Will introducing formula help my 6 month old sleep longer?

[Anne8888]

Looking for reassurance / advice / help 😂
DS2 is 6 months old and EBF. He is still waking every 2 hours during the night, sometimes less.
Im not actually sure anymore because I just end up falling asleep, however when I wake up I try and put him back in the next to me and he just cries.
DS1 was formula fed and was sleeping through by 8 weeks.
I have reached the point of EBF for 6 months which was my goal so I am now considering introducing formula and maybe transitioning over to fully formula within the next few months.
Is this likely to help him sleep better? I’m so sleep deprived and feel like I am never going to sleep again at this point!

Ime there is no difference.. Some of my ebf dc slept all night at 2 weeks old. Some at 8/9 months.
But your dc needs to awaken where they fell asleep to be able to self soothe back to sleep.
Cot fed /winded /patted not quite asleep and into the cot. Re-pat if necessary but don't lift out.

@Easterbunnyishotandcross thank you, I have started letting him fall asleep in the cot at bed time and he has started going a bit longer to be fair. It’s just hard in the night when he wakes up for a feed and I’m nakered because I end up feeding him and falling asleep myself and then trying to transition him back into the cot an hour later doesn’t go down well 😩 also don’t want to make the transition to formula just yet if it’s not going to change anything because I don’t fancy making 3 bottles a night in the middle of the night 😂

Worth a try. It also means someone else can feed the baby unless you’re expressing milk? You must be so tired.

No sorry. Didn’t notice a difference in either of mine. I do think formula fed kids typically sleep better but that’s early on rather than introducing at six months. Some kids just wake more often than others, luck of the draw.

In my case, not really - we didn’t transition to formula until he was 11 months as we were heavily restricted on what formula he could have until we found one that wasn’t completely gross (allergy formula) and he would take. He was waking for a feed from me every 45mins to an hour until about 9-10 months old, I just co-slept in the end with a boob out…an all you can eat buffet is what I called it. When we moved him to formula he was already stretching out to 2-3 hours anyway but he would still need 2-3 bottles most nights.

Oh god 😩 probably not going to get anymore sleep anytime soon then so might just open my own all you can eat buffet 😬

@Anne8888 is your DH able to give a bottle?

I'd give it a try. Some babies do sleep better with formula. Some don't.

But at least if you have a partner you can get to bed early and leave them to do a feed so you can at least get a chunk of sleep at the start of the night. They can also potentially do the first one in the morning so you get a chunk there as well. You can still BF through the night and during the day.

Sorry, not necessarily. I fixed my hopes for mine and introduced a pre bed formula at 5.5 months...no change.

Mine went from sleeping for 4 hours to 6 when he had a bottle of formula before bed.

A really good tip I read was to wrap your baby in a cloth nappy while you bf. Then when they've fallen asleep you lift them by the nappy into the cot. It's the temperature change that wakes them up and the nappy reduces that.

My EBF baby slept through very quickly. My two FF babies did not. Each baby is different and will do their own thing.

It might, might not. Didn’t make any difference with my DD

There’s no evidence that shows FF babies wake less. Waking that frequently is normal at that age. What’s the usual schedule? Some tweaks to naps etc might help.

His naps have recently started to become better within the past week or so, he has actually started napping longer than 30 mins. Has about 3 hours of daytime sleep, maybe a bit less 2-2.5 hr wake window
he goes around every 3 hours for a feed in the day but is maximum every 2 at night. Tried to settle him with dummy/cuddles but he just screams at me until I feed him

Honestly I don’t think the way they are fed makes any difference, it is just different babies! Both of my children have been/are breastfed, my daughter is nearly 2 and still has never slept through the night, woke every 1.5-2 hours until she was 10 months ish and even now it’s always at least once per night, she absolutely hated the next to me crib and now also hates her own bed. My son is also breastfed, now 5 months old and has been sleeping through 90% of the time from 8 weeks old and sleeps amazing in his next to me crib! It’s just different babies x

Both my DCs were EBF. DC1 slept through the night from 7 or 7:30pm to 9 or 9:30am from about 6 weeks old. DC2 only really slept through once they started school. From one extreme to the other……

My baby is nearly 6 months and exactly as you describe. I came on to ask about the screaming when I try to settle her another way. Its true that misery loves company as im relieved it isn't just me 🤣

Made no difference to my hungry baby, except that he seemed to wet through his nappy more after draining 2-3 8oz bottles a night!

My ds was combi fed, he woke up roughly every hour until he was around a year old, so in my experience, formula made no difference.