Bottle of formula before bed for breast fed baby. Anyone tryed it to help sleep?

[hayleybop]

Hi,
I have a 2 week DD2. Up all night feeding whilst DD1 is jealous as hell and keeping me up 4 times a night wanting attention or maybe she is teething, or to hot, or to cold dont know but I am absolutley knackered.
I was considering a bottle of formula to make DD2 sleep for a longer period. I dont mind getting up in the night for her but not DD1. Maybe tonight may be different who knows but I do feel guilty if I was to give her a bottle of formula, should I feel this way or should I just go ahead and see if it gives me the rest bite I need. Happy mum = happy babies, tierd grumpy mum = grumpy babies ect.....

formula won't help her sleep longer. She is still so small so needs feeding often

Yep I tried, Didn't work.

does dd1 need calpol before bed if she is teething? may help.

also can you bf lying down in bed?

She's two weeks old FGS!!

Bloody hell, why bother having children if you find their demands too much.

Also tried (although at an older age) doesn't work (sorry!) How old is your DD1? Could someone else get up with her?

I once asked the same question and got told no it doesn't make them sleep any longer. On our post natal thread (July 08) most babies don't sleep through bottle and breast fed and those that do don't so it all the time.

I wouldn't bother with the hassle of one bottle TBH.

I do feel your pain I was woken 6 times last night, twice with the bay, 3 times with 4yo DD1 and once with 2yo DD2.

I have tried it a few times (when I've had wine!!), at most it has made half an hour of difference!!

Interesting recent study:

Breast-feeding increases sleep duration of new parents.
Doan T, Gardiner A, Gay CL, Lee KA.

Department of Family Health Care Nursing, School of Nursing, University of California at San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.

OBJECTIVES: This study describes sleep patterns for mothers and fathers after the birth of their first child and compares exclusive breast-feeding families with parents who used supplementation during the evening or night at 3 months postpartum. METHODS: As part of a randomized clinical trial, the study utilized infant feeding and sleep data at 3 months postpartum from 133 new mothers and fathers. Infant feeding type (breast milk or formula) was determined from parent diaries. Sleep was measured objectively using wrist actigraphy and subjectively using diaries. Lee's General Sleep Disturbance Scale was used to estimate perceived sleep disturbance. RESULTS: Parents of infants who were breastfed in the evening and/or at night slept an average of 40-45 minutes more than parents of infants given formula. Parents of infants given formula at night also self-reported more sleep disturbance than parents of infants who were exclusively breast-fed at night. CONCLUSIONS: Parents who supplement their infant feeding with formula under the impression that they will get more sleep should be encouraged to continue breast-feeding because sleep loss of more than 30 minutes each night can begin to affect daytime functioning, particularly in those parents who return to work.

thanks for the replys, wont bother, yes I do breast feed lying down. DD1 is 19 months old. Thanks a bunch moondog thats just what I want to here after having no sleep through out pregnancy and 2 weks after the birth of DD2. I do find the demands to much I suffered badly with pnd with DD1, I live 500 miles from friends and family so dont have any support. DD2 unplanned so yeah cheers for your kind words of support....

It is not likely to make any difference whatsoever to how long your DD sleeps but it is likely to mean the beginning of the end of breastfeeding. Feeding at night is really important this early on.

Have you a partner or family member to help in the night with DD1?

And in my opinion that happy mum=happy baby thing is a load of old pants. Babies are happy because their needs are being met, they couldn't give a rat's arse how happy their mothers are

Sorry, just seen you don't have family local so ignore.

how does writing comments like that help anyone moondog?!! . isnt this forum meant to be to help mothers in need. having a newborn and a toddler is hard work. try having twin babies and a toddler like me.
even though 2 weeks is a bit young, you should try whatever makes your life easier causing you less stress. your little one obviously ones the attention and probably is quite jealous. after 2 weeks you can start expressing and get someone is to do the feed your little one could help too. once she gets into a routing your life will get much easier.
goodluck
p.s. have you tried the contented little baby book by gina ford? some people dont agree but worked for me.

Was DD1 sleeping through before? What is the house/ flat layout? Could you and DD2 co-sleep downstairs perhaps so DD1 isn't disturbed. FWIW, I can only assume MD misread your OP, although I will probably get flamed for speaking for someone else.

I live in a bungalow, all rooms quite close together....I agree two weeks is too young, I just wanted some feedback. My partner not much help in the night time. I was expressing but hard to find time when you've had 2 hours sleep and a jealous clingy toddler demanding attention.
DD1 wont have her dad put her to bed or seen to in the night either, been there done that not much luck. Know things will get easier, first few weeks always difficult. DD1 does sleep through but we've all been ill so I havn't had a run of good luck since DD2 was born.

Oh Hayley I really feel for you. I have a 7 week old ds and 19 month old dd. Both planned and I have a very supportive dh, but no family for miles around. It is a totally exhausting time of life, especially when one child wakes up just as the other has finally settled.
We introduced a bottle of formula for the 11pm feed a few weeks ago. I don't think the formula has really made a difference to how long he sleeps to be honest, but I'm really glad we did it for three reasons:

1. ds knows what a bottle is, so sometime in the future when I'm not crippled with tiredness, I can go out and know that he'll be ok for someone else to feed him (I've seen several friends try to get their babies of 6 months plus to start taking a bottle and had a real battle on their hands.)
2. Dh can do the 11pm feed and I can go to sleep much earlier, which makes me more able to handle the night feeds. Its also a lovely special time for the two of them together.
3. I can be confident that any crying at that time isn't due to hunger, so I'm not sitting with him on the breast for hours into the night.

We've had no experience of nipple confusion, or rejection of the breast, or loss of milk supply, and the world hasn't ended because he's not exclusively bf. I totally believe in the happy-mum-happy-baby mantra. For example I love routine, and in building some structure into my day I'm sure I deal with the kids in a calmer and more confident manner, which must rub off on them. For other people it will be the 'wing it' attitude that makes them more relaxed - a routine gets them stressed.

Definitely do whatever your gut instinct tells you, and whatever makes life easier at this undeniably exhausting time. Good luck!!

hayleybop do you think your DD1 would get used to the idea of no one but her dad coming to her in the night if he persisted? Because my DS was just the same until a fortnight ago when DH and I decided h had to be able to do it because I am 34 weeks pregnant and can't manage DS and DC2 in the night. DS cried like mad all the first night but hardly made a fuss the next night, and since then has been happy for either of us to go in.

You can't go on seeing to both children in the night and the one who really needs you and no one else at the moment is DD2. DD1 might not be happy at having daddy see to her at first, and your DP might not be too keen either, but with such a young baby in the house you need to prioritise.

I hope you get something sorted

I have 18 months between my first two, like you no family support and a DP who works long hours so I know how you feel, DD2 did not sleep through the night until a year.

We have always had the system as I wake for the baby DP wakes for the big ones and goes to them then at least you are not waking loads.

We coslept with DD2 starting the night in a bedside cot before coming in with me after her first feed (which DD3 does now) anything to get the most amount of sleep we can.

Oh well said sunshineakindat!

I gave my DD formula once a day from birth (on the advice of a paediatrician - she was jaundiced and dehydrated). It didn't affect my milk supply (I breast fed til she was 9 months old when I went back to work). And it gave my DH a great chance to bond with her while I got some sleep.

Good luck whatever you decide.

I've never heard of a baby sleeping better on formula (and we talk about sleep a lot at all the baby groups I go to)

I would imagine that working on your DD1s waking would be easier than trying to change the sleeping habits of a 2 week old.

There's another thread on here with someone with a young baby who has been giving 1 bottle of formula a night and now her DS is starting to refuse the breast and she's giving more topups and wants to stop the cycle before it gets worse. I know it works for some people, but the risk that it won't and you'll end up completely FF is a serious one.

It does have to be said that introducing formula at this age has risks including diminishing milk supply. It is great that you did it with no ill effects but that isn't the case for a lot of women. It's an individual choice but it is as well to know the facts

ProvincialLady you are quite right - I had to work to keep up my milk supply by letting DD nurse for hours during the day. I just meant it is possible and it can be the best solution for some mums.

we have just started mixed feeding partly cos DH was feeling a bit left out and i cant/hate expressing. I BF DS2 all day and in the evening during his cluster feeds. then DH gives him about 4ozs at 11.30pm. i get up during the night for the 3am feed.

it doesnt help him sleep longer but means i can rest/try to sleep between about 9pm and 3am.

all i would add is that BF was established before we started to introduce this so my milk supply hasnt been affected.

FWIW Moondog - that probably wasnt the most constructive comment

I feel your pain - we have a newborn and a toddler too, and it's not easy. For what it's worth, when my DD1 was much older (8 months) we went away for 3 nights and DD1 was FF the whole time by my Mum, and she still didn't sleep any better. I felt like phoning up SIL - who had been nagging us through MIL to give DD1 a bottle at night since she was a newborn - and going "nah nah nah". But I resisted because I'm too well mannered.

PS DH has just read this and asked whether "FF" meant "fucking feeding".

A bottle of formula will probably make your life more difficult, than help! It certainly won't make them sleep any better, it can often make them sleep worse with added wind problems of bottle feeding and constipation from formula! Plus you have all the hassle of making up the bottle, sterilising, expressing if you want to use EBM, and at 2 weeks it can still very easily cause nipple confusion and turn them off breastfeeding completely!

Did you know, when you breastfeed, you get a surge of hormones that send you back off to sleep straight away and very deeply. That's why breastfeeding can make you feel tired. This is to help Mums cope with the broken nights. I've never slept so well, albeit for short periods, as when I was breastfeeding!You won't get this if you give a bottle!

Yeah Moondog, chill a bit. Lack of sleep is really horrid, even if you love your kids and they are at the centre of your universe.

I managed a bf coup with my third that I would not necessarily recommend, because I am sure there are countless official edicts decrying such behaviour, but which saved my sanity one night. I was totally exhausted and had the baby in bed with me, while I happened to be topless for some reason, probaly because I was too knackered to put all my clothes on again.

I woke up about 5 hours later, less knackered, but very worried something had happened to the baby, because normally I just doze when the baby's in bed with me. Oddly my boobs were not hard as footballs, but soft. Baby was perfectly happy. We were a bit puzzled and then we realised that he had managed to latch on and feed himself in the night.

Now that's class. And it helped his mummy a lot that night.