Breast & Bottle

[talie]

I'm desperate to try and get my 8 month old to sleep longer at night - I'm exhausted! She only sleeps roughly 3-4 hourly. I have a toddler who wakes up inbetween those times as well (also not a good sleeper!)

I breastfeed but am trying to replace her bedtime breastfeed with a formula feed to see if this will fill her up and she will sleep longer?!

I have been trying for the last 4 weeks to get her to drink formula and only manage to force 1 ounce down her. She gets into a right state, screaming and refusing to take it and ends up sweating like anything and I feel awful. I then end up giving her the breast again as she hasn't had her nightime feed! I know I shouldn't do this but she can scream for england and I have no other support at the minute.

Any suggestions please on either getting her to swap one breastfeed for a formula feed or how to get her sleeping through for longer.

Thanks.

I don't think formula would help her sleep better, there's little proof that works.

At eight months you can stop feeding her at night entirely, if you're willing to do controlled crying. (If you're interested, there are plenty of threads on this.)

If she doesn't like formula, you can try giving her a bottle of expressed milk, in case you think your supply is low in the evening. (To do this, you can express in the morning, and fridge the bottle until te evening.)

You could try giving her water in the middle of the night, rather than milk. This might annoy her, but it might teach her that there's nothing to wake up for.

Or you could have her in your bed, to make waking to feed less of a disruption.

i used to give dd1 last breast feed and then 2 yoghurts(petit filous etc). worked for her.