Any experience of 'hungrier baby' formula?

[Racers]

My DD is 18wks and has been totally breastfed except for the past week, when we've been giving her formula at bedtime. I'm planning to move from breast to bottle quite slowly and am trying to hold off on solids.

She has slept through the night a few times (at 15 wks - so we know she can do it!) but generally will wake at 3ish for a feed (7pm bedtime) but for the past few nights has been hungry at 12ish also. My DH wonders if the formula (Hipp Organic, just the normal stuff) might not be as filling as my BM and wants to try her on the 'hungrier baby' milk. I've been telling him about how the 'other' milks like 'follow on' etc are all a marketing ploy to get round advertising restrictions etc and I think they are a fairly recent thing - though I could be wrong about that. Anyway, I wondered if MNers could tell us their experiences of whether they might be more satisfying for our DD?!

I should add that daytime feeds vary from 4 or 5 a day to twice that number now and then. That doesn't bother me but I would quite like us all to have better sleep (I know, I know, we all do and it could be worse, but still...) I expect my HV would suggest weaning - even though she quotes the 6m guidelines, she says she's never seen a baby reach 6m without some solids being introduced (not surprising, there's so much social pressure!). I'm not dead against weaning before 6m but keen to delay for longer. Should we ride out these extra feeds and disturbed nights? Should we try the 'hungrier baby' formula? Help!
TIA

I used hungrier baby formula to supplement my breastfeeds after the first few weeks, on my HV's advice. She said my baby was one of these babies that like to feel full all the time, and would want to feel every 2 hours or so. He wore me out! The hungrier baby formula helped a lot.

Hi Racers

No personal experience of hungrier baby formula (although I do know it can constipate some babies, but one friend used it with no problems), but your HV might like to meet my DS - he didn't eat before 6 months and hardly anything before he was closer to 8 months, so it is possible! He used to have growth spurt feedathons, but wasn't interested in food.

I found hungry baby formula changed nothing - other than constipating the poor little mite.

Similar to Hunkers DS, I tried to start weaning in his 5th month (nearer 6 months) as I was convinced he wasn't full on formula, but it wasn't happening - tried every few weeks or so from then on and it was only when he was just under 9 months old that he really really wanted some food. Now he grabs everything in sight so I know he wants it!

If I were you I would ride out the extra feeds and avoid the hungry baby formula.

Racers - formula milk will not make baby sleep through the night. The formula for 'hungry babies' is more likely to cause upset stomach/colic as it is harder to disest. The theory is that it stays in stomach longer but in reality it causes constipation. Formula feeds may disrupt your milk production. Your DD may be going through a growth spurt and is asking for more feeds to boost your supply. If you give formula instead, be aware that your milk production may drop. You might find that going with the flow with breastfeeds may sort itself out over a few days and she will settle again. However, if you want to continue with formula, I would stay away from 'hungry' baby milk.

I used "hungrier baby" milk with DS on the recommendation of my HV from about 12 weeks through to weaning and I really think it helped us, both with the sleeping (a nice side-effect!), but also with his general contentment and staving off weaning.

He was a big baby - only 8lbs 2oz at birth but he really packed on weight very quickly in the first few weeks. He was exclusively breast fed to 6 weeks, then mixed fed till he was weaned. By about 10-12 weeks he was just constantly hungry - more than the occasional growth spurt, IYSWIM. He was an absolute whopper (in a nice way, obviously!) and always right at the top end of the centile curves. My HV (who was very nice and very experienced) actually said that some babies looked like they were ready to eat a cheese sandwich and that was what she thought about DS. On her recommendation we moved to the hungrier baby formula - apparently the mix of the constituent parts of milk is different: I think it has more casein or something in it, but she explained that it was a bit more "rubbery" and made him feel fuller for longer. It certainly helped to stave off weaning for a bit until he was ready for it.

Interestingly he was 4 last week and is now on about the 75th centile for height and 50th for weight - his appetite just evened out at some stage along the way. I had a vision of him ending up the size of the Post Office Tower (at 1 he was at 100% on the centile curves and looked exactly like a small boulder!)

Sorry, cross posted with Mears. She knows LOTS more than I do about this, so take her advice over mine! Mine is just an observation of what we did (and that was in my pre-Mumsnet days)

TBH DS was always a pretty good sleeper, so can't really tell if the formula made any difference. But it didn't constipate him or give him colic, if that is any help.

Your advice is probably better than mine Anchovy because I never used formula milk at all when breastfeeding. My first baby slept through the night at 9 weeks. The longest it took for night sleeping was my third baby who was 8 months. I can categorically say that I know many formula fed babies who never slept through the night until much later. For me it was important not to give formula milk at all so I am probably biased. I just think that often formula milk is a threat to breastmilk production but I have learned from mumsnet that it can be done successfully. I think mums need to know though that it can lead to the unintentional cessation of breastfeeding unless the effects are known in advance.

With my dd as I wanted to hold off solids and did not want to try formula, I woke her.dream fed her at 10.30 every day, my bedtime, this led her to waking at 6am for another top up and back to bed til 8am when I got her up.
this eventually led to her dropping the am feed at about 6 mths and waking at 7-8am, at 10mths-1yr I stopped the dream feed when she was on a decent dinner portion , just gave her a bedtime breast feed - usually only one boob and she slept through.
I found even though she may not need the extra feed, giving it to her when I was awake was much better than been woken twice.

Thanks everyone for your input. Sorry about this long reply!

I am concerned about possible constipation with this 'hungrier' formula although there have been no problems in this area so far with the other formula. I did agree to buy some but I think on balance (my instinct and your advice!) I'll avoid using it for now and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

I haven't introduced basic formula with the sole intention of getting her to sleep through (although I know that her changing feed patterns at night was the focus of my message, as extra sleep would be a nice side-effect). I've exceeded my own expectations on how long I would BF and I now feel it is time for me to start making the change over and if I can combine breast and bottle for a couple of months, I'd like to do that.

Mears, I'm expecting my supply to change as I do want to give up BF in the next couple of months but I don't want it to go too quickly. Do you think this is potential problem? ie that my supply in the day won't keep up with demand? I see the local BF counsellor every week at a support group so I'll have a chat with her I think as she is brilliant and knows DD and her growth spurts etc well. I hope I can combine sucessfully as I'd be in two minds whether to switch to bottle or go back to fully BF. Thanks, I know you're right to point out that it could have an effect on my supply, but I have heard of sucessful combination so I'm hoping it will be ok.

Thanks Piffle - I've tried the dream feed and she then got into the habit of a 10.30/11pm feed plus the 2am and 5am times she'd previously been up for so I'm not too keen to try that again! I know it works for lots of people though.

Hunker - I know babies can go to 6m and beyond and well done to you guys for doing it! I nearly said to my HV "well you won't see any get to 6m if you say that to people tbh" but no point in getting anyone's back up I suppose. It did make me want to make it to 6m to prove a point but, well, we'll see - I'm trying my best to be lead by DD on that one, not HV's or other mums who are dead keen to see weaning as a developmental step - I don't see it that way, not a competition and all that!! (OH feels the same, so thankfully no pressure here at home!)

Thanks again everyone. Sorry about the erratic waffle. Feel quite confused/conflicted - sad to be coming off BF but it's my choice, I've wanted to give up long before now but stuck with it. Don't expect formula to be a magic sleeping potion but hoped it might settle her a bit better at night but then maybe a week is too soon to judge and she has a bit of a sniffly cold so might need more fluids etc etc.. ho hum there I go waffling again. Thanks for taking the time to read if you've got this far!

Racers - I really enjoyed mixed feeding (2 feeds of formula, rest was BF): it just worked really well for me - I didn't have any problems with supply as like you I started it when BFing was very well established. It gave DH the opportunity to take his turn (which he was actually keen to do and always did the 10.30/11pm feed and really enjoyed), meant I could occasionally go out AND the DCs were getting the benefit of breast feeding. So good luck!

Thanks Anchovy. Funnily enough I just bf her for bedtime. It was nice to have the choice

It's the dreaded four month growth spurt Racer! Lots and lots of us have been through it. It will pass, honestly it will. Keep feeding her as normal. She just needs a bit more milk atm.

Thanks, I guess that's why a lot of people start thinking about solids. Personally I'd worry that she wouldn't get enough milk if she had too much of anything else (including water, which I haven't given her either).

We'll carry on as we are for now.

Aww.. Good old DH has just brought in a glass of wine for me