Did your breastfed baby sleep longer when given formula?

[username4959292]

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

No, it made no difference. I used to breastfeed dc and then give a bottle of formula directly after. He still woke every twenty minutes couple of hours until he was two and decided it wasn't so bad this "going to bed" shit.

Your friend may have a good sleeper, she also may be in for a shit show when the four month regression sleep hits.

We mixed fed our 2 after a good latch was had - so from about 4-5 weeks. It was fab - as others have said it lets the partner take over for a feed when you are knackered - so even if the baby doesn't sleep longer - YOU can.

Also meant for me that I was happy to carry on with the breastfeeding side of it for 18 months each.

My DS woke every 2 hours and he was solely formula fed from day one.

My friends DD was ebf and slept through within a few weeks.

My point? Every baby is different, and some are naturally good sleepers, some aren’t. You sleep with a different pattern to your DH, and your child will sleep in a different pattern to your friends child.

Relax

No! My sisters FF baby is now 2 and still doesn't sleep through and won't go to sleep without my sister staying with her DC until DC falls asleep.

My EBF 1 year old has slept through 5:30-8:30 from 8 months and goes to sleep by himself after a feed. Only trouble I have is when he's ill or teething but that's the same for any baby. I'm a single mum so the feeds would've been all me anyway.

I talked to DM about this and she says most babies were bottle fed in the 50s onwards precisely because it made babies sleep better. Babies were fed by the clock, 4 hourly from birth, so nobody was feeding all night long. Many were never fed at night. Perhaps bf babies didn’t get enough food on that regime so were quickly switched to formula.

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.

DH gave DD1 a bottle every night. It did not affect my supply and I did not get mastitis. I'm not convinced she slept any better, but it was good for my physical and mental health to get a break of longer than 2 hours, and DH enjoyed spending the time with her.

Yes definitely. Was EBF for 4 months waking multiple times a night, had one bottle of formula as a one off and slept through that night.

If you start giving formula at night your milk supply will decrease and you won't be able to EBF anymore so I guess it's how you feel about that.

No difference here, but I didn't try it until he was 8 months old so I'm not sure about for a younger baby.

I know nothing about FF sorry but I shouldn't think one bottle per 24 hours would affect your supply now that you've EBF for 6 weeks (I'm obviously not an expert though!)

Mine did.

I breast fed during the day and formula fed last thing in the evening. Woke later than breast feed last thing.

Yes but I introduced formula at 5 days. He went from feeding constantly to 3 hours

No. We had to move across to mixed feeding as she lost weight. I just breed crap sleepers. She's now on cow's mil and 18 months and still sleeps iffily at night. No better / worse than her EBF older brother.

Nope no difference. If you are worried about mastitis, can you express to empty and do you have a partner to give as a dream feed so you can sleep longer stretches?

My ff baby slept terribly too!

My theory is that bottle feeding tends to lead to better sleep specifically because it separates the act of feeding from comfort and soothing. Which you can do with breastfeeding, if you especially want to. You just have to follow the advice about breastfeeding given by parenting authors who advocate for routines etc. So don't let them fall asleep at the breast, limit feeds to that active sucking rather than letting them go into the fluttery sucks, have feeds at (roughly) set times and don't feed in between, don't use it for comfort but only for hunger. Don't cosleep, etc.

I mean you can. But I wouldn't. IMO you risk too much doing this, you lose a lot of what to me are some of the most precious benefits of breastfeeding. The comfort side of it is magical. The instant sleep tool is useful and it's soul destroying trying to put them down "drowsy but awake" in the middle of the night when you just want to go back to bed. You risk supply issues if you dismiss frequent feeding and long feeds and cluster feeding as unimportant or "just doing it for comfort". You will lose a lot more sleep trying to prevent yourself from cosleeping, IME.

If you can, get somebody to take the baby immediately after a feed and let you sleep for as long as possible. Instruct them not to bother you for 2 hours minimum. Stretch to 3, 4 hours if they can with other soothing and distracting techniques. If the baby does need a feed after 2 hours (possible) they should bring them to you, you feed lying down and they take them away as soon as they are done and let you have another 2 hour stretch. This doesn't harm the baby as long as you're not doing it for every single feed interval! It's crucial to your mental health to get that kind of support so ask for it.

Other than this I thoroughly recommend just going with it and letting things be. It's the easiest way to the most sleep in my experience.

And yes, one bottle (given by someone else, to replace a feed so you can sleep through it) so you can get an uninterrupted session of sleep is not the end of the world. Neither for your supply or for your baby. Whether it's once a day or once in a while. Do what you need to do to survive! There is really not much difference health wise between exclusive breastfeeding and 90% breastfeeding with formula occasionally. Or you could express (but ONLY if it is not creating more work than it saves you).

Nope, I express to feed and suppliment with a day of formula every week, he has the same amount from the bottle whatever he is taking and will sleep 7 to 9 hour stretches at night bow, was more like 4 to 7 at 3 months.

His nappies are ripe when he has formula, worse now he's weaning too 😂

Fgs. Humans aren't designed to sleep through.
Ignore friend. Don't discuss sleeping habits.

Yyx3 children

I also started following a Gina Ford type routine with a big feed as late as we could manage.

By sick weeks of breast feeding/ deprived sleep misery each time I frankly wasn’t the slightest bit bothered about supply or breast feeding though.

My 3( and their parents) were significantly happier/ more contented with the introduction of formula and more sleep for all.

6 weeks not sick weeks

No, probably settled better and slept longer aftercare BF

Yes, FF babies sleep much longer.

My DD slept better with formula at 10.30pm; it got her through until 3am when she’d then have a breastfeed and go back until 6-7am. it didn’t effect my supply whatsoever and won’t cause mastitis: i was quite full when I woke up for the 3am feed but that was to be expected as she’d dropped the 1am feed. It saved my sanity to have a 4 hour block of sleep and it meant that DH could do it so I could get to sleep even earlier.
Sometimes I’d give the formula and then a breastfeed at 10.30 to settle her.

No, 100% not.

Well OP, I think this thread answers your questions in the sense that very clearly every baby is so very different!