Fornula to cope with 4m growth spurt?

[pinata]

DS is coming up to 16 weeks and constantly hungry. Every 1-2 hours, day and night, often taking both sides. He is ebf

fine in the day, but I NEED some sleep, as does DH. I can't do the whole feeding lying down thing as he gets too gassy

other than me wanting to continue ebf, is there any reason why I shouldn't try a bottle of formula for his last feed? I mean in terms of being bad for him in any way. I am utterly shattered, and just need a 3 or 4 hour stretch of sleep. My bones literally ache and I have a 2.8 dd to look after too

I know this phase passes, but I can't face another bunch of weeks....

Oops, I meant "formula", of course

The difficulty if you introduce formula during a growth spurt, is that your body won't keep up. You will probably find that quite quickly you are using formula for more than one feed, and realistically it is unlikely that you would be able to go back to EBF.

If you are ok with that, then no a bottle isn't going to 'bad' for him, although you will lose the benefits of EBF.

Thanks alibaba. I'm kind of wary of it, but wouldn't longer sleep also be good for ds? I can't see who is benefitting from rubbish nights, although that might be my sleep deprived brain not remembering some key piece of info...

Do you find that you have more milk in the mornings? What I used to do when DS was having a growth spurt was to pump first thing before feeding (about 80ml) and keep it in the fridge then let DH look after him for a hour or two around 8 or 9 pm and give him the expressed milk in a bottle so I could have a bit of a lie down in the evening.

I used to have more milk inthe mornings, but since this crazy night feeding has started, boobs are like prunes when i get up, so I can't get much out

dd was ff, and I don't think she had nights like ds has been building up to these last few weeks. Comparing the 2, I'm just struggling to see benefit for anyone at the moment. Dh and I are like zombies. I suppose I'm wondering where the tipping point is of benefits of ebf v benefits of a decent (or at least 3 or 4 reliable hours - I'm not greedy!) for everyone.

My plan would be a bottle for last feed, then bf during night, as needed

I have been doing this over the last couple of weeks for the same reasons as you (DD 18 weeks) - TBH it didn't seem to make any difference to her nights, still waking every couple of hours. I came to the conclusion that it was a developmental/ growth thing rather than hunger that was waking her. Anyway - have dropped the formula for the last few nights and actually last night was better than we have had for a while (only 3 wake-ups).

Luckily my supply doesn't seem to have been affected (probably because she was continuing to wake to feed in spite of the formula - greedy!!)

I kind of regret that she was technically only exclusively breastfed for 4 months due to me giving the bottles of formula.

On the other hand, it made me feel like I was doing something constructive (apart from going mad from lack of sleep!!). Also, I now know she will take bottles if need be which makes me feel confident to leave her with DH or my mum (couldn't get on with expressing).

Sorry for long post! My point is- if it makes you feel more in control, do it! But it didn't really help me with the sleeping!

It might be the 4 month sleep regression, in which case extra food in the form of formula wouldn't help...

You can't compare two different babies - he might have been like this if he was ff too.

You are doing a great (and v difficult) job.

There are a few foods that can help to increase your supply - oats, avocados, cheese have all been mentioned to me.

Dont beat yourself up if you decide to try a bottle - you know your situation and how much you can stand better han any stranger on a messageboard.

Thank you both. Passionberry, that's kind of what I'm expecting, too. And then I'm worried about him prefering the bottle. I think a lack of sleep is making me somewhat over-anxious!

I'll see how I feel tonight. In some ways, just having the formula there just in case takes a load of my mind anyway

I have always had a hugely abundant supply, so am less concerned about that. Even now I wake up in a puddle quite regularly. Anyway, I agree with wanting to feel like I'm at least trying something else.

The stupid thing is that knowing I will need to get up again makes me sleep badly. So I'm tossing and turning when I should be asleep.