7 month old EBF, thinking of FF

brooksfam4 · December 2014

Hi everyone,

My little guy is 7 months old and still wakes in the middle of the night to eat. Sometimes it's every 2-3 hours. Needless to say, I AM TIRED. I know it's common with BFing, but I was thinking of switching to formula at night. Any thoughts? Will this keep him fuller longer?

I want to wean around a year anyway, so I figured starting this wouldn't be so bad. A little about me: I am exhausted and really feeling weak some days. I was 125lbs when I got pregnant, and now I'm 110lbs. I feel like my child is sucking the life out of me! I eat all the time and just cannot gain weight. I'm 5'5, so this is way too small for me. BF has gone so well, but I have to take care of myself too.

Thanks for any advice!

blacktie3 · December 2014

I have combo fed from about a week old (mastitis and supply problems) I am exclusively pumping right now but mix the BM in with the formula. When we started the formula it made him a little constipated so I think it helped him to mix it together. Have you tried feeding a little bigger amount before bedtime? I give about 1/2 ounce more at the last bottle...it doesn't sound like much but it seems to make the difference in not getting up before about 7-8 hours! But your baby will start sleeping through the night when he is ready! Good luck!

brooksfam4 · December 2014

scooter028 said:

We've combo fed for a while, LO gets a bottle or two of formula at daycare. According to the logs, she doesn't go any longer after a formula bottle than a BM bottle. I've heard that BM has tryptophan so that would help. I have a coworker who started a bottle of formula at bedtime with the same goal. She did not experience any difference! It doesn't seem like formula is your answer. I would suggest either waiting it out or some type of sleep training to help LO learn to self soothe. Either way, I feel your pain! LO was up 4-8 times a night until about 7 months when I couldn't take it anymore and did the "sleep sense" program after talking it over with our pedi. Whatever you decide, good luck!

Thanks for the advice! Looks like you might be right regards to the formula... I've been reading the same thing. Have you seen good improvement with the sleep sense program?

brooksfam4 · December 2014

blacktie3 said:

I have combo fed from about a week old (mastitis and supply problems) I am exclusively pumping right now but mix the BM in with the formula. When we started the formula it made him a little constipated so I think it helped him to mix it together. Have you tried feeding a little bigger amount before bedtime? I give about 1/2 ounce more at the last bottle...it doesn't sound like much but it seems to make the difference in not getting up before about 7-8 hours! But your baby will start sleeping through the night when he is ready! Good luck!

I only feed him from the tap, so I don't know exactly how much he is eating. I do have a good amount in the freezer for sitters, so I might try that. Good idea... thanks!

blacktie3 · December 2014

brooksfam4 said:

blacktie3 said:

I have combo fed from about a week old (mastitis and supply problems) I am exclusively pumping right now but mix the BM in with the formula. When we started the formula it made him a little constipated so I think it helped him to mix it together. Have you tried feeding a little bigger amount before bedtime? I give about 1/2 ounce more at the last bottle...it doesn't sound like much but it seems to make the difference in not getting up before about 7-8 hours! But your baby will start sleeping through the night when he is ready! Good luck!

I only feed him from the tap, so I don't know exactly how much he is eating. I do have a good amount in the freezer for sitters, so I might try that. Good idea... thanks!

You will just have to play with it a little. At 7 months you could start with doing just the BM in the bottle and start with like 6 ounces and go from there( so you know where your at). I would do like 25 % Formula to start with, but thats just me, mine is eating 50/50 when I can. When I start to stop BF I will gradually put less and less BM in the bottle. I just hate him to get gas so I do diet changes pretty slow

Slb22 · January 2015

I agree with some of the others. I BF until 9 months (a few days ago). We had to introduce 1 bottle a day around 5.5 months because I wasn't able to pump enough at work. We slowly increased formula bottles from there so she got use to it. It didn't change her sleep pattern much, but it allowed my husband to get up and do the feeding which changed my sleep pattern

Around 7/8 months we started to try to not feed her at the first wake up if it was only a couple of hours since she last ate. My H went in and soothed her and 99% of the time she went back to sleep without eating. She had gotten in a habit of getting up at the time and within a few nights she stopped waking up at that time. Hopefully you have a partner to help you out.

Breastfeeding is so hard and so much pressure on the mother. Congratulations on making it so long! There is no harm in trying it out if you want to.

MommyAtty · January 2015

The key isn't giving a bottle at night, it's ensuring the baby gets enough calories during the day so they don't need to eat at night. So just introducing formula at night won't help. The reason FF babies on average sleep more at night is it's easier to up their intake during the day with a bottle than it is with a breast.

xkatiexkaboomx · January 2015

My LO wasn't sleeping well at night so we started giving him a bottle at night and he started sleeping for 6-7 hour stretches as opposed to every 2-3 hours. It was AMAZING. He was such a slow nurser. Once I started getting more sleep I was a much happier camper.

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7 month old EBF, thinking of FF

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