Moving to formula feeding at 5 months - am I awful?

[sunflowerandivy]

Hiya my 5mo has been EBF until this week. My first never took a bottle and I breastfed until 1 year. I cannot pump a thing so EBM not an option. Luckily my baby likes a bottle and will happily take 150ml from a MAM bottle no problem. 180ml supposed to be full feed for her age so a bit worried she won't take a whole feed. I'm doing it as I simply cannot take it anymore. She constantly scratches and digs into my boobs and pushes my breast so the latch is affected. I feel so guilty that I cannot face it anymore despite being a seasoned breast feeder. She also seems to be in a bit of discomfort but poos are normal. Will she get use to it? I'm using kendamil. She was very smelly and gassy with SMA. She seems delighted when I give her a bottle.
Can I ask some questions please?

1. Do formula babies always poop in the night?
2. Do formula babies always take the recommended daily amount based on weight? Do some babies eat less and still thrive?
3. How can I ensure she has enough formula?
4. Has anyone made the switch at 5 months and what were your experiences please? Thanks

Not awful at all!

Having said that, do you want to continue feeding if the issues were resolved? If so, get done sort from a local drop-in or the national breastfeeding helpline. Babies go through annoying phases of doing stuff like this on the breast and it's resolvable if you want to.

But if you don't, then formula is fine. It's a perfectly adequate food and you'll be introducing solids soon as well.

Done sort = some support

I think it's fine to stop if you feel done, especially as your little one is happy to take a bottle. It is normal in my experience to sometimes take a full bottle and sometimes not. You can feed fairly on demand still, with an eye on overall amounts as per back of the box. I think sma has a reputation for being the worst formula and aptimal the best (5yrs ago!), but I never understood why as I also got told they are all the same recipe.

There's no point getting her up about the amount it says on the tin. You wouldn't know how much she takes from breastfeeding, so you don't need to get hung up on how much with formula.

My DDs were both formula fed on demand and that worked fine for us. I think the only time you need to worry with formula is if they are drinking so much that they get huge.

1. No
2. No and yes
3. Feed her whenever she seems hungry and until she's full and refuses any more. As she gets older you'll start to get into a routine and have an idea of how many feeds per day and how many ounces she needs.
4. I switched at 6 months but had bottle fed expressed milk since 2 weeks. We had no issues. Her sleep improved immediately and within a week she dropped all night feeds (previously was having 2). She gained weight better and generally thrived and was more content. I wish I'd swapped sooner.

Far from awful, you're very sensible to swap to formula if you want to.

1. No (mine didn't poo in the night from 8 weeks)

1. No - it's just guidance. Mine never had as much as it said on the box.

1. Feed her when she's hungry as much as she wants and you'll soon get into a routine. If she drains the bottle, add another ounce next time.

1. Mine was bottle FF from birth so I can't help you there but friends who have shifted from EBF to FF had no problems as far as I know.

Hi OP! I started mix feeding at 5.5 months and went full on formula at 6.5-7 months!

Do formula babies always poop in the night?
Nope, mine very rarely poops overnight.

Do formula babies always take the recommended daily amount based on weight?
I don't even know what the recommended is, mine has always been inconsistent in the amount he drinks day by day but he would let me know if he was hungry so I don't worry about.

Do some babies eat less and still thrive?
Mine has always been a big eater but he is 98th percentile weight and height. I think babies are all different and most will eat what's right for them.

How can I ensure she has enough formula?
I would just offer it regularly and trust that she is taking enough. You don't know how much she is drinking when she is breastfeeding, you just need to trust she's taking enough, try to think of formula in the same way although you see the amounts.

Has anyone made the switch at 5 months and what were your experiences please?
My baby started sleeping much better once we went to formula, it might be a coincidence but if so it's a very happy one.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply! All so kind. I've felt really reassured by your response. I will keep swapping feeds when my boobs feel like they're settling into dropping feeds.

5 months is definitely a wall when it comes to breastfeeding.

If you can power through to weaning next month it really does start to get easier again. If you up the solids quickly she will drop milk feeds.

Alternatively try just combi feeding with 1 or 2 bottles a day. I did this with my eldest and he had bottles at 10 and 3. We weaned early for medical reasons so by 6 / 7 month I was only breastfeeding morning and over night.

The only downside I can think of is if she doesn't take to formula well and it upsets her tummy which can happen.

No you’re not awful! I switched from EBF to formula at 5 months. At this point DS was still feeding every 1.5hrs around the clock and I was totally done.

I know we gave a bottle every 4hrs, I think we started with 150ml but within a couple of weeks he was taking 210ml each feed. He seemed to really fill out at that point but he was a very consistent 30th percentile for the whole of his first year so it was possibly a coincidence. For me it was a huge turning point in my parenting, he slept for the 4hrs between feeds at night and a few weeks later dropped one night feed. After 5 months of sleeping little more than an hour at a time this was amazing!

DS only pooed once week when he was EBF but it was daily with formula although never at night.

It’s fine to stop, I couldn’t breastfeed so I formula fed pretty much from birth.

there is a guide of how much formula to give them based on their age and weight I believe, and it’s more of a general range. Some days they will drink more than others, but as long as they are weeing and pooing regularly and gaining weight it’s fine.

one thing I was told which was very useful is that if they’re finishing all their bottles it means it’s time to increase it. So if you usually give them 180ml at each feed and they finish it each time for a few days, you know it is probably time to increase to 210ml. They’re on the right amount when they are having a fair bit of it but not totally draining the bottle at every feed. I hope that makes sense!

Huge huge poo at midnight. Her formula poos only seem to come at night. It soaked through her baby grow and sleeping bag. I hope it settles down!

Our boy poos every night but it doesnt leak, we size up at night and use 12 hour nappies

Good idea with sizing up. Do you change the nappy in the night when he poos? My girl was really disturbed by the leak

You're a great mother for making the switch when you need to. Formula is food, breastmilk is also food, they are both equal to each other.
When we made the switch we used kendamil also and it's a wonderful formula in my opinion, very natural, baby never had any issues on it.

Our boy occasionally pooped through the night but not often, I would just say that as long as babys poops are normal then there's no need to worry, baby will adjust and all babies poop on their own schedule.

Our boy has never been a big eater, he took way less than the "recommended" daily amount most of the time, he would take between 18-20oz per day most days and gained weight consistently and followed his curve (25th centile) so I honestly wouldn't pay any attention to amounts you're feeding, just feed on demand, let baby tell you when they've had enough and end the feed then, after all you don't know how much they are getting when breast feeding and it's all intuitive so keep doing that with formula.

Yes you must change them when they poo in the night. They won't sleep well with a smelly nappy anyway! Poo isn't absorbed in the same way their urine is, so it will leave them feeling uncomfortable, and prolonged contact with the skin will cause nappy rash.

@sunflowerandivy if he woke up and cried then yes we would change him, but he always sleeps through so we just change him in the morning. If he was distressed by it we would change him for sure, before he was sleeping through we would change him before or after a night feed x

You’re not awful at all. You have to do what’s right for you and your baby.

I used kendamil. It was also voted top formula and my baby loved it.

and yes change the nappy overnight if you know she’s wet or poo’d. If she’s always leaking are you sure the nappies are the correct size?