3rd Trimester

Can I do Breast and Formula feeding?

I want to try breastfeeding during the day and supplimenting with formula during the night. I know that breast is best, but I also know that the high calories in formula help the baby sleep longer throughout the night.

Does anyone have experience with breastfeeding and supplimenting with formula?

Re: Can I do Breast and Formula feeding?

  • You can always supplement, but you at least need to wait until your supply is established and you see how your LO's feeding patterns are. Unless you have a voracious eater you can't keep up with right from the start, you probably would be best off waiting a few weeks to see how supply/demand/scheduling works out.
  • Yes, of course you can try.  There's a lot of opinions out there & some believe that if you offer both to a baby, he/she may prefer the formula because it's a little sweeter.  

    Also, as a mom who exclusively breastfed, you shouldn't expect to wake up during the night THAT much more if baby's drinking breastmilk vs. formula.  AND, breastmilk is always available & at the perfect temperature.  I could nurse my DD and fall asleep while doing it.  If I had to get up & heat formula for a bottle, I probably would have stayed awake longer at night.  

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  • imageseastar77:
    You can always supplement, but you at least need to wait until your supply is established and you see how your LO's feeding patterns are. Unless you have a voracious eater you can't keep up with right from the start, you probably would be best off waiting a few weeks to see how supply/demand/scheduling works out.

     

    GREAT advice here... you may need to pump at night to keep up your supply if using formula. So... no extra sleep gained. 

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  • After a few weeks, I plan to try to pump enough during the day to allow DH to do one bottle feed between 11 pm and 1 am (and let me sleep for 5 or 6 consecutive hours). I'm not sure if this plan will work, but I really don't want to introduce formula and I really do want to try to get a bit more continuous sleep.

    Just throwing out another idea. I don't really think the difference between formula and breastmilk will buy you more sleep, and it's reasonably likely to mess up your supply if you try not to breastfeed overnight.

  • As the other posters have indicated, you need to wait until your supply is well established before you start supplementing.  I'd say at least two weeks, if not a month.  However, formula fed babies don't necessarily sleep longer at night.  DD was exclusively breastfed and only got up once a night from 2 weeks to 8 weeks and then started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks.  We have friends who exclusively formula feed and all three of their kids were up at least twice a night until well over a year old.  Babies' temperaments control their sleep patterns much more than what they are eating.  
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  • There is no evidence that formula will help baby sleep better. If your child is getting the hindmilk, it is high in calories, too.

    https://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-sleep.html
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  • I've both BF and FF babies, and by far BF at night is WAY easier than FF at night. When you FF at night, you need to get up, make a bottle, sit up, feed the bottle to the baby, burp after every few oz, etc. When you BF a baby, you can reach over, take them out of their bassinet, and lay in bed while you nurse him/her. I got much more sleep when BF than I did FF.

    Plus, FF babies don't necessarily sleep better than BF babies. My DS was BF and slept 5 hour stretches from birth. When I switched him to formula, his sleep remained exactly the same.

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  • The evidence that formula helps babies sleep longer is purely anecdotal. It works for some, not at all for others. I would also say it is probably easier to BF at night. It is warm and ready to go, no mixing required. We never used formula at night only at daycare (once my supply tanked after a gallbladder issue) and napping was no better and no worse. 
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  • Not to mention that until you establish a rhythm, you will wake up at night with your boobs ready to explode if you don't get up and pump or feed.  After some time your body can learn to not lactate as much at night, but there were plenty of nights in those first few months that I woke up desperately hoping it was time to feed him!

    eta: just want to mention that I'm not a BFing pusher by any means...I do not plan to BF this time.  I don't have any problem with formula use, I just would hate to see you surprised if this pattern is tough to establish at first! 

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  • I formula fed and my DD was a terrible sleeper. It really doesn't keep them asleep longer, unfortunately.
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  • MY DD slept 6 hrs from day one and was breast fed. I had to wake up and pump in the middle of the night... So why would want to give formula at night??? 
  • I had to pump because I woke up wet and in pain..... It would have been much easier to breastfeed my baby.    

     

     

  • Yep, we supplemented from the beginning b/c I wasn't producing enough and DD had jaundice. Once my milk came in I started exclusively pumping and stopped formula since I had no issues with my supply. I think we started supplementing again when she was about 8 months and I went back to work (less time to pump,  & my supply diminished but we had a decent freezer stash to last awhile.)

    I think I'll definitely EP again but start supplementing w/formula earlier (at night only) for the exact same reason as you! 

  • A good friend of mine did this and it worked well for her for the first few months. After that, she gave up on BF entirely and is now FF exclusively. I think her supply got too low. 
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  • I did this after a few weeks.  I would give DD one bottle of formula a day and the rest I would give breast milk.
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  • imagePoppywedding:

    I also know that the high calories in formula help the baby sleep longer throughout the night.

    There is no evidence to support this. That said, there are also EBF babies who sleep through the night relatively early (we were lucky w/DS and he was STTN at 8 wk.)

    Others have already pointed it out, but the only problem I can see w/your plan is that the less you put baby to breast (or pump), especially early on, the more likely it is for your supply to dwindle. If you plan to keep BFing, this is something to think about.

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  • imagesarainkansascity:

    Yes, of course you can try.  There's a lot of opinions out there & some believe that if you offer both to a baby, he/she may prefer the formula because it's a little sweeter.  

    Also, as a mom who exclusively breastfed, you shouldn't expect to wake up during the night THAT much more if baby's drinking breastmilk vs. formula.  AND, breastmilk is always available & at the perfect temperature.  I could nurse my DD and fall asleep while doing it.  If I had to get up & heat formula for a bottle, I probably would have stayed awake longer at night.  

    I would argue not to do the formula thing - for the reason listed above - you might mess with your breast milk supply. My daughter was a big eater but I found that once we got a good latch it wasn't all that difficult to chill and feed her at night - 15 minutes start to finish whereas the bottle thing is just a huge hassle at night. I also think that doing both at the beginning is a bit confusing for baby - and I had such a positive feeling when we were together (not saying it wasn't hard to establish the latch or anything because we did struggle) but once we got going it was lovely to be with her - the skin to skin contact and the calmness of it - wouldn't replace that with anything. 

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  •   I had to supplement at night (and during the day) with DS1 bc of tongue tie and sick/swallow/breathe latch issues and getting up out of bed to make that bottle (even though I set it all up before hand right in the bedroom) wass such a huge PIA, sitting upright to feed and burp him- the whole thing.  When we FINALLY got to where I could EBF at night it was magic.  I slept thru most of his feedings bc of the feel good BF hormones and the lovely calmness of the feeding.  When you are bottle feeding you have to pay attantion- hold the bottle and not squish them, burp them you get the idea- whereas oncde I got the hang of BFing he just ate while I dozed.  I'm sure everyone has their own experince and you will find what works best for you but I would not suggest supplementing right off the bat as you may make BFing much more difficult for yourself and it is entirely possible that you will get more sleep EBFing anyhow.  Also in the beginning upi wo;; wake up drenched and in pain- to avoid a clog you'll have to nurse or pump AND bottle feed LO at every feeding most likely - so no sleep gained.  Sadly there isn't relaly a great way to cheat the sleep deprivation though I think sleeping while baby eats is pretty good.
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