Introducing one Formula Feed (whilst breastfeeding)

[LucyC12345]

hello all knowing mums..

i've been exclusively breast feeding for 15+ weeks now . I'm finding it incredibly rewarding and really enjoy doing it however i am absolutely SHATTERED. I'm feeding on demand so my lo still wakes up a few times in the night for food (last night - e.g. asleep by 7p, and fed at 10p, midnight, 3a, 5.30a, 8a) I'm keen to try and introduce one bottle feed at 11pm ish as SO many people I know have suggested that will mean he sleeps for longer at that feed. Oh, and my husband can do that feed ;)

Has anyone else done that successfully and - forgive my ignorance here - but what formula should I buy? Is there one which 'tastes' most like breast milk?

thanks in advance for your help and thoughts

We do this. I'm not sure it's actually added any length to his sleep but it does mean I gain an hour or two as DP feeds him and settles him while I go to bed.

We use Hipp organic as the word organic made me feel slightly less guilty... Not sure if it is in fact better than others or not! It does taste similar to bm (though not quite) but I haven't tasted all the others!

We did similar for a while. DP did a late evening feed so I could go to bed early while he looked after the baby downstairs till midnight. Didn't make him sleep longer but did give me a 4-5 hour chunk of sleep from 8pm to 1am which helped during the 4 month sleep regression hell, which is probably the stage you are at now. Sometimes we used expressed milk if I had the time and inclination but formula was used several times a week.

It doesn't matter what brand you use and "organic" doesn't really mean all that much really - it is there to capitalize on guilt mostly. Aptamil is not any closer to breastmilk than any of the other formulas. I would buy a carton of aptamil, hipp and cow and gate and see which one turns out to be most popular. We used aptamil in the end. Definitely use cartons if it is only one feed a day, it's much easier than powder and if you are only using one bottle a day then the powder is likely to have gone off before you finish the tub.

15 weeks is quite late to be starting with bottles so you may need to persevere a bit to get your DS to drink out of one - try offering small amounts in the day when he isn't hungry just to get him used to sucking on the teat.

thank you ladies!