Confused about sleep and formula

[julio230282]

@nader1 As a lot of the comments here have been anecdotal - here is a link with evidence between BF & reducing SIDS

https://rednose.org.au/article/breastfeeding-and-the-risk-of-sudden-unexpected-death-in-infancy

 

[leematthew1234]

@nader1 I pumped exclusively for my 2nd and she slept through the night from 8 weeks, completely un sleep trained in any way. My 1st was breastfed until 2 and did not sleep until 2. It's extremely varied and down to babies temperment.

Someone linked a German article a few months ago on breastfeeding and sids. They found that basically, babies who breastfeed at some point during newborn stage are used to having their noses smushed up against the boob and having to micro adjust, and those babies are more likely to micro adjust to breathe if faced with a blanket or smushed against a mattress prior to 6 months. And maybe THAT is the link between breastfeeding and SIDS, at least its the most logical thing to me so far.

Except then there's the whole confusion and coding of suffocation as SIDS and hard to tell. Actual no fault SIDS (no environmental factors) points to more of a genetic marker like an enzyme, or at least that's where the scientific conversation was going last time I looked

 

[tatig]

@nader1 We don't know what causes SIDS so the waking thing is just a theory. Anecdotally, I have a unicorn sleeper (ebf) my sister formula fed and both her kids were terrible sleepers. My other sister ebf and her kid is still a terrible sleeper after weaning. I wouldn't expect the formula to work a miracle, but I don't think it hurts to try (though I'd pump to replace the formula until you decide if you want it to be a permanent thing or not)

 

[eb231]

@nader1 Anecdotally, I EBF and have an above average sleeper. My parents both formula fed my sister and I and we were terrible sleepers. Adding formula doesn't turn babies into unicorn sleepers. Almost no one would breastfeed exclusively if it did, considering sleep is probably the number one struggle parents have.

Also, instead of trying a bottle of formula at bedtime, do you have a partner that can give a bottle in the middle of the night instead of you waking up to do that feeding? It will help you get a longer stretch of uninterrupted sleep at night.

 

[vel]

@nader1 My husband took over handling wake ups at 3:30/4am so I could get some uninterrupted sleep before he went to work. Unless you’re a single parent you should be taking shifts. That way you don’t get desperate enough to do something you’re not comfortable with.

 

[katrina2017]

@nader1 Do you have any concerns that your baby is not getting enough milk? That would be the only situation where formula might help her sleep better.

Introducing a bottle of formula at night could potentially make things worse as it can upset a baby’s stomach if they are not used to it.

 

[chrisschmitz]

@nader1 I EBF and my 11 week old just started to sleep 6-8 hours before a feed. I don’t co-sleep because my bed is too soft: he is in a bassinet.

Every baby is different, so what works for mine May not for you.

What did help is I don’t get him at night if he’s just grunting. He grunts for about 2 minutes at midnight but falls back asleep.

 

[outdoorlover]

@chrisschmitz We were exactly the same. EBF and by far the best sleeper in my mums group (11-12 hours at 3 month old).

I also second ensuring the baby is actually hungry before getting them up. I would leave him a few mins, and if still fussing check to make sure he was hungry by sticking my knuckle near his mouth. At your LO age my baby still had infant dyschazia so was a very noisy sleeper.

 

[gell]

@nader1 There is a great book called “the science of mother infant sleep”

It largely debunks the largely American propaganda around sids and cosleeping. In either bed sharing or room sharing scenarios around formula vs breast fed. They go deep into the actually minutia of the data and separate out things like - intoxicated parents, - in beds with other children, - other sleep surfaces like couches, chairs, floors with tons of bedding.

Its really good and an easy read with very clear unbiased data around why bed sharing and cosleeping as a breast feeding mother is actually advantageous.

Someone also recently made a great post on here. A few days ago.

 

[nimbus]

@nader1 EBF over here and my child sleeps from 7pm to 9/10am ish with one feed around 6am.

Also he sleeps in his own bed. We do not co sleep.

Formula won't make babies sleep longer. Unless you want formula to be a long term thing, you need to pump when you feed formula otherwise your supply will go down.

 

[jluponeage]

@nader1 We’re EBF at 10 weeks and have 2 predictable wakes each night at around 2:30 and 5:30 (down by 8 pm most nights). You might look into different aspects of sleep hygiene wherever your baby sleeps, and if baby is just fussing not crying, you can give it a few minutes and they may settle back to sleep. We realized that we were accidentally picking him up during active sleep and making nights harder on ourselves, so we’ve started paying closer attention to the noises he makes and whether they’re escalating before we get him out of the bassinet.

 

[nader1]

@jluponeage I’m just not really sure what else we can try but am open to try literally anything. We’ve done a bath-bedtime routine since day one. Dark room, white noise, we’ve found the optimal temperature she likes, the best sleep sack for her, I feel sure she’s not overtired or undertired during the day. I’m just desperate to stretch out that first sleep of the night, which is usually about 3, sometimes 3.5 hours. Then she’s up every 1-2 hours after that. If I could get a good 5+ hours at the beginning, I know I could handle the frequent wake ups after that.

 

[yoshs]

@nader1 Do you have a partner who would be willing to wake up with her for the first feed and provide a bottle of pumped milk or formula so that you can get a decent chunk of sleep?

We had similar issues, though we were actually waking her up during that first waking because of poor growth. Because of the growth problems, we eventually switched to pumping, bottles and supplementing so that we could monitor intake throughout the day. Then when we were sure she was getting in enough during the day and her weight was stable, we did let her sleep at night and drop the night feeds when she wanted To. So she slept better, but we have no way to know if it was the formula, getting more food in during the day, getting more food overall, etc. If there are any concerns with weight, I would start supplementing with formula. Anecdotally she changed into a completely different baby around when we did this and 10weeks and everything got much better. We'll never know if it was a coincidence.

I also slept better after just moving her to her own room. I'm a light sleeper and couldn't sleep at all with her in a bassinet next to me.

Ours also had reflux, which gradually improved as she got larger and especially when she started rolling over.

 

[olaitan]

@nader1 I have a 2.5yo and 4mo. Here’s what we do… when she wakes up after that first stretch, offer her a pacifier or snuggles to see if she will go another 5, or 10, or 20 minutes before she eats. If you can get her to incrementally add a few minutes between feeds every night then her tummy will get used to going longer without food. We start this with our babies around 5-6 weeks and they usually stop taking a bottle overnight around 10-12 weeks. Rule of thumb is they can go 1 hour for every 1 week of adjusted age. And then add calories during the day. This approach has worked well for us and for others that I know. Sleep deprivation is so real and so scary. Do what you need to do to keep your family safe and healthy.

 

[katrina2017]

@jluponeage This was our baby and still is, even after switching to formula. We offer a bottle a few minutes before bed, even if she ate an hour ago we still offer it, and that helped A LOT for us

 

[allie920]

@nader1 Breast milk champion sleeper for me. It’s anecdotal but might be helpful to see a few of us around.

I highly recommend The Happy Sleeper

And Precious Little Sleep

 

[luvmypets]

@nader1 My twins slept like shit and only did formula overnight. Twin B had colic, I had to wait a lot of that out. But mainly, I just did nothing and they grew up and started sleeping. I know how hard this is! I wanted to die, th sleep dep is so hard

 

[chasitycase]

@nader1 Have you tried a bedside bassinet for cosleeping? Might ease your guilt about it?

 

[babyface4646]

@nader1 EBF. Had a unicorn sleeper. Slept through the night at 3.5 months. We didn’t sleep train. Never co-slept

We started a bedtime routine at 8 weeks but it’s mostly due to her temperament.

 

[radicalpeng]

@nader1 My nephew is EFF and still woke up 2-3 times at night at 8 months. My baby is EBF and has been sleeping through the night since 2.5 months. It all just depends on the baby.