About to give in and give formula tonight...

[Olivetti]

My DD is 15 weeks, and was a fantastic sleeper from about 5 weeks - and from about 8 weeks until 12 weeks she was managing 7pm - 11pm dreamfeed, then 11:30-7am. HOWEVER, she's now regularly waking in the night for a feed - can go 7pm until about 3am without a dreamfeed, dreamfeed makes no difference, she still wakes up at 3am, then again at 6am. I was determined to keep her EBF until 6 months, but I am knackered, have a bad cold, and am thinking of giving her a bottle of formula as a top up at her pre-bedtime feed. I feel really emotional about it, though. Have others introduced formula top-ups, and dows it make any difference to sleeping?

How old is she? Our dd didn't sleep well until 12 weeks, managed a couple of weeks then stopped sleeping again. HV was very unhelpful but my mum said she was hungry so we gave her babyrice and guess what - she started sleeping and became very contented. I mixed it with breast milk at first but hated expressing so then mixed with formula (then introduced veg anyway) so I felt I could continue with bf rather than confuse dd with a bottle.

For us this worked beautifully and dd was more than ready for solids (despite what hv said - she was 17 weeks but I should have probably done it at 15 or 16). HV said she would spit it out and struggle to eat it - dd gobbled it up and wanted more giving the biggest smile we'd ever seen her do.

Good luck whatever you choose to do. x

Thanks Princess! Really helpful. She's 15 weeks on Tuesday. She's growing like crazy, and obviously ravenous when she wakes in the night, there's no question of soothing her back to sleep in other ways. As soon as she has had a ffed, she's back to sleep. I think I will try formula tonight, and then may introduce baby rice next week. It's just the purists make you feel you've sod your soul to the devil by bringing in formula! x

Your DD is only having one night feed at 15 weeks - that is amazing! Night feeds are counted as feeds done after you go to bed and then when you get up so really only the 3am one 'counts'.

Have you tried going to bed when she does (or just a little later)so you get 8 hours sleep 7-3 rather than getting your 8 hours at a more adult time, especially as you are unwell.

Her sleep will alter (or you will get used to it) as she gets older - 15 weeks is very new to be honest so just a feed at 3am really is 'good' sleeping from her.

I wouldn't think formula would make much difference and from some of the replies to posts like yours suggest that the formula made sleep worse (being harder to digest than BM it can cause tummy problems to EBF babies [not always just sometimes]) or mad no difference.

So she goes 7pm-6am with one feed at 3am? That sounds pretty good for a 15 week old! Lots of people would be very jealous of you

I've given a formula feed but it didn't make much difference to my baby's sleep - the only advantage really was that DP could give the bottle. Be aware as well that at around 4 months there's often a big sleep regression, where babies start waking lots in the night - though this is down to developmental leaps rather than hunger, so formula wouldn't necessarily fix this.

Obviously with introducing food, it's safer to wait til as close to 6 months as possible. If you do wean early wait til at least 17 weeks, as introducing solids before then can risk damaging the gut and making the baby more susceptible to gastro infections and coeliacs disease.

She's only little - most babies are still having a night feed at 15 weeks. Not sure how giving her formula will make a difference if she has as much bm as she wants at bed time, to be honest - if she's full she's full, regardless of what sort of milk it is!

And please don't give her baby rice until she's at or near 6 months. Apart from the fact that all the advice says wait til then, what she needs is more calories, and she'll get them from milk, not rice.

I'm not a purist and don't think bringing in formula is selling your soul to the devil

However, I have seen on many occasions that the sleep situation is made worse by topping up with formula at bedtime, as then your body makes less milk at that time the next day. Your supply will drop (a bit). Just as long as you're forewarned, and aware that this may happen.

For what its worth, I think the pressure to "get baby sleeping through" (whatever type of feeding a mother uses) is very insidious in our culture. Babies stomachs are so small that it makes sense for them to feed in the night.

About the solids; do you know the signs to look out for to show that a baby may be ready for some solids? If you do a search on mnet you'll see links.

In regards to what TruthSweet mentioned, formula did make ds very windy/farty at first and disturbed his sleep - he slept better on breastmilk as it was easier on his tummy. I gave up on it for a while and tried again around 5 months when he seemed able to tolerate it better.

7-3 then 6? I am at that. For a 15-week old that is brilliant. Many babies continue to need night feeds until they're 9 months, IIRC.

Good grief, don't give her baby rice at 15 weeks old! If you wanted to breastfeed her for six months you must have read about best possible outcomes, and quite aside from the debate on breast or bottle feeding, early weaning (especially pre-16 weeks) is the worst of all worlds.

Look, if the dreamfeed makes no difference, this is not an issue to do with food. Stands to reason, doesn't it? You feed her, she's up and three. You don't feed her, she's up at three. It may well be teeth, it could be cerebral activity, it could be she's got into the habit. But I don't think formula will make any difference. Give it a go if you want to - that would be infinitely preferable to baby rice...

We started to give formula, at about 6 months, as dd still wasn't sleeping through, waking several times a night - I had gone back to work, and was dead on my feet. It made no difference whatsoever. DD Started sleeping through finally about a month ago, she is 10 and a half months.

The only thing that prompted this was me reducing the feeds I gave her, from about 3am onwards I wouldn't feed her until morning, and eventually she learnt to drop off back to sleep without a BF. I do think that for some babies, maybe hunger is the issue, but really formula isn't going to make a huge difference, in my opinion, the biggest thing that affects sleep is the ability to self settle - DD had to learn how to do this, she would wake and the only way she could get back to sleep was to feed. I started to feed her before she had a bath, or was dressed for bed, so she didn't fall asleep whilst feeding, and at night I gradually reduced the time I was feeding her, so she had chance to catch up in the day - have to say though, didn't do any of this until she was on solids, at 6 months old. she didn't want them before that, we offered her food, but she didn't know what to do with it! Loves her food now though, never stops eating, and still feeds 3 times a day...however, even now, I wouldn't say that how much she has to eat has any effect on her sleep, its more likely to be how late she went to bed that will make her wake, or teething.

It is so hard, sleep deprivation is the worst, theres a reason that they use it as torture! TBH, if the formula doesn't help the sleeping, you are going to be awake for longer anyway, as you will be making/warming bottles!

Can you get someone to give the feed early on, go to bed early for a few nights, then take the early morning shift? Even if you used EBM, and then at least you aren't missing a feed - that is, if you are determined to carry on feeding yourself - I don't know how much affect dropping one or two feeds would have on supply, but maybe it would be established by now, so you could use formula - I have nothing against using it - I do still now, for DD during the day, as I find she is less distracted with a bottle.

It;s so hard to decide what to do, if you don't get enough sleep its even harder - just remember it wont last forever though.

I blethered on so much everyone else said the same thing but better and before me!

Give it a go by all means, but be prepared for it to make no difference whatsoever. I actually think you're doing really well, my DS is 6 months next week and he often feeds more than that at night - my friends DS is fully ff and he still feeds more than that at night at 6 months as well.

Well as I'm sure many people will come on hear and tell you. It's very comane for a baby who's slept through from such a young age to start waking up again around 4 months. You've been very lucky so far. Sleeping so long from 5 week's is the exction not the norme for such a small baby.

I woundn't wean she is two young. Dispit what OP did, there is no evidance to suggest that food helps with sleep. I can also provided you with the opersit eveidance from at lest three babies who weaning made no differences to there sleep. There is plenty of evidance to show that weaning before 17week's can course health problems.

She's either having a grwoth spurt in which case she needs more milk or going through a sleep regesion which is also quit coman around 4months.

She sleeps 8 hours without a feed! TBH I think it's unreasonable to expect a baby to be able to go much longer. FF is unlikely to change that IMO.

I'm guessing the issue is that you don't want to go to bed at 7om?

Basically, yes, Japhrimel. Just discussed it with DH, and have come to the conclusion that I am being dead selfish - I hadn't even thought about 7-3 being an 8 hour block, I'm so focused on "sleeping through", largely due to comments/questions from family etc. And yes, I don't want to go to bed earlier because it's the only time I get to myself, which i know is a rubbish excuse and doesn't deal with the reality of having a baby! Thanks for everyone's advice, I've tried to cram in more feeds since late afternoon, and am staying in bed ill while DH brings her in for feeds. I'm not trying formula tonight.

Even if you go to bed at 7 a couple of times a week, that 8 hours undisturbed will be enough to recharge your batteries. Then the other nights you can stay up later and the 3am wake-up won't seem so bad!

Oh, and try to enjoy it while it lasts too! My ds also did 7pm-3am for a couple of months, then went back to waking several times a night - I don't remember the last time I had 8 hours in a row and he's almost 7 months now.

I would love my 6 month old to sleep like your baby! :)

I go to bed when he does at about 7.30 every few days when I'm particularly tired or if i'm feeling ill. That way I get most evenings to spend with DH but catch up on sleep when I need to.

If you get nosey parkers people asking about his sleep you can just smile ad say 'yes she sleeps 8 hours and is doing really well'

sorry her sleep

Olivietti To be honest, your baby is sleeping well for her age. My LO did the same as what yours is doing, slept through for a few weeks then started waking up again. Is there anyone who could take over a night shift for you whilst you're ill. You could try formula for one night to give yourself a break from waking up or try some EBF in a bottle.

I think it's normal around this age for their sleep to go to pot, they go through a growth spurt and a big mental leap which disturbs their sleep. Not true for all babies, but a lot of them go through it at this age.

Starlight, at this precise moment yes! I do need more than 8 hours....I've got a really bad cod, aching all over, no sppetite etc, so I wanted to give her forumula to try and cut out the eary am get up, unti I get better. Have decided against it though, as you will see.

Oh ok, cross posted. I know I am lucky with her sleeping - was just feeling gloomy today cos not well. Thanks for all who have commented!

Having EBM in a bottle so someone else could do the 3am feed while you're ill could be a more realistic option than trying to get her to sleep for 12 hours without food.