Stay at Home Moms

breastmilk to formula?

Has anyone ever switched from breastfeeding to formula feeding? Did you notice a sleep change in your LO? I have been BF my LO who is currently 4 months old.  She has never STTN and still wakes every two hours (she always has).  However,now its gotten worse in the past two weeks.  She is up all the time, sometimes 3 times in two hours and I am getting absolutely no sleep - I lay awake anticipating the next wake up.  We've tried everything - the 5 s's, pick up put down, the RnP, the crib, patting, rocking, the binky....but nothing has seemed to help.  We also have done a bedtime routine since she was 2 months.  I'm just wondering if formula feeding would make a difference....

Re: breastmilk to formula?

  • I really think this probably has to do more with you either having a good sleeper or a bad sleeper.  DS has always been a bad sleeper-- up every 2 hours as a baby, didn't STTN until he was over 3 yrs old, gets up at 5:30am every day.  DD has always been a really good sleeper-- STTN really early on (less than 2 months old), sleeps in late.   
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  • 4 mo wakeful-

    formula won't help that.

    You have to ride it out.

    Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • Not to discourage you but my sister has a little boy who was formula fed from day 1. He is a year old now and still hasn't slept through the night. He was 7 months before he didn't wake up once every hour. He is a horrible sleeper. 

    I think some babies sleep better than others but I hope you are able to catch a break soon! 

     

  • We didn't switch until 10 months, but it has made no difference with her sleeping.  There is a period called the "4 month wakeful" that you could google to understand more about why your baby's sleep has changed lately.
    Married to my best friend 6/5/10
    BFP #1 9/7/10, EDD 5/14/11, Violet born 5/27/11.
    BFP #2 4/9/12, EDD 12/16/12, M/C Rory 4/24/12.
    BFP #3 10/6/12, EDD 6/16/12., Matilda born 6/17/13.
  • imagelkm2006:

    Not to discourage you but my sister has a little boy who was formula fed from day 1. He is a year old now and still hasn't slept through the night. He was 7 months before he didn't wake up once every hour. He is a horrible sleeper. 

    I think some babies sleep better than others but I hope you are able to catch a break soon! 

    Yeah, my 3 year old was FF and still usually doesn't sleep all night without waking. At that age he was up probably 5 times minimum a night.

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  • Thank you all for your responses! I am aware of the 4 month wakeful period and I do believe she is going through this.  I guess this morning, with the lack of sleep, I was just hoping for some solution.  I am going to stick it out with BF, but how did you guys manage through the days with such little sleep? I can't sleep when she sleeps because the only place she will sleep is on me sitting up. She will cry and cry if I put her in the swing and if I put her in the crib she only sleeps for 20 minutes...
  • imagemaiastar:
    Thank you all for your responses! I am aware of the 4 month wakeful period and I do believe she is going through this.  I guess this morning, with the lack of sleep, I was just hoping for some solution.  I am going to stick it out with BF, but how did you guys manage through the days with such little sleep? I can't sleep when she sleeps because the only place she will sleep is on me sitting up. She will cry and cry if I put her in the swing and if I put her in the crib she only sleeps for 20 minutes...

    Honestly, this is a big part of the reason that we co-slept for so long, so we could both get some sleep.  I'd sit up in my bed, get DD to sleep, then lay her down, then lay down beside her.

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • imagemaiastar:
    Thank you all for your responses! I am aware of the 4 month wakeful period and I do believe she is going through this.  I guess this morning, with the lack of sleep, I was just hoping for some solution.  I am going to stick it out with BF, but how did you guys manage through the days with such little sleep? I can't sleep when she sleeps because the only place she will sleep is on me sitting up. She will cry and cry if I put her in the swing and if I put her in the crib she only sleeps for 20 minutes...

    DD was like that until she started sleeping on her stomach.  Have you tried swaddling for naps?  We swaddled until she started rolling in her sleep, and then she ended up on her stomach and didn't need it anyway.  

    Hang in there!  I recommend reading Ferber's book on sleep and sleep training around 6 months if she doesn't start STTN and sleeping on her own for naps by then.  But she won't learn to nap anywhere but on you if you continue to let her nap on you. 

    Married to my best friend 6/5/10
    BFP #1 9/7/10, EDD 5/14/11, Violet born 5/27/11.
    BFP #2 4/9/12, EDD 12/16/12, M/C Rory 4/24/12.
    BFP #3 10/6/12, EDD 6/16/12., Matilda born 6/17/13.
  • With ds it was terrible.  We were both working and very sleep deprived.  You kind of get used to it at a certain point.  DH doesn't like having the kids in bed, but if I only had one, and the only way she would nap was with me, I would totally nap with her in bed.  Unfortunately, I can't do that because ds doesn't nap anymore.

    With dd, she ws a stomach sleeper until about the past week.  For about 2 weeks her naps were bad and she'd wake up right after laying her down.  We've now started putting her on her back (backwards, I know) and she is sleeping decent again.

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  • imageThe_Jen626:

    imagemaiastar:
    Thank you all for your responses! I am aware of the 4 month wakeful period and I do believe she is going through this.  I guess this morning, with the lack of sleep, I was just hoping for some solution.  I am going to stick it out with BF, but how did you guys manage through the days with such little sleep? I can't sleep when she sleeps because the only place she will sleep is on me sitting up. She will cry and cry if I put her in the swing and if I put her in the crib she only sleeps for 20 minutes...

    Honestly, this is a big part of the reason that we co-slept for so long, so we could both get some sleep.  I'd sit up in my bed, get DD to sleep, then lay her down, then lay down beside her.

    We co-slept with DS for a long time too.  It was close to 2 years when we stopped.  

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  • My oldest was the only one that got any formula. I started to wean her at 6 months and around 7.5 months she was on formula. She didn't STTN until she was 9 months old. 

    STTN depends on a lot of factors - not just giving formula. 

    image Mommy to Barbara 11/8/05, Elisabeth 5/13/07, Loukas 12/23/08 and Lazarus 09/25/12
  • imagemaiastar:
    I am going to stick it out with BF, but how did you guys manage through the days with such little sleep? I

    I didn't. Just tried to do the best I could. I'm AWFUL with little sleep. Each of my kids pretty much took a year to STTN. Somehow, I lived through it (unhappily) and now it doesn't seem so bad.

    GL! 

    image Mommy to Barbara 11/8/05, Elisabeth 5/13/07, Loukas 12/23/08 and Lazarus 09/25/12
  • I have swaddled her for her naps and actually do the bedtime routine with her for naps.  She usually goes down to sleep pretty good.  The problem is she just can't soothe herself once she wakes up(for naps and night sleep) and seems hungry(at night). I have ordered the no-cry sleep solution so I am hoping that something in the book may work for her.  Thank you all for your helpful responses! She isn't rolling really, but Im eager to see if maybe just sleping on her stomach will help her sleep better.  I will have to wait and see.  You know what's interesting? She will actually go down for her naps in her swing for SO, but not for me! If I'm around she cries and cries to sleep on me....Anyways, thank you again and I'm hoping that I start to get used to this no sleep thing quick...I feel like a walking zombie and find myself looking at people and thinking about their nice full night sleep they probably had the night before ha!
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