I gave him formula :(

[scgd]

For the past week or so my ds, 13 weeks, is waking every 1-2 hours at night feeding for up to 50 mins at a time before nodding off again. he feeds for that amount of time, sleeps and wakes again half an hour later looking for more. My nipples are sore, my boobs never feel like they have milk in them for him (do you think this is why he isn't really sleeping) and I'm tired, so so tired. Last night, after feeding him at the breast until he came off ( he feeds both sides every time) I offered him a bottle of formula in the hope of topping him up enough to get somesleep, I GOT 3HOURS 45MINS which felt like heaven! I then went on to only offer the beast when he next woke and he slept less than 2 hours. I don't really want to give him formula at night (will always offer breast first) because I'm worried my milk supply will dwindle bit I'm getting a bit desperate

Sounds like the dreaded 12 week growth spurt.

It Goes Get Better.

Thanks for your reply SirBoobAlot it's kind of what I was thinking also, does it make any different that ds was born nearly four weeks early? Am I doing any harm offering him the formula at night? I'm desperate but don't wAnt to affect my bf, up until last night I was ebf didn't want that to change but I feel something needs to be done??

Tbh, if it gets you a block of sleep, I'd do it once a day.

Do you have a DH/DP? If you let him do the FF at 10pm, you could sleep from maybe 9pm to 2-3am (if the formula buys you 3-4hrs) which I'm sure sounds pretty good vs what you're currently getting.

My personal view is that there's more to parenting a baby than feeding, and if one formula feed a day leaves you more awake/ patient and better able to interact with him in the day/ play with him/ sing to him etc, then that's a good trade.

I use the odd bottle of formula (not even for such valid reasons as you- just because I'm not v organised about expressing) and havent found it makes a difference to my supply so long as I pump that feed. I'm aiming to get to 6 months "MBF" (majority breast feeding) as I'm in the "every feed counts" camp- ie if the odd bottle of formula keeps be bf for longer then I'm not going to sweat it.

I think the only problem with this is, if it's due to a growth spurt you lo is trying to increase your supply and by giving a bottle of formula your not telling your body to produce more milk. This may mean you then always have to give this bottle or that you end up proloning the frequent feeding untill you catch up if you get what I mean.

Have a read hear
www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/index.html
Lost of info on growth spurts.

Dontl make the mistalke of thinkignther eis no milk if you donlt feel "full" . The supply typically settles down but still meets demand as long as he keeps feeding.

don't feel guilty if its working, remember you've still done brilliantly to get to 13 weeks and it may get better shortly..

Are u drinking lots?

When dd went on a spurt I used to cheat and drink those body building shakes in a can to try and get calories flowing IYSWIM. Don't know if that's allowed but it worked for us at the time (in the end).

Good luck and remember - there's no real 'right ' way of doing this, just what's right for you and dc. Try not to feel the motherhood guilt - whatever you do or don't do, IME they'll hate you anyway when they're teenagers

You say you've got sore nipples scgd?

Maybe you need to get the latch checked in this case. Is there a support group you can visit to get help?

A lot of babies do sleep longer after some formula because it takes longer to digest.

It's hard to say if your milk supply will dwindle- some mums do manage to keep it going and only use one bottle of formula.

You don't need to worry about drinking loads or calories flowing as your body will continue to make milk as long as your baby is demanding it.

Sir Boob is right, it's probably a growth spurt... is there anything you can do to make life a bit easier for you? Can you grab a nap in the day or co-sleep at night?

It doesn't help baby if mum's a knackered nervous wreck. Please don't torture yourself about this. A good night's (few hours) sleep makes the whole world seem brighter. :)

i agree with baggedandtagged and i like the term 'majority breast feeding'

Check latch, please, could be a reason why he is feeding non-stop, that he is not fully milking your breast.
I also would agree with BaggedandTagged tat that giving one bottle of formula a day (but preferably not in middle of night) is not going to scupper breastfeeding, if you feel desperate. I did it. It worked. I continued bfng, supply increased, baby was happy and satisfied/slept etc. The danger is that if you start to replace more and more feeds, and then start to feel less confident in your body's ability to satisfy baby.
You Can Satisfy baby; feed often, don't clock watch, look after yourself as much as you can in other ways, getting through a growth spurt is like a fulltime job, but the more you feed, especially at night the more the supply will increase, as long as baby is Correctly Latched on. Feeling very sore at this stage mght mean you need more support under baby as you feed, cushions etc, to bring him to right height, if he's got heavier.

Swanriver, why not the middle of the night one? Just that I was thinking of doing that for the second waking of the night, around 3-4am, which is relatively temporary anyway, and is the one I find most painful and dread the most. Either expressed from the day or formula.

becasue prolactin levels are higher at night and thus feeding at night greatly helps your supply!

i would agree with growth spurt op, and def agree that the quickest way through it is to feed on demand, thus increasing your supply to cope with it!

i also agree with speaking to a BFC if you can just to check latch and make sure he is transferring milk effectively

oh and OP, the odd bottle of formula now and then isn't going to harm him :)

If nipples are stil sore at 13 weeks then you need to get some RL help - that doesn't sound right. Soft breasts doesn't mean no milk though...

Danger with the bottle is that he's not signalling you to make more milk. I did give one bottle a day to DS1 from around 18 weeks because he was waking 2 hourly in the night and wouldn't ever feed for more than 5 mins at a time, but it was a slipperly slope to me stopping as he prefered the bottle, and frankly so did I.

How long as the hourly waking been going on for... takes the breasts some time to increase the amount of milk they make....

Thank you all for your replies I am really really going it's just a growth spurt and that it will soon settle down soon
I think my sore nipple and surrounding area is because ds seems to be sucking on me so much because it never used to be this way.
My dh could do a ff feed around 10 but I would prefer to offer the breast first and then just to top up. That I need to be awake for obviously ! I wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping in the bed with him, also have a memory foam top layer which I believe is no good for babies?
Got latch checked earlier all looks good.
I tried formula top up again last night but no miracle sleep happened. Ds vomited up the most I've ever seen him vomit then proceeded to sleep only 2 hours so tonight it's back to breast and see how we get on fingers crossed xxxxx

DD is just going through this, she is nearly 15 wks and has been iffy sleep/food wise for the last week or so. I feel like she is permanently attached to me, how much milk can I produce!!