Formula / breast Impact on sleep

[Arty_Frank]

I breastfed for 6 weeks, had to switch to formula after we got thrush DD is almost 5 months now.

BUT she sleeps amazing on formula. straight through 12-14 hours a night, with a couple of half hour naps during the day. I'm pinching myself she is so easy.

I've not breastfed to this stage tho so I can't really compare. But I'm gonna be really controversial and say that i think FF babies do generally sleep longer. This isn't a negative thing about BFing tho, it's a simple fact that breastmilk goes through them faster. So they need to feed more often. i've seen A LOT of BF'ing mums having problems with nights and not as many problems with FF babies.

It's not the same for everyone but i think it is for the majority. Do what makes you happy, don't feel pressure to conform. Happy mum, happy baby.

 

[BevG]

I breastfed for 6 weeks, had to switch to formula after we got thrush DD is almost 5 months now.

BUT she sleeps amazing on formula. straight through 12-14 hours a night, with a couple of half hour naps during the day. I'm pinching myself she is so easy.

I've not breastfed to this stage tho so I can't really compare. But I'm gonna be really controversial and say that i think FF babies do generally sleep longer. This isn't a negative thing about BFing tho, it's a simple fact that breastmilk goes through them faster. So they need to feed more often. i've seen A LOT of BF'ing mums having problems with nights and not as many problems with FF babies.

It's not the same for everyone but i think it is for the majority. Do what makes you happy, don't feel pressure to conform. Happy mum, happy baby.

i feel your pain there lol, im still breast feeding through it tho

 

[ZMD]

I breastfed untill 4 months tegan woke once or twice a night from 11 weeks then switched to formula and she started waking more so I honestly don't think it makes any difference xx

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[benjis mum]

Same as the other ladies im afraid. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference to Joe. I give him a formula bottle about 11pm and he wakes between 3 and 4, which he was doing on breastmilk. However formula did zonk out my older boy when he was a baby, but I think bf was such a disaster for ben and I he was just grateful to have a full tummy! On breast he never slept more than an hour, on formula he started sleeping 3 hours which seemed bliss!

 

[Sassysugar]

I hated it when the HV would say to me that the first 6 weeks were the hardest. I felt like saying to her that it was easy for her to say that as she wasn't going through it. But it is true, it does get easier. I'm still bf and colby wakes up between 1.5 to 4 hours during the night. (though hasnt been 4 hours for a while as he's teething atm) I haven't had a full nights sleep since I was 6 months pregnant, but you do get used to it, your body adjusts. It's pretty amazing really. When I was working I couldn't have functioned on this lack of sleep lol.

Your lo will be building up your supply which is why they feed so much at the start. If you decide to give formula, this will affect your supply. (I read somewhere that it's the night feeds that really help to boost supply, not sure why this is though)

You could always express so your oh could do feeds for a few nights, but I found I got engorged and uncomfortable if he didn't feed from me every few hours (he went for 8 hrs one night and thought my chest would pop as I didn't wake up to express lol - I took full advantage of those hours of sleep).

As you get into a routine, it will get easier. I co-slept from about 4 weeks just so I could get more sleep, it really helped as meant I didn't have to get out of bed and Colby went straight back to sleep after the feed. I did it safely and he was fine. I have only recently started to put him in a cot (though I'm back co-sleeping atm with his teething and feeding loads)

 

[hopefulmummy]

I haven't read all the replies, but try dragging out the time between tge day feeds a bit longer and you
May find because he feeds better rather than snacks he goes longer at night, it worked with my lo. Also, hae u got a become routine? Does he know the difference between
Night and day? Also, just remember those little tummies can't hold much so lots of bf are normal. You're doing really well xx

 

[wifeywifey]

I switched my lo to ff for night feeds at 4 weeks and found he slept better however I was up just as much in night feeding/ expressing so didnt really benefit, plus I really struggled with bf after that.

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[Bunnykins]

We started giving formula as his night feed just before bed from 5 months and he wakes more in the night now than he ever did when I exclusively breast fed, he is starving when he wakes up and will easily drain both sides and drink another bottle at about 1am, in the last week we switched his bedtime feed to a special goodnight milk that is meant to be creamier and fill them up longer, since then he literally wakes up every 2 hrs so my experience of ff on a night is not good he was far better sleeper when bf, unfortunately I'm weaning him off bf and I think we may be doing our last feed tomorrow so I guess we just have to live with the sleepless nights!!!

If you need some sleep try expressing and getting oh to do a night feed so you get a few extra hrs, but like everyone says it does get better well at least until they teethe!!!