All nights sleep - BFing vs Formula??

[Daggers]

I'm sure this question has probably been asked several times but thought I'd ask all the same . Has anyone found that their LO's tend to sleep more solidly once they have started on formula feed? Reason I ask is because I'm still BFing and Otis is still getting up 3 times at night between 190 and say 6am (generally he'll wake up around midnight, 2/3am and then at around 5am after which time he is generally quite fidgity). I know he is still young and maybe I'm expecting too much from him at this age to be sleeping for longer. At the mo for his night feeds we try feed him about 4 fluid oz (expressed milk), the early morning feeds are difficult to measure as I BF him.
I was therefore thinking that maybe babies on formula may sleep longer as the formula is more filling and it is easier for them to drink (less work)?? What's the general consensus on this...

 

[Hypnorm]

Ewan was breastfed till he was around 7 months then i introduced formula but it made no difference even when he was completely on formula it made no difference.
he has just started sleeping through at 13 months.

 

[Em78]

alex went through from 10 weeks and was only breast fed at that point (some expressed though) and i dont remember any difference in his sleep when he went onto Formula at 6 months.

could be i was just lucky and had a sleepy boy ( or a lazy one )


be interesting to see how others were though
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Nicky_Jones]

Ellie was having 2 night feeds 11:30 and 4am ish until just under 8 weeks when she stopped waking for the 4am ish feed. Yeepee! She is exclusively breastfed (I gave up trying to express a night feed as I decided it was easier to just breast feed her during the night). The only time she has awakened for an extra feed was when we were out during the day and she didn't settle for her feed well at 16:30 and didn't have enough then. Is yours getting enough during the day?

 

[chezzabell]

Hun Alastair is on formula always has been and he has the same pattern as otis, so tbh dont think its much to do with formula or BF?

 

[Daggers]

hmmm interesting, in which case I guess I'm not doing anything wrong, at the mo ! By the sounds of it Otis seems to have a simular night routine as some of the other babies out there - somewhat like yours Nicky_Jones.
Not sure about the day feeds, at the mo I put Otis in our bed from around 5am (pending on when he wakes) and sort of BFs him almost hourly from then until around 8ish when we get up for some play time, then I bottle feed him around 09:30 2/3 fluid oz for breakfast . For the rest of the day he then snacks of the boob, and at around 18:30 I give him a bottle 4 fluid oz. I try and feed him as often as he'll take, he is putting on weight so must be doing something right - I hope!!!

 

[Nicky_Jones]

I aim to feed Ellie every 3hrs starting at 7:30 and finishing at 7:30 when I put her to bed for the night, with an extra feed at 6pm. However in reality she often wants feeding earlier, however I won't let her go longer than 3hrs if she is asleep I will wake her. When I did let her go for longer if she was asleep she would wake more often at night. I am sure it will come - it was a complete suprise the first night she did it, I kept waking every half hour or so and listening to the monitor expecting her to wake any minute. I actually got less sleep because of that

 

[skatty]

Daggers, I am nowhere near there yet but the baby whisperer reccommends feeding baby every 2 hours in the evening and giving a dream feed at 11pm and this should give a 6 week old baby enough calories to drop the middle of the night feed. I am not following her routines but have picked up some good tips and I think some of her ideas are probably great for an older baby. I am hoping by 6 weeks Leorah's digestive system is more mature and I can try this method myself, good luck

 

[Eveadel]

My Isabella has been much better since she has been formula fed - she is much more content & happy. I wished she had been like this with breast milk as I believe breast is best.

 

[Lucy]

Daggers - like you I was looking for ways to try and get Olivia to sleep better when she was younger, I tried some formula a couple of nights but it had no effect on her sleep at all.

Olivia has only just started sleeping better at night - although all the babies at my breastfeeding group have been great at night , I always felt like the odd one out!

The sleep deprivation is hard, hopefully your wee boy will start to go longer between feeds but like you say, he is still tiny and needs the milk from his night feeds to grow and develop at the rate he is.



Lucy

 

[Bagpuss17]

Isaac is bottle fed and he's only been sleeping through the night for 2 weeks. I don't think it necessarily makes them sleep better. At babygroup, there doesn't seem to be a pattern with regard to b/f babies sleeping through compared to bottlefed babies.

We did seem to be the last ones to get a full nights kip though. It's been worth the wait as he goes a full 11 hours now.

Otis is still very young, give time to grow a bit more and I'm sure he'll sleep through for you.

 

[*saulino*]

Hi

I dont think there si a difference hun., could be wrong though?
Katrina

 

[littlebump]

When I was breastfeeding, Maddie used to fall into a deep sleep whilst feeding and was difficult to wake, but then she couldn't last long between feeds - she'd wake up every couple of hours for more because she never got full!

She's on formula now but is still waking at least once in the night and she's over a year old .

I think generally formula is more filling and they take in more in less time so go longer without needing food but I guess all babies are different! Otis is still very young - I seem to remember Maddie being at least 4 months old before she was down to 1-2 feeds in the night!

LBxx

 

[Hypnorm]

I didnt realise when i posted that Otis is only 1.5 months old, I really wouldnt expect him to be sleeping through yet, as night feeds are an important part and he only has a small stomach.
You could try cluster feeding in the evening every 2 hours from 6pm and that might help, but what ever i tried made no difference.
I just resigned my self to getting him up feeding him and settling him down again, till he decided he would get through the night.

Lack of sleep is hard and ewan woke at 10, 3 and 6 every night till about 4 months then went to 10, 4 and 7. Ewan goes down really well after feeding.

Also one thing to consider is that if you switch to formula or a hungry baby formula it might give him tummy ache for a while.

 

[Daggers]

Cheers for all your responses, I guess I'll just have to leave it Otis to decide when he's good and ready to sleep through the night, it's just that I know of a couple of friends who's little ones (approx. 2.5 months old) are presently sleeping through the night, so I'm a bit jelouse, even though Oats is only 2.5months!! Poor begger having a mom like me, little does he know what he's in for. At 3 wks I already wanted to set up a routine for him !!! Really I am normaly a very chilled customer but being a mom is turning me into some kind of SS officer (help!) .

 

[Urchin]

I breastfed both of mine and Mason was an excellent sleeper from about 6 weeks! Brody didn't sleep through till 9 months