Topping up with formula in evenings?

I started formula top ups when Ty was 7 weeks because he always seemed hungry after feeds. It definitely affected BF for me, he became 'lazy' and it would be such a struggle to get him to BF, by 3 months he was completely FF. He has always been a fantastic sleeper, I'm not entirely sure if it was because of the formula or because I have always had him in quite a strict routine.

Odettenz wrote: I really don't understand the logic behind it, but I'd just like to suggest that you take what mums in your coffee group say with a pinch of salt.

The 'logic' is that how well, or not, your baby sleeps seems to be the measuring stick against how 'good' a parent you are. It is a load of rubbish of course, but I have found that when it comes down to it that whether you bf or ff, had a vaginal birth or a c-section your value as a mother seems to be strangely linked to how much sleep your baby gets.

I think it also has to do with what people are classing as 'sleeping through'. Most parents seem to think they aren't sleeping through unless they are doing 12 hours without waking/feeding, while the actual definition is any ONE 5 hour or more stretch of sleep.

I have 'poor' sleepers by society standards, but though I got less sleep with DS2 I actually found him to be our 'better' sleeper. I think some mothers tend to exaggerate alot of things because they fear being the 'odd one out' or somehow feel that if their baby isn't doing what everyone else's is that there must be something wrong with their parenting.

Well that is my 'logic' anyway.

DS1 was FF from 8 week sand it didnt really help him night sleep..he was a reasonable sleeper before that ....i am considering the FF at night...i am more worried it will make me leak more rather than less lol.. and I am reasonably sure it wont affect my supply but of course your boobs do get used to not feeding at that time if you are doing it every night...i say do what works for you as lack of sleep is soo hard and sometimes for your health and bubs you need some!:) having said all that we are also thinking of going down the EBM route first to see how we go.. anyway i sympathise and understand!!:)

Cant be bothered reading all the responses because I can pretty much guess at them anyway .
I used formula at night for both my babies (still do it now ) haven't noticed a problem in my milk supply and I like that Ty can take a bottle .

Well I gave her a bottle just before bedtime at 8.30 last night. First mouth full she wasnt sure then gulped it down. Took about 10mins less to get her to bed. We settled into bed later on and lol she woke at 12.15am pretty much right on cue for her feed, then again at usual times... So havent bothered trying again tonight.

Nice to know that if need be she will take formula

In my opinion, I wouldn't simply do it because you feel like your baby should sleep longer. When my DD was 7 weeks I introduced a FF before bed as I found BF'ing so stressful as she would feed for up to 90minutes at a time during the day.
Using FF and BF worked well for me, she knew FF meant bed time. It didnt affect BF'ing, although she did self wean at 5 months which may have had something to do with ff'ing? Not sure!

I've been avoiding this topic as I know nothing about formula feeding but I just have to add some input on sleep - your baby sleeping is something a LOT of mums fib about. Very few babies sleep through all the time at such a young age. And it can be really hard to admit that they wake up a couple of times a night when somebody else is telling you "my baby has been sleeping 9pm to 6am since they were X weeks old" because you feel like a failure in comparison. PLEASE don't believe every thing you get told about someone else's baby.

Well, my thing about this 'sleeping through the night'.... I don't want my boy to sleep more than four hours coz
a. my boobs get too full (and I had breast abcess needing an operation, not pleasant)
b. I want to use breast feeding as our main contraception (haha yes risky we KNOW)
So personally, I don't think sleeping through is all it is cracked up to be (please God, don't bring back AF til the four hourly feeding sessions stop). I like to think Liam is a good sleeper at night even though he wakes every four hours or so!

What about trying to reduce the time she is awake during the night feeds? I guess you don't do any play sessions then but does she drift off and still suckle while asleep? I know this isn't much time but if you can cut the time she is awake/suckling to 20 minutes it will add up and you might find it easier to get back to sleep.

Also...have you tried settling her back down in the middle of the night? I did this one night after Liam had gone to sleep at 12, then he woke at 2.30 and I rocked him without feeding and he went back to sleep and to my astonishment he did not wake up again til 5.30...my boobs didn't like that tho hehe. I only did it coz I was so exhausted that my brain was not functioning properly!

Finally, I read somewhere that sleep promotes sleep so maybe once she settles better during the day, she will settle better at night. Goodness knows Liam is a shocker during the day but I have noticed when he has good sleeps in the morning he sleeps in the afternoon better as well.

sorry about the novel hahahahahahahaha