Drop late night bottle of formula from Daddy?

[KatyBeau]

I wanted to get a view opinions and if possible some related experience as I'm really not sure what to do.

My baby is 4 months old, majority breastfed, but since the early weeks has had a bottle of formula (about 5oz) from Daddy so that I can at least get a bit of, if not sleep, then time in bed trying to sleep where I'm not "on duty".

A few months on and my baby is still a terrible sleeper, although she does settle down to sleep in her cot after a last feed ends at about 9.30, which is following 2-3 feeds since 6pm and her usual bedtime bath.

This meant she used to sleep until about 3.30 before waking, after which she's be waking every 2hr. Now it's every 1-1.5hrs from 1am.

My husband says half the time she wakes at 11.30 for her bottle, and half the time he has to wake her before he goes to bed.

I'm wondering whether waking her is interrupting what would otherwise be a longer stretch of sleep. Also I think she may be very gassy after the bottle which may partly be why it's harder to settle her each time she wakes.

However I'm scared to drop it in case I end up with her waking me every hour or so for the whole night.

Also, I'm attempting to express milk as it would be good to have the option of someone else feeding her from time to time. I worry if we drop it she won't take a bottle later.

I know it means a lot to my his and that he is able to help and also have the bonding experience of feeding her.

Does anyone have any advice, experience or suggestions?

It's not set in stone. What your DH is given is called a Dream Feed. It is not unusual to play around with the DF. Give it for a while. Stop giving it for a while and see what difference it makes. Then bring it back.

So you are worrying about nothing really. Just give it a go, see what happens if he doesn't feed her. You can just bring it back at another time.

A friend of mine always gave a bottle of formula at bedtime (7pm ish) which would be from her/her husband so baby was alway used to bottle and she wasn't tied to bedtime. Sleeping the deepest/most soundly from 'bedtime' is pretty normal so later bedtime might be best at the moment but means you don't get an evening so you have to decide what's most important for you at the moment! Fred was always a frequent waker after about 2 am and I found it soul destroying as never got restful sleep in the early hours. In the end he grew out of it but took many many months!

Thanks. I think we'll try dropping it for a week and see what happens...

I guess thinking about it I know she'll take a bottle and that's unlikely to change now. Plus her sleep is so bad it can't get much worse so I may as well try something!