How will Bedtime bottle affect supply ?

[sunnyweather]

Baby is 61/2 months old. I really want to keep bf ing but have given ds his first bottle of formula tonight, this is so that me and dh can start to share night time routine. I'm wondering how much this will affect my supply? We have been weaning since he was 51/2 months and that's all going fine. What have your experiences of this been? I really don't want to risk bf ing and am aiming to keep going til he is one. Thanks

If you're just introducing the one then it will probably be absolutely fine. If you get engorged in the night, express off enough to keep you comfortable, but not a whole feed. But my advice is stick religiously to just doing this one feed as formula, any growth spurts, fussiness, wanting extra feeds etc, do them by breast and your supply will be just fine - problems come when you keep using the formula every time your baby wants more than normal and so your supply doesn't keep adjusting to his new patterns.

At this age supply is quit robust and as your weaning anyway you'll be starting to drop feed's soon.

As OP say's as long as you only substitue this one feed and don't add more formula if you think he needs more milk then you should be fine.

Thanks for replying - I can relax and enjoy my 20 mins now! Merry Xmas x

We did this when DD1 was a similar age. Your supply will be fine. I did find though that after a while she refused breast for that feed and it was the start of the end, but she fully weaned herself just before her first birthday which wasn't necessarily a bad thing

At this age your supply will be fine if he is still feeding lots during the day or the night. If you ate doing a bedtime bottle, have you thought about what you will do when he takes no milk during the day? This can potentially mean you aren't feeding from 7am to 2 or 3 at night, if he wakes once for milk.

Should be fine though, Lilham, if he's dropping them at his own speed.

Thanks so much for the additional responses - had looked on line but most of what I found was about tiny babies so I was quite confused. It was the first bottle of formula I had given him and I felt strangely emotional about it! I really like feeding him so we're not planning on doing it every day - it was just testing the water to see if he could take it - I had been feeling quite down as I've not been out past 6 o'clock since he was born! So, this is the first step to dh being able to do the evening routine without me so that at least I know I could go out ...

.... Actually I'm quite worried about how I will feel when it is time to stop bf ing. The thought of it at the moment makes me feel quite sad