one bottle at night?

It was probably just a freak thing that he slept that long after the bottle. He was probably just knackered and crashed. Formula doesn't make a blind bit of difference when it comes to sleep.

DH use to feed Daniel a feed of formula every night to give me a break, it didn't affect my milk supply, it just took it a couple of days to work out what was happening and not to produce too much milk and make me too full.

We found it fantastic to give Daniel a bottle of formula (while I was BF - for the first 3 months) because it meant I didn't have to express (lazy bum lol) and DH could make up however much he wanted and we didn't care if it was wasted.

He may have slept longer because he had such a good feed. That is the good thing with giving him a bottle, you know exactly how much he has had. Even if he feeds off you for a long time, he may not be getting as much. A lot of mums I know give their babies a bottle at night. It's great for dad to get involved too, and to give you a break!!!

It does affect your supply....but thats ok if you want it too. Basically if you want to do as Stacey did and feed a formula feed at that time everynight then thats ok but if you only want to do it occassionally you might find your boobs get confused.

Also the whole point of a growth spurt is to get mum making more milk for the next stage in his growth....not just to feed more at that time. So by giving formula instead of letting him feed off you your body doesnt know that it needs to up your supply to meet the new demands. The same would apply with EBM. However your sanity is still important so do what works for ya!

in terms of how much he gets he used to feed then sleep for 5 hours so i figured he was kinda full and sometimes it will leak out(sides of his mouth:) ) so it looks like hes getting enough(and gaining weight and weeing and stuff so i assumed he was getting enough?

Dad does EBM at night if its early enough..when we get a routine it will be great Dad will always be able to do that one..
bel-thats a good point..he gets heaps but maybe not enough of the good stuff?

jack/charli- yeah i think we will try it again to see what happens..i had a good talk to DH about the formula issue..seems he was grumpy bout it cause it costs..lol.. men!

I'm not one who feels guilty about giving him formula..though it was a little weird:) and if one more freaking person tells me I'm lucky cause i have a good supply!! obviously i dont always..I've been lucky this hasnt happened before now i guess...my milk isnt so flash at night either..though if i drink a lot during the day it does help a bit..

yeah i do try to express..but i try to do it an hour after the feed and sometimes hes still awake and unhappy or I forget ..but like today i did ...so if he has morning EBM hes getting the best milk anyway so hopefully that will help him sleep longer:)

they do say once a breastfed baby even when it switches will still keep same sleeping patterns:(! we are going to do a routine very shortly too...just wanted him to get over his jabs..any tips for implementing that?

Re the routine KA, choose a time in the morning you want to start and work from there. So around here, regardless of what time she last fed, our day starts at 7am. So Greer gets woken then and feeds at 7, 10, 2, 5 and then around 6. Into bed 6.30. I wake her at 9.30 and make it like daytime so she is awake for around an hour. Last two nights I have been in bed at 10.45, then not being woken until 3 or 4am, then she manages through until 7am again.

So yeah, I think the easiest way is just to make sure you always start at the same time every day. Good luck.

verena..yeah maybe..i had tried feeding extra etc..people say dont do one boob but often i do.. as sometimes it works better...just depends how boobs feel..

aimee thanks..so you always wake her not just in the morning but at those other times?not sure i can bring myself to wake him....opening curtains etc sometimes works..:)! he sorta has a routine..I've beejn writing it for a week and mostly he is up at similar times.. we notice the non-bath days make a difference so we will have to do that every night just i cant lift it so sometimes DH isnt here..but think i will put him in big bath with me maybe?

i just gave him a bottle of formula..i didnt mix it..he was fine.. i dont think he could do dream feed..if i ever do wake him he's awake.....Ethan has had a bottle of EBM off and on since birth cause i was scared he would never take a bottle like my friends bub:)

Yep I wake her whenever she is due for a feed unless she has woken early. Also wake up fully at 9.30 as dream feeds dont seem to work for her, then just leave her to it for the night. Seems to work for us anyway. Did the same with Hannah... When I wake her I just unwrap her and leave her for a few minutes, open curtains in the morning. She must be used to it now as she wakes quite quickly.