Updated: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

DH friends formula feed their DD who is a month older than Megan and they said that she sleeps a good five hours at night. DH wants us to give DD a bottle of formula at bedtime so theoretically she would sleep for 5 hours straight. Right now its 3 hours at a time and last night she was very fussy all night, so I hardly slept and she woke DH up too...

Anyone do this? if so, do you give her Breast milk and formula or just formula? Do you mix the breast milk and formula in one bottle? or give seperate?

Thanks..


UPDATE: I tried this last night - DH gave DD 4 oz bottle of formula at 10:00 - She finished the last 1/2 oz at 10:45 and was asleep by 11 - she woke up at 3:30! so I got a good stretch of sleep - I woke up at 3 and pumped for 5 minutes. Of course DH thought she slept through to 6.

Message edited 5/16/2008 3:48:22 PM.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

When DS was a newborn, I used to BF DS then go to sleep around 8 pm, DH would feed DS a formula bottle around 11 pm, then I would get up for the 2/3 am feeding ---- so I would get a good 6-7 hours of rest. It worked really well for us.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I've heard of trying this too and am considering it. Ryan is 8wks today and still doesn't give me good stretches (for example - last night he slept from 9PM-11:45PM, 12-2, 2:15-4, 4:15-5:30, 5:45 - 7!

Let me know if you try the formula and how it works!

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I don't know how old your baby is, but if breastfeeding is important, please wait a few months before trying this. You could decrease your supply if you do this too early.

MY EBF baby started sleeping in longer stretches between 2 and 3 months.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

Message edited 5/15/2008 12:41:33 PM.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I know it's really rough. At 8 weeks your supply should be established, so you should be OK to drop a night feeding. One thing that really helped me early on was I would wake and just feed DS, the DH would change him and rock him back down, that way I could go straight back to sleep. Also, I found nursing laying down to made it easier, too.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

DS is 8wks and doesn't give me longer than 2.5 hrs at nights - if I'm very lucky closer to 3. I it will get better but seems like it never will!
If I do decide to start a night formula feed, I would have DH give it to him and pump at that time.




Oh man, that is a rough little schedule Ryan's got going there

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

yes, DD is 7 weeks, and i would pump at night if I did this - its just much easier to pump for 10 minutes than have DD wake up, nurse for 5 minutes then fall asleep at the boob, then I need to burp her, change her, then she nurses for another few minutes, then I burp her again - it takes so much time and she is a difficult burper - and I get so frustrated - especially last night b/c I was so tired.

And since she nurses for only a few minutes at a time at night, I end up engorged and leaking and pumping anyway.

And my schedule is almost identical to sweet carolines!

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I supplemented from day 1 but for the first 3 months, dd got 80% breastmilk and the rest forumla, usually formula at night but then in the AM, I would be severly engorged. NOt fun

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I don't give formula...but my DD is sleeping more and more each night. Last night was over 7 hours!

why don't you pump into a bottle so you can give a certain amount and load her up with that rather than formula

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I supplement with one 5 oz formula bottle every night. It helps me get sleep because DH gives the bottle, but I doesn't seem to have any impact on DS's sleep schedule. He's up every three hours to eat. He's 8wks old.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

Sorry to hijack your post JChia!


no worries! it keeps the post going!

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I've been supplementing at night with formula the last few nights due to my BF issues, and I have to say has slept for 4-5 hour stretches instead of his normal 2-3 hr feeding schedule. I say, if it gives you a break and some sanity, it's worth a try.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I started supplementing at 4 1/2 months because she was doing 6 hours straight at around 8 weeks and at about 12 weeks she started getting up every 2-3 hours. I think my supply is lowest at night and she was hungry. She's been doing 7-8 hours now when she takes that bottle of formula, but she doesn't ALWAYS take the bottle. It's hit or miss.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

yes - but I think I started at 6 months or so. We tried at a few weeks and it failed miserably - projectile spit-up) I would definitely wait until 4 months when they actually do not need to eat during the night. She may surprise you.

If you want to keep your supply up you should pump - the overnight time (between 1-5) is really important in keeping up your supply.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I did this and it worked great for me. I would always pump RIGHT before I went to sleep and fed her first thing in the am so I never lost my supply.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I didn't, but everyone I know does. Its absolutely fine to do.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

The nurse at my breastfeeding support group told us you could mix breastmilk and formula, no problem. Ella will sleep for 4+ hours if I tank her up by nursing her every hour from 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm). Though sometimes I think the longer sleep is not worth being chained to her while DH is home from work.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

This is exactly what we did and it stretched out her sleep, we were getting 5 hours straight at 7 weeks old. Just remember to pump if you want to keep producing that milk supply that you will then be skipping. Or skip it and your body will learn to not produce during that feed.

Message edited 5/15/2008 3:48:05 PM.

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

I don't supplement at all and DD is 9 weeks and sleeps 8 hrs (9:30ish-6ish). I am trying to make her bedtime even earlier and I have been moving 15 minutes earlier every night and she has been sleeping 15 minutes longer! DD has been a good sleeper from the beginning and I really attribute it to the miracle blanket. It really helps keep her asleep. I totally recommend giving it a shot!

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

Re: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?

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Re: Updated: Do any breastfeeders supplement with formula at night?