Formula in the evening for a breastfed baby?

[HannahB264]

I have a 2 week old. He is breastfed (breast and expressed as I get a little sore). For the first few days, he was mixed fed as my supply was still coming through, but he has been on breast milk only now my supply is in. I've read that formula can help a baby sleep longer as it can fill them up. Is this true? If so, would it be OK to give a bottle of formula before bed?

I don't know if it would help the baby sleep better, but would definitely help you sleep better if you could hand over a feed and go to sleep earlier and get a good solid chunk of sleep before any night feeds.

Glad it worked for you.

introducing a bottle does risk “your breastfeeding journey” though. Some babies will mix feed, some women lose their supply when bottles are introduced, and some babies get the hang of bottles and refuse the breast.

issue is you won’t know until you try. I introduced a daily bottle and baby refused at first. I persevered, but once they got the hang of the bottle they refused the breast completely, and we were done. Nothing to do with supply, just hours of screaming at the breast until they were offered the bottle.

i would say if bf really matters to you don’t mess with bottles and expressing, just bf. If you are fine with combo feeding not working out and having to bottle feed, then give it a go.

This is absolute rubbish...

Not complete rubbish. Breastfeeding is a protective factor against SIDS. Formula is associated with reduced arousal. Arousal from sleep is thought to be an important mechanism against SIDS.

OP take a look at some evidence based advice from BASIS...

https://www.basisonline.org.uk/hcp-sleep-and-feeding-method/#:~:text=Infants%20who%20received%20more%20milk,the%20infant%20in%20the%20night.

Apparently, all of the research that suggests this is rubbish..... which is every infant feeding study that considers SIDS.

Didn't work for mine, just meant I ended up leaning over the sink at 4am with swollen boobs expressing the milk. I wouldn't recommend it - and for our next one we won't bother unless I had an issue feeding. Sorry x

I don’t think it’s true. My son has always been a pretty good sleeper and has never had a drop of formula. When he was a newborn he would cluster feed all evening and then sleep a good stretch at night. Babies often feed more in the evenings. It may decrease your milk supply if you’re not breastfeeding during this time. It’s completely your choice of course but personally I wouldn’t do it.

Better to breast feed all feeds for the first 6 to 9 weeks so your breasts learn to produce easily and plentifully. At that point I gave mine a bottle in the evening. For me the wider gap gave me just enough extra sleep to cope.

My 9 month old is ebf, and wakes every 2 hours and no formula does not make them sleep better, for the last month i have been giving her a formula bottle in the evening every now n then (not so she sleeps better but so i can put her down with her bottle and crack on with dishes, bathing other kids etc and she hasn’t slept any better having that formula feed xx

I would just keep doing what you’re doing. Realistically, no 2 week old sleeps longer than 1-2 hours no matter how they are fed. Speaking from personal experience, my breastfed baby slept better than my formula fed baby (also so much easier because I wasn’t having to faff about with making or cleaning a bottle).

There are some wildly judgemental/ignorant comments on here.
My baby didn't sleep much as a newborn - totally normal, of course. At 6 weeks I introduced a bottle before bed as an experiment and he slept for 7 hours that night, so I kept doing that, and he has slept for a 6-9 hour stretch every night since. He's now five months old. Perhaps it's a coincidence, perhaps it's not, but it's a blessing regardless and we're all a lot happier as a result.

I can't see any judgement or ignorance. It's true tho. It's nor down to how they're fed how well they sleep. Its their personality

I can’t see any judgement or ignorance either.

for comparison my friend and I both had our babies together. We both initially breastfed, at 6 weeks she switched to formula due to family pressure.

it made no difference to her child, she continued with two hourly feeds, only now she had to wash sterilise and make up bottles as well.

my ebf baby settled into longer sleep periods first.

it depends on the child.

It's absolutely fine. I did it when my DD was little. She's slim, healthy, has a robust immune system, and has just started university with a clutch of A grades. You're the mum. You're in charge. Unfortunately breast feeding is so politically charged and wild claims, counter claims, and harsh judgements are thrown about willy nilly. Ignore them and do what you feel is the best choice for you and your family.

Don't be ridiculous

There's no harsh judgment tho. And no wild claims with breastfeeding at all or counter claims.

I may add. If you don't need to use formula I don't see the point in it. Breastfeeding is the best thing for tej baby

The*

Peer reviewed academic research is ridiculous now? Facts don't care about feelings and this is a fact.

Made no difference with my baby but it does seem that formula fed babies sleep longer. I think 2 weeks is too soon to introduce thought due to your supply regulating and at that age they should be waking anyway.

It’s ok to do whatever you want but it won’t make your baby sleep unless they want to.

anecdotally

my two breastfed babies slept through the night from 6 weeks old.

3 breastfed nieces from 3-6 months old

1 breastfed nieces from 12 months old

1 formula fed nephew from age 2

1 formula fed nephew from age 4

Evening and night feeds are the most important to keep your supply up, if that's important to you. If you're struggling for sleep and have someone to take baby for a while like 9-12 it might be worth it, otherwise I don't think it will necessarily make much difference.

This is silly. Breastfeeding is hardly the majority choice in the UK. Our rates are super super low. FF is the mainstream choice. Great for your DD that she is "slim" but not really relevant here and no-one cares about her grades. First thing you see on most threads where there's any sleep problem or a mother is tired is "stop breastfeeding." That's fine if they want to of course but posters can be quite nasty about it, acting like the BF mother is just indulging herself and causing her own problems. Mothers who use formula can be incredibly fragile about it and any comments about the positives of breastfeeding are seen as a personal attack. I had to use formula myself with both kids, managed to transition back to BF, if I hadn't been able to, I wouldn't have tried to pretend that people were out to get me for it or that the positives of BF are fabricated because of the wonderful qualities of my darling child. Facts are not persecuting anyone. BF IS protective against SIDS (although I think saying formula is a "SIDS risk" isn't the clearest or most helpful way to frame that.) People just need to own their choices.

@MayaPinion what wild claims?