giving a bf baby an evening bottle of formula

[2under2]

has anyone got experiences with this they could share? Ds is six weeks old and sleeps very sporadically. He's a big baby (14lbs or so I think) and doesn't go for more than two hours between feeds at night. As he is also very sicky he'll often end up throwing up what looks like most of his feed and then start afresh - so all in all we'll be up for anything from one to 2.5 hours. I've had enough!! I really really need some sleep (can't get any during the day as dds can't just be left to their own devices at 2 & 4 years old) and ds's sleeping habits seem to be getting worse if anything. I've been tempted to try him with a bottle of formula at 11pm or so to see if it'll make him go for a bit longer before he wants to eat again. But does it actually work?

Bags of sympathy 2under2 ? I've only got the one, now nearly 6 months, and still remember the early weeks with shudders. Can't imagine how people with other kids cope with lack of sleep. Answer to your question is, at first it just allowed us to split the nightshift so I'd do one feed (and the subsequent hour long winding/possetting/winding/settling nightmare) then dh would do the other. But then ds did start sleeping through ? don't know if it was bottle or age or sleeping bag or big cot that did it, though. Good news is it didn't affect milk production though so all my fears about formula with b/f baby were groundless. Hope it works for you! Do be careful which formula though - SMA didn't agree with my ds and my friend's HV suggested Aptimil was better for b/f babies. Worked for us. (didn't dare admit what I was planning to my own HV as she had been so supportive when I was struggling with b/f, stupidly felt I was letting the side down).

2under2
i have a friend who intorduced the formula fedat 11pm, got hubbie to do it, she was in bed at 9 and got til 2am. and after a period of time that the baby went longer in the night.

2under2 - I did this with ds1 and ds2 from about 6 weeks old, and both slept like logs afterwards.
They were both b/f during the day, but the last feed at night was at around 8pm and was 7 oz of either Farleys or Hipp Organic. I think it went up to 8 or 9 oz after a few weeks.
If they did wake in the night it would be around 2 or 3 am, and I used to bring them into bed for a b/f.
Hope this helps.

The giving formula = sleeping longer thing didn't work AT ALL for me The only advantage IMO is that someone else can give the feed while you sleep - but that bottle could equally well have expressed breastmilk in it.I had an awful sleeper up to 8months when controlled crying sorted it out. Giving formula didn't give us one second of extra sleep, otherwise I would have poured it into him using a funnel (no, really, only joking)

Ime, no. I had to introduce one formula feed (for weight loss reasons) and it made no difference whatsoever to sleeping habits.

2under2 - when dd was about 4 weeks I introduced a formula/EBM feed in the evening at about 7.30pm as a "before bed" feed, in the hope that it would load her up, as she was constantly feeding from me in teh evenings and wasnt sleeping until about 1am. It was GREAT - she started sleeping through till at least 4am and I got lots more much-needed and lovely sleep !

When I started this I made her bottles with more milk than I thought she would drink (formula or EBM) working on the premise that she wouldnt drink what she didnt want (about 4-5oz).

Good luck!

2under2.... if your baby is quite sick with breatsmilk he is unlikley to be better with formula. Also formula might give you 1 extra hour of sleep (longer to digest doesn't mean from 2 hours between feeds to a wacking 5 hours for example!)

BTW - one of my clients did this (formula at 10PM) I told her what i told you... she still did it.,... when I left her - baby was 8 weeks old and still waking twice in the night (sometimes 3 hours after his bottle). The "only" positive was as others have said that you can go to bed earlier and get DH to give trhe bottle.

Agree with pupuce re the sick.
I tried this and it worked with DS1, but not with DS2. DS1 was probably just a better sleeper anyway, and DS2 a bit of a nightmare!
I think you might feel better if you try something, though. Poor you!

2under2, there are a few things I would try before resorting to formula - have you tried feeding from one breast only for all feeds? Especially since he brings up a lot of his feed. He may well be filling up on foremilk and just getting overloaded if he takes both breasts. I have a friend who had this problem with her second son and realised after a number of weeks she had been overfeeding when using both breasts. She only fed from one side at a time with her 3rd and 4th sons, the last one weighing 12lb 2oz at birth. She exclusively breastfed him and didn't have the sam problems. You feed on one side till he stops himself, wind him then offer him the same side again. He will then get more fatty hind milk and go longer between feeds. Initially you could express from the other side to remain comfortable but your supply will adjust. You could store up EBM for later use.
Is your DH home in the evening? When the other 2 toddlers are in bed,you should go too. Leave expressed EBM for the baby so that you can get a sleep before the night feeds. You probably won't need to do that for very long but you certainly need some sleep. Have you any family/friends nearby who can take them all off your hands for a few hours during the day for you to sleep? I have gladly done that for friends in your position.
Giving formula may not make any difference at all. It might make the sickiness worse.
Have you tried a dummy? I would try that before formula too.

No time to read the other messages on this thread as am under strict orders to come to bed now... but if your babys is that sicky, have you talked to the DR about reflux??

BR

I would second the test for possible reflux. Also if he is feeding every 2 hours at night, are you sure his cries are hunger? My ds will often cry and try to suckle when he has wind and if I give in and feed him instead of winding him, he usually throws the excess milk up. They say a breastfed baby cannot be overfed, that's because if there is any excess milk they simply vomit it back up again. So I would guess that your ds is taking too much milk at night and his crying is down to something other than hunger.
Just before the last feed at night (around 10.30pm) I give ds gripewater, he will then do a lovely burp for me afterwards and we will then get a fairly good stretch until he wakes up again (around 2.30am), I'll do the same for that feed and he will then sleep until 6-7am. Perhaps feeding him less often and making sure that the feeds he gets are big ones will help.

Hope you manage to get some more sleep tonight!

thanks for the responses - I think ds probably has reflux, he seems pretty uncomfortable and often grimaces and gags most dramatically. He's currently wearing his 6th jumper of the day (and I only change him when it's just become too wet for comfort, not fussy about bodily fluids in this house! ) - but what can be done about it? Isn't it just one of those things, particularly as he is obviously growing like a weed?
mears, I always feed from just one side as my supply is a bit overabundant and I'd probably drown the poor child otherwise. I will try him with EBM rather than formula, doesn't sound like formula would guarantee me an easy night and would probably end up causing problems.

2under2 - tiktok has advised in previous posts to use one breast over a few hours (? 6 hours) when the supply is abundant. Hopefully that will help reduce the amount produced. You may need to express from the other side for comfort. All useful for the freezer. Expressing does not stimulate the breast as much as actual feeding.

hiya,
Firstly I would look into the sickness problem first. My 19month old had the very same problem as a baby up untill about 4 months when i eventually persuaded the docter that it wasnt normal. I was prescribed baby gaviscon which was a great help. Also try Gina Fords routines or at least as a guidline for times etc.I did my own thing with dd who is still a very demanding child at 19 months but with ds at 16 weeks i am using Gina Fords routines as a gudeline and it is all going to plan. Touch wood.And this is coming from someone who has slated Gina Fords ideas in the past.

thanks for starting this thread 2under2 - hope it is giving you some ideas. I also have fantasies about delegating some of the night duty but I am always stopped by fear of sabotaging breast feeding if I start giving a regular bottle. What are people's views on this (of course I know that many people can do it without it affecting supply, but is it possible that for SOME people it can make bf unravel? If so, I don't want to risk it). I'm also reluctant to lose the capacity to exclusively bf - don't want to be tied to HAVING to give a bottle every night as it may not always be convenient. Plus my nights are really not too bad - feed around 11-11.30 (I never manage to go to bed before this) then one feed between 3 and 4 and up at around 7. Much much better than with ds1.

ah well ds obviously spotted the bottle and decided to get his act together a bit - the last two nights he slept from 9pm - 2am, then up for 2 hours and asleep again till 6:30. I can live with that.
Will talk to the GP about the sickiness at the 8 week check.
Elliott, I know what you mean - I really wouldn't want to have to rely on bottles, either. Plus I think I'd be terribly ashamed of myself if I gave ds formula (not saying bottle feeders should be ashamed of themselves, don't want to start a debate here). I'd probably end up blaming myself for every ear infection or patch of eczema he might get in the future.

I got dh to give a bottle last thing at night from about 6 weeks - it was the only way I could cope. I was always definite that it would never be more than one bottle and wasn't too wound up if it was formula instead of EBM. Ds would cheerfully guzzle down 8oz/9oz at eleven o'clock at night. He was a big baby (still is massive!) 8.10lb at birth, champion feeder and on to the 99.6 centile within three weeks, despite being a stealth possetter. We kept the single bottle going until he started properly on solids and started dropping daytime feeds. At about seven months I stopped expressing and took over that 11.00 feed and bf then, dropping the bottle. Now at one year ds has dropped the late night feed and just bfs first thing in the morning. Dh really treasured that late night snuggly feed and I was very glad to share It didn't seem to change my milchkuh capacity - I was expressing half a pint a day and bf-ing. HTH - I would do it all again.

Changing the subject just slightly: how do you get the little bugger - sorry, darling boy - to take a bottle? Have I left it too late at 7 months? Currently feeding 10.30pm, 2am, 5.30am, but has been better in the past (10.30/11pm to 4.30 or even 5am - don't know what's going wrong at the moment). All a bit of a shock as his sister slept through from 4 months, so thought this was normal... (ha, ha)

Why bother with a bottle at 7 months - better to move to beaker IMO.

Hi

I tried the formula feed at 10.30 at 3 weeks and at the time I found it a godsend. It didn't affect my supply and I was glad ds was taking a bottle because anyone I know who started much later on a bottle found the baby refused point blank to take it EVER!

So it did increase the time between feeds. However, at 3 and 6 weeks they are feeding an incredible amount because of a growth spurt so I think things will settle down anyway. But we found our little boy did sleep through much earlier than other babies who were completely bf. Hang in there, if giving one bottle of formula at night allows you to continue to bf then you should do it rather than collapse with exhaustion. Good luck!

My dh is giving dd2 an occasional middle of the night bottle of ebm (she takes about 4-5oz) just to glet me sleep through the night and she's taken the bottle ok mosltly,though some nights goes ballistic at the sight of it and he has to wake me anyway. I don't want to introduce a formula bottle but a whole nights sleep while he dispenses what I stored up seems OK by me now and again, and worth me waking up in a puddle of milk!!!

Resurrection of thread

I would like to do exactly what susanmt talks about (baby 5.5months eats solids well, exclusivley BF), just a bottle of EBM every now and then but how do you get them to suck that teat?

Never did it with my first one so any advice welcome.

absolutely no advice but I introduced night feed to DS as he dipped into danger weight zone on weight scale - he took to it like a duck to water but he could have just been starving and knew he had to. Hopefllu yours will to

Suze, does baba have a dummy? If so, a soft cheapo latex teat might work. It did with dd2, who then progressed to orthodontic silicone teat. There are all sorts of exotic nubbly teats out there, I believe, but I'd say start at the cheapest and most available end of the scale.

Hi, new here.
Just to say dh has been giving ds (7 weeks) a bottle every evening about 7.30 so I can have time alone pre-bed with dd (2y3m). Bf the rest of the time. I haven't noticed effects on supply, but ds has been a lazy suckler and the bottle probably doesn't help. I had massive guilt about formula - exczema & asthma in family, etc, but just cannot get ahead of myself enough to express milk. (every time I try I end up with waking hungry baby just as I put cap on express bottle). However it has definitely not made him sleep, sooner, deeper or longer.