Night time formula feed for EBF baby

[izzyness]

At the moment 4 1/2 month DD is EBF and wakes almost every two hours at night to be fed, she won't go back to sleep unless she gets something. As you can imagine it's taking a lot out of me sleep wise. I do try and get a bit of pumping done every day but with such a hungry baby I don't get too much extra so DH can't give her a bottle each night. Would it be awful if we gave her a bottle of formula for one of her feeds at night? When I think about doing it I feel like I'm betraying her somehow (I know that sounds silly). I just really miss sleep.

No it wouldn't be awful. However I would suggest you try her on a formula feed during the day first so you can monitor how she gets on with it. If she's fine then give her a feed at night.

I do this with my DS and its been a massive help. Plus the formula takes longer for them to digest so you should get a longer stretch at night!
I think if it makes your life easier and baby is still getting benefits of breastmilk you shouldn't feel guilty :)

Also to add - 4.5 months of EBF is really good going so you shouldn't feel bad!

Nothing wrong with it at all. But you should be aware that formula can cause things like painful wind and constipation. You could try it and see how you get on. More sleep would be nice.

if you want to give a ff than of course that's fine but just to say it doesn't always help them to sleep longer! a ff helped dc1 sleep longer but had no effect whatsoever on dc2 + 3's sleep!!!

I am in the same situation, but my DS is only 10 weeks old and sometimes only manages 1 hour between feeds, and only feeds for 1-2 minutes at a time. Even with a bottle he refuses to take more in. How long does this go on for? I've tried spacing out feeds to see if making him more hungry means he feeds better but he just doesn't. A three hour stretch of sleep seems like a long way off!

My advice would be this does last for ever... at 4 months there is a massive sleep regression.. my bf dd was also waking 2 hourly at 4 months and it was so hard then at 5 months she went for longer and longer then 6 nonths they start solids anyway and my dd started dropping breast feeds then. Now at 10 months she sleeps through the night.
At the end of the day it's up to you though.

*Does not!!! Grrr

Not awful at all! I know loads of mums who mostly bf but give a bottle of f at night. Even if it doesn't make her sleep longer at least your dh can give the bottle and let you have a chunk of sleep.

Not awful at all, but don't expect it to be a miracle cure. Also I'd try a daytime ff first in case it upsets her tummy.

Thanks for all the advise guys. we gave it a go last night and after a bit of fussing she slept about an hour and a half longer so I'm hopeful it will give me a but more shut eye.

I regularly do this with DD to share the load with DH. Your supply is well established now so missing a couple of night feeds a week won't hurt. Earlier on I expressed but it was too time consuming and DH prefers to use ready made formula if he is doing a night feed.