Formula at night?

[Melsie]

Any mums out there that breastfeed but give a bottle of formula at night to encourage LOs to last longer at night? Does it work?

[Lolly]

I only formula fed but formula really doesn't encourage them to last longer at night I'm afraid! They can go maybe an hour longer with a tummy full of formula because it takes a bit longer to digest but equally for a breastfed baby not used to formula it could just as easily cause wind/ discomfort at least initially.

How are nights for your now - how many feeds is your LO having. What is your day routine like?

Laura

[Fiver]

Nothing much to add to what Laura has already said...

[mandij08]

My DD is breastfeed, and we did hypoallergenic formula for a week because she had blood in her stools and other things. I can honestly say she did not sleep longer during that week.  I am back to BFing and a very strict diet. So from our experience she did not sleep longer.

[Melsie]

We have had major sleep issues - she won't nap independently and for more than forty five mins and wakes up almost every hour at night. Advice from forum is tp start on 4 hour EASY. She is also teething which could have resulted in reflux flare up. Its been a hectic week so 4 hour easy is not in place yet. She seems hungrier at the moment thats why i asked about formula. I used to be able to settle her for most wakings with paci but now she seems to do the hungry cry more frequently at night so against my better judgement i have given in and fed her (although she has never gone through the night without feeding anyway) I am feeding at 10/11 and then 2/3 - which to be honest is not a major problem and if thats what she needs i am more than fine with it. The problem is after the 2/3 feed its every hour and she suckles and falls back to sleep but she is doing the hungry cry and pushing paci away?! I have also noticed that she never takes a good feed at 7 so my instincts tell me that the 2/3 feed should be the last one - maybe she doesn't ev en need that one? She gets so upset though and I feel like I am starving her and also i am so exhausted after 20 weeks of very broken sleep that I give in to easily! She is twenty weeks, born at 8.4 and put on good weight at 15.8 now. I have just started to intro solids.

[Lolly]

How is the reflux being treated? If she is having a flare up that probably isn't helping the sleep, especially after that 2/3am feed when they are in a lighter sleep phase anyway.

Laura

[Shiv52]

There is a huge growth spurt at 20 weeks. Do you think she hit that?

What solids are you doing? They could be affecting her tummy.

Lastly I BF and neither of
Mine went 4 hours between feeds in the day so if she's struggling with that feed her sooner x

[eva026]

Yup, mine didn't last 4h between BFs during the day either.  It makes fitting feeds around naps a bit tricky when they are in the 40min nap phase. Hopefully your LO will grow out of it soon:)
Only now that DD is getting 3 meals a day of solids is she down to 4 BFs during the day, so every 4.5h or so.

[Melsie]

I am confused with growth spurts. I have not spotted any of them, i don't really know what i am looking for  reflux had improved so we were on gaviscon but stopped but will start again. Although i am a little concerned about solids and gaviscon together - could it lead to constipation?? The solids we are trying at the moment are only baby rice and seems to be going well. The sleeping and feeding issues were before solid intro. It was a doc and paed that said intro solids because she is possibly hungry.

[Fiver]

There is virtually no nutritional value in baby rice, to be fair.  It's is literally a "filler" and can lead to a constipated baby.  There are more fats/calories in breast milk.

Also, LOs with reflux (especially if it's not under control) do often prefer to feed little and often as the milk can neutralise any acid that is coming back up and they also know full well that if they take a big feed, it's likely to come back up again, whereas a smaller, more frequent feed might be more likely to stay down.

Did you mention the reflux when you were asking for advice on the sleep side of things?  And have you been getting any support from the Colic, Reflux, & Crying board?

[Melsie]

I did mention and have had advice previously but as it had improved I am hoping this is just a flare up due to teething and that gaviscon will help as it did before until it passes?

[Fiver]

Fingers crossed that's all it is