies just sleep better than others no matter how they are fed.

No. And it made his nappies foul in comparison.
What did help was DH doing the feed well away from me so that I got a longer chunk of sleep

No difference here either but I wanted to make sure he would take a bottle as I returning to work early and it's nice for my partner to be able to feed him.

In my case yes.
I was breast feeding Ds1 and at one point I was at my wits end. I was up for hours at night feeding and getting more and more sire sorry and that made the following day and it was having a cumulative affectof total exhaustion and pain. I refused to give in give in a long time because I stupidly took the HV word as gospel. She said a baby qouldnt understand mix feeds! Eventually I switched to mix feeds and almost instantly everything became easier.
I still fed so I was happy about that. Baby seemed to settle much better. I got more rest. Mixed feeds transformed our life and I appreciated the sleep.
Everyone will have a different take to tell but this was my experience. With Ds2 I went to mixed after about 3 weeks I think.

You know it really did for my DS. DD not so much, so I think it depends.

DS was a big baby and I think he really had to work at it to get enough milk from the boob. But then with a bottle he could have his fill much easier without having to wake up for more milk.

So probably depends on the kid and the mum / supply but I think it can definitely help - and I'm not someone who is easily convinced of cause and effect.

She may find her baby doesn’t sleep so well after 4 months 🤷‍♀️

My ebf baby only woke once between 6pm - 7.30am until she hit 4 months. Now wakes every 2 hrs or more and is ready to get up at 6.15am 🤦‍♀️

No difference here. But it was easier to feed her the last (hollow laugh) feed of the 'night' with a bottle while putting the 4yo to bed.

The only reason a formula fed baby may sleep longer stretches is because formula is much more difficult to digest. Its main component has been made to feed a large herd animal - not a small human. They don’t sleep longer because it is more nutritional or ‘richer’. It is purely that the baby’s stomach struggles digesting it, and so it sits there for longer. This fact wasn’t one that personally sat comfortably with me. There were points when the formula companies and their manipulation did their work on me - and I came close to buying ‘comfort’ formula, worried that my breast milk was harming my baby and that’s why her sleep was so awful! Formula companies really do thrive on sleep deprived women feeling low on confidence.

Sleep deprivation is awful. Do you find co-sleeping at all beneficial? Can you avoid social media for a little while? To avoid seeing the proud FB announcements of ‘baby slept through the night!’ Will baby sleep for longer stretches in the pram or sling? If someone could take them out for a long walk early on a Sunday morning so you can catch even an hour of extra sleep?

If you want to give formula to let someone else give a feed and get some sleep then go for it. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking (and telling other vulnerable mums) that your baby needs it, prefers it, sleeps better on it etc. As a culture we have very much prioritised a baby that sleeps well, rather than a baby who receives appropriate nutrition. And we should stop perpetuating ‘my baby slept so much better on formula’ as an acceptable reason to not give breast milk. Sleep is not the be all and end all.

Made no difference to mine just made him windy and was more sicky after a feed. I bought a breast pump after that so I could express and his dad could give him a late feed while I slept.

DD(5) still doesn't sleep through. Was breastfed and woke every two hours for the first few months.

DS (18months) has slept through since 3 months. For the first few months sleeping through would be from about 10pm until 7am, he would cluster feed from 6pm until 10pm. Also breastfed.

Friend's DS (10 months) has never slept through, wakes a couple of times in the night and is up for the day at 4.30. Formula fed.

It is complete luck of the draw, depending entirely on the child, unless there are extenuating circumstances such as milk supply.

Providing there are no current issues with breastfeeding then a single bottle last thing at night shouldn't affect your supply, except for the obvious dropped breast feed. And providing you express off just enough to feel comfortable if your breasts begin to feel full mastitis shouldn't be an issue either.

However, 6 weeks is still very little, and in my experience the first 3 months are the hardest. After this, unless ill, teething or otherwise distressed, feeds are generally fewer and further between.

The other thing to bear in mind is that even if you give a bottle, your baby may not sleep any longer, and you could end up in the position of having to work a bit to re-establish the dropped breast feed if you decide to go back to it.

If you have a partner who would be able to give the bottle so that you can grab the extra sleep for the duration of the feed then it's an option, or as per PP, a dummy might help if it's the sucking reflex your baby needs.

But if you're looking for a miracle solution, there really isn't one. In my case it was just waiting out those first three months - with both.

No difference to his sleep pattern at all but meant dad could give bottle as i couldn't express (10ml a time!) - stopped me being ill.

I have combine fed the whole way, still majority breast fed at a year. Did have a wobble where felt under pressure to try to go fully breast but glad didn't do it. My sanity is also of value.

But sympathy on the lack of sleep - i was ebf as where all my siblings and i didn't sleep through till 2. I think it is just the baby. Mine likes to wake up every 2.5 hours at best. I might start dressing goth to compliment the shadows under my eyes.

In my experience, and generally speaking I think bottle fed babies, especially those bottle fed from early on do sleep longer as it is more difficult to digest. Plus they may not seek the comfort of breastfeeding.

However (trying to find a way to put this delicately) we have to remember that breastfeeding is the norm and night waking is normal. It is protection from sids. Babies, especially under 6 months who are formula fed sleeping for longer periods, if anything, could be considered at more risk.

I think we have a worrying culture where young babies are expected to be in a routine and sleep through when it is not the biological norm. Of course, if you feel like you need a break from BF that’s fine but In the scheme of things the night wakings will be for a short period of time.