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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Is formula really the magical solution I think it will be?

107 replies

Slh122 · 30/01/2014 06:01

I have a 9 day old baby and I'm getting about 2-3 hours sleep on a night.
He settles fine in his Moses basket during the day, feeds every 2-3 hours.
He goes to bed when we go to bed about 11.30 pm then wakes up around 2.
He then feeds constantly till around 7 or 8 am. If he falls asleep on my boob I lay him in his Moses basket and he screams and starts rooting until I feed him again. Repeat constantly.
I can't do it anymore. I feel like leaving him in his crib to cry.
A few people have told me their baby slept longer on formula. Is it true?

OP posts:

AbouttoCrack · 30/01/2014 06:06

That sounds fairly normal for a 9 day old. Stick to it. It's sooo worth it.
You are winding him though .. right?

Original poster

Slh122 · 30/01/2014 06:08

I'm winding him but nothing ever comes up - doesn't matter how long I do it for. And he's fine during the day, just on a night he cries and cries and wants to feed constantly.

OP posts:

soapnuts · 30/01/2014 06:09

nope - not true. some babies are happier on formula, some happier on breast. at 9 days you're still really early to introduce formula - you're still establishing breastfeeding. ime it's a slippery slope once you start formula because of less stimulation at the breast. have you considered creating a safe co-sleeping environment and letting him sleep with you? both of mine were like this - its gets better but it so tough at the beginning. hope you have some support to help you keep breastfeeding if you want to.

Original poster

Slh122 · 30/01/2014 06:11

We have been co sleeping but tonight everytime I laid him down beside me to sleep he'd start screaming again until I fed him, even though he'd fed for about an hour before and had delatched himself.

OP posts:

Original poster

Slh122 · 30/01/2014 06:14

He's just done it again - come off himself, I've dared to move him to wind him and he started shrieking and screaming until I put him back on. Seriously cannot cope anymore.

OP posts:

TheXxed · 30/01/2014 06:16

Perfectly normal for a 9 day old baby.

Original poster

Slh122 · 30/01/2014 06:18

I do want to continue breastfeeding, I'd be really disappointed if I stopped. Just sheer desperation I suppose. And it's so awful when he cries, it upsets me as well. :(

OP posts:

fluffandnonsense · 30/01/2014 06:26

Can you express and get your partner to give him a feed? I'm in exactly the same position and without letting my partner give her a feed I'd be getting 1-2 hours sleep a night!

AbouttoCrack · 30/01/2014 06:52

I do feel for you. Its so tiring. He's only 9 days old though. It's still such very early days. I agree that bottle feeding at this stage will mess up your supply. Try to skeep as much as you can during the day. It does get better. Honestly.

atthestrokeoftwelve · 30/01/2014 06:55

Sounds normal I'm afraid your baby is very tiny still. In the weeks to come thing will get better, try to do nothing apart from feed, eat and rest atm. ( I am assuming it's your first).

Not all babies need winding, mine never did, it tried a few times but it was never needed- all babies are different.

SJisontheway · 30/01/2014 07:01

If you are cosleeping anyway, have you tried feeding lying down. As he drops off you just roll away a little - job done

NotQuiteCockney · 30/01/2014 07:03

Yes, get feeding lying down working out, and you may find things get a lot easier.

I can guarantee he won't be doing this in a week. He will be doing something else. Which will also be annoying, but not quite as annoying.

If you can hang in there, you can change to formula in a week, in two weeks, whenever, but if you change to formula now, you will have a very hard to impossible time switching back.

headoverheels · 30/01/2014 07:08

Try going to bed earlier. 11.30pm sounds very late (for you I mean!) when you have a newborn! It's very common for babies (breastfed or formula fed) to sleep better in the earlier part of the night, so go to bed at 9-10pm to make the most of it.

mrscog · 30/01/2014 07:13

Yes what head over heels said, you really need to make the most of the early evening sleep - for the first month of DS life I was in bed at 8.30!

These mega feeding sessions are to build your supply, they don't last long - in a couple of weeks they'll be over.

Have you tried rousing him a bit in the day to offer more feeds then?

Original poster

Slh122 · 30/01/2014 07:17

I've just fed him again for almost an hour then he's delatched himself and I've put him beside me so we can both sleep. Now he's screaming and doesn't want feeding and doesn't need his nappy changing.
I know he's only tiny :(
I just feel like I must be doing something wrong on a night - he's fine throughout the day and then every single night without fail since we came home from hospital it's been this set up of switching between constant feeding and screaming.

OP posts:

Superworm · 30/01/2014 07:20

It is full on in the beginning. Nine days is teeny tiny and it takes a while for them to orientate to day and night.

Couple if things that might help. Keep nights dark and quiet and the days light and bright. I used to pop DS by window to sleep in the day. It know is hard in the winter but worth maximising the day light.

Secondly, go to bed as early as possible and try and nap in the day. The sleep deprivation can go on a while regardless of how they are fed, so try and get as much as you can.

Congrats btw

Faithless12 · 30/01/2014 07:24

It's not a magical solution. At 9 days old DS was sleeping on my chest, the only way he'd stay asleep. I slept in the middle of the bed with my arms on pillows so he couldn't roll anywhere (not that he could/did) I didn't work out feeding laying down until he was 2 months old.

Pooka · 30/01/2014 07:24

It can take a week or two for a baby to differentiate between night and day.

As well as all the advice above, I'd recommend keeping the evenings and nights very quiet, with low lighting etc, and conversely, don't whisper or tiptoe around in the day. Open blinds etc.

JemimaPuddle · 30/01/2014 07:24

In the first weeks they do feed much more at night as, I think, you produce more milk at that time.
It's utterly exhausting, I got through by feeding lying down & co sleeping. Also agree with getting to bed much earlier if you can.

atthestrokeoftwelve · 30/01/2014 07:44

The milk producing hormone prolactin is highest during the night in mothers; nightfeeding is extremely important during the early days when milk supply is being established, it ensure a good daytime supply.
If you give formula you will interfere with the process and your own milk production will diminish.

Stick with it atm. do you have any support during the day? Try to sleep when your baby sleeps- no matter what time that is.
Forget housework, everytyhing else will wait- you have the most important job in the world in hour hands.

And congratulations!

Overcooked · 30/01/2014 07:54

Give him a dummy - now that really was a magical solution for us for both DS and DD - i know some people are 'against' them but I've no idea why, babies like to suck, you're being his dummy at the moment, give him a different one.

Hang on in there, it gets better!

atthestrokeoftwelve · 30/01/2014 07:58

Dummies, like all articifial teats can cause nipple confusion when breastfeeding -and can make a woman's nipples very sore, even to the point of bleeding.
Dummies can also interefere with breastmilk supply.

Fairylea · 30/01/2014 07:59

Hmm I'm going to go against the grain and say I switched to formula with dd now aged 11 and it was a godsend for me. She did seem to immediately sleep longer and of course one of the main advantages is anyone can feed the baby (without the faff of expressing either) so I could hand her over to dh and give him a turn while I skipped a feed and had a sleep.

I loved formula feeding so much I formula fed ds from birth 10 years later. I felt really stressed with all the pressure to breastfeed with dd and with ds I didn't care less as I knew it suited us as a family.

Do whatever you want to do. No one will be asking how you fed your baby ten years later.

Fairylea · 30/01/2014 08:01

(And also you can give a good bottle feed, know they've had a lot to feed and then give a dummy not worrying about supply and demand or whatever whatever else..... Both mine slept 6-6 by about 12 weeks, but I may just be lucky!)

ReticulatingSplines · 30/01/2014 08:05

Don't wind him! And try to feed in a position that when he delatches you don't need to move him and disturb him.

He's come from an environment where he gets sustenance constantly so it takes a while to adjust.

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