should i introduce one formula feed?

[BetsyRabbit]

breastfeeding is going really well but our 5 week old baby is not sleeping at night untill 3/5am and for most of this time she is sceaming. She takes her time when feeding and it takes its toll at night. My partner has suggested that he could do one of the night feeds so i can sleep and also she takes the bottle so much quicker than the breastfeeding, and i've heard that she might take in less air with a bottle which would stop her being too windy and uncomfortable and help her sleep. Problem is as I'm going back to uni one day a week and I am only able to express enough for that day there is not enough expressed breast milk for a night time feed - (finally i get to the point!!) - is it ok to introduce a formula feed and if so what is a good brand?

I'd say that essentially all the brands are the same it really is a trial and error to see which ones your baby likes.

Formula does not mean sleep though. My nephew was formula and at two years old still has not slept through the night once. So don't assume that formula is a magic potion for sleep.

I didn't bf ds1 very long and when I was in the hospital with ds2 I talked to the bf counselor about introducing formula. She said that if a few ounces of formula a day keeps you bfing the rest of the time than it may be worth it.

I doubt that a bottle would stop her from taking in air, and I would think that the opposite would be true in that she would be more windy.

Hope this helps.

I have a six week old, who is my third child. I breastfed exclusively until 4 weeks (DH was at home all that time) and then introduced a bedtime bottle when she was still screaming for milk after I'd just fed for ages on both sides. This has improved her sleeping (the first few nights she slept for 4 or 5 hours after the bottle), though she wasn't too bad a sleeper anyway. I've also introduced a lunchtime bottle, so I can feed myself and my other children and take DS2 to nursery school and go to the shops.

I was getting fed up with breastfeeding and spending all day on the sofa and not being able to do much with my older 2 children. Introducing these two formula feeds has taken the pressure off and I'm now happy with the level of breastfeeding I'm doing and will be continuing for the time being.

I don't think there's anything wrong with mixed feeding. With my first two children, I gave them an evening bottle from early on with the rest as breastfeeding and I didn't have any supply problems.

I don't think breastfeeding makes a baby windy, but we use Infacol and she doesn't seem to have trouble burping up wind.

Hope things improve for you.

we have introduced a bottle at night because it does mean baby is less windy, though i think that makes us the exception rather than the rule, just depends on how baby feeds, mine is tongue tied and finds bottle easier

Islamum, have you been advised to have the tongue tie snipped?

BR, when are you going back to uni?

Are you co-sleeping at all? Might make the night feeds easier to cope with, especially if you feed lying down. Some women report that once they get the hang of it they don't notice how often their LOs feed in the night because they sleep through some of them

These links might be useful to you:
www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/familybed.html
www.mother-2-mother.com/tut-layingdown.htm

I've never heard that bottle feeding will help reduce a baby's air intake. If anything I've heard the opposite. Lots of things can cause a baby to be uncomfortable. This link might interest you:
www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/gassybaby.html#gascauses

Hunkermunker - am going back to uni on 6th, that day is getting scarily close!

Terramum - DD sleeps beside the bed, we havent put her in the bed with us yet, keep wondering about it but as DD cries so much in the evening/at night and seems uncomfortable (wind maybe or possibly could be reflux but she's def colicky) we've been advised to keep her upright as long as poss after feeds, so I haven't really given feeding whilst lying down a proper go. I may give it a try on our next feed, but do people wind their baby after this or just leave them as they are and hope that they drift off to sleep? Thanks for the links, really helpful.

Can I just say, it's not really about wanting to give formula and make her sleep longer, as she doesn't go to sleep anyway! boo hoo, so tired! No, it's just so my partner can help really but as i'm unable to express enough milk just wanted to check that it wouldn't hurt to introduce formula occasionally and whether there were any benefits.

Everything to do with feeding/sleeping etc all seems so confusing at the mo.

BetsyRabbit firstly I am no expert re expressing, but I have found the more I express the easier it is to produce more. (kind of like tricking your breasts into thinking that the baby is requesting more feeds, when really you are expressing it) I started off expressing at random times and only producing and oz or two, or none. For the past week I have expressed at around 10am fairly consistently and can usually get 4-5 oz. This is used for a top up at 10pm, no idea if it helps with sleep but it makes me feel better psychologically.

I then find it is possible to express a bit more later on (don't bother to do this every day) and then freeze this in breast milk bags for a later date if needed.

I may be wrong but it sounds as if you have mixed feelings about introducing the formula. Someone posted a link recently about the "virgin gut" which helped me to make up my mind (Hunker may have a link or know what I mean?) My dd2 is 5 months and not a great sleeper but we have decided not to introduce formula until 6 months once she is on solids. Then I will consider giving a bottle at bedtime for many of the reasons you mention. However that is the right decision for us and not necessarily for you.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby btw. It all seems confusing at first even if it isn't your first baby. All the best with whatever you decide.

BetsyRabbit firstly I am no expert re expressing, but I have found the more I express the easier it is to produce more. (kind of like tricking your breasts into thinking that the baby is requesting more feeds, when really you are expressing it) I started off expressing at random times and only producing and oz or two, or none. For the past week I have expressed at around 10am fairly consistently and can usually get 4-5 oz. This is used for a top up at 10pm, no idea if it helps with sleep but it makes me feel better psychologically.

I then find it is possible to express a bit more later on (don't bother to do this every day) and then freeze this in breast milk bags for a later date if needed.

I may be wrong but it sounds as if you have mixed feelings about introducing the formula. Someone posted a link recently about the "virgin gut" which helped me to make up my mind (Hunker may have a link or know what I mean?) My dd2 is 5 months and not a great sleeper but we have decided not to introduce formula until 6 months once she is on solids. Then I will consider giving a bottle at bedtime for many of the reasons you mention. However that is the right decision for us and not necessarily for you.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby btw. It all seems confusing at first even if it isn't your first baby. All the best with whatever you decide.

I only pressed the post message button once, honestly