OP, we did this and it worked -- in the early days I would do a nursing "dream feed" session at about 10 or 11 pm, and then my husband would cover the 12 am to 4 am shift, where he fed baby formula at probably around 2 or 3 am. As DC got older, he would nurse longer at the dream feed, and would sleep through to the morning when I would nurse first thing (about 5 am). I had no issues with supply when I breastfed; for some reason was never able to get much milk when I pumped, hence supplementing with formula.

I started giving DS 1-2 bottles of formula per day at about 2.5 months. My supply would really dip in the evenings and I knew he was very hungry. It didn't matter how much fenugreek tea I drank/lactation cookies I ate. Enough was enough already. Seriously, it made a huge difference in terms of sleep. DS went from sleeping 2-3 hour shifts to 4-5 hour ones. I felt a little guilty at first but I let that go pretty quickly. I know some say that it's not the formula that does it, but in our case, I can't think of any other factor that could have added an extra 2 hours to my baby's sleep shift. It literally happened the evening we started giving him one bottle. In the end, OP, it's not a contest to see who can EBF without sneaking in a bottle of formula. That stuff is on the market and successful for a reason. Do what's best for your whole family. Good rest is just as important as breastmilk. A lot of us were giving cans of formula as babies and we still went to college/landed jobs/got married/bore children/don't hate our moms. In terms of feeling engorged in the morning, I have felt that way but I just start pumping as soon as I get up and voila, I have two 4 once bottles to give baby whenever we need to give him a bottle.

DD1 started STTN (10 hours) at 3.5 months. I never once woke to pump and my supply was fine. I honestly think sleep is more important than your supply. Formula is not the devil. If it helps you keep your sanity, then I say try it.

I used formula for night feeds pretty much from the beginning, as my supply didn't come in for almost 2 weeks (found out later some of placenta was still attached).

I didn't affect my supply overall. Once my milk came in, I pumped before I went to bed at 10, then DH fed our child a bottle of formula about 11:30. I did find that formula kept him satisfied longer. He's wake up between 2 and 3 when he was under 6 weeks old. That gave my 4 solid hours of sleep even from the earliest days.

Anonymous wrote:OP, sleep is about brain maturity and not about what the child eats. Dc1 was a champ sleeper no matter what was in the bottle. Dc2 was a terrible sleeper and only drank formula at night.

OP here - sorry, post was a little confusing. The formula would not be to help the baby sleep longer, it would just allow someone other than me (DH) to feed him so I could sleep every once in a while. I'm just a little terrified of what is ahead of me with the nursing. It was rough the first time around and I think if I could have just slept 8 hours one night, it would have helped.

OP, sleep is about brain maturity and not about what the child eats. Dc1 was a champ sleeper no matter what was in the bottle. Dc2 was a terrible sleeper and only drank formula at night.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do formula at night, would you sleep through the night as DH fed him? Or would the formula enable the baby to sleep longer? If you didn't nurse or pump, would you be in pain in the am? FTM here with sumilar questions as OP.

Formula digests more slowly, so yes, baby would likely sleep longer.

At first you'd probably be engorged and in some pain if you didn't feed or pump through the night, but after a week or so your body would adjust to the demand and things would normalize.

The body doesn't adjust to the demand depending on if it's night or day. Yes, if you didn't pump or nurse, you would mostly likely be engorged by the morning b/c it's a much longer stretch.

OP, I'd see how it goes with #2. You never know what you'll get.

Actually, it does. It adjusts to the times of day you need more and less in addition to the overall amount.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do formula at night, would you sleep through the night as DH fed him? Or would the formula enable the baby to sleep longer? If you didn't nurse or pump, would you be in pain in the am? FTM here with sumilar questions as OP.

Formula digests more slowly, so yes, baby would likely sleep longer.

At first you'd probably be engorged and in some pain if you didn't feed or pump through the night, but after a week or so your body would adjust to the demand and things would normalize.

The body doesn't adjust to the demand depending on if it's night or day. Yes, if you didn't pump or nurse, you would mostly likely be engorged by the morning b/c it's a much longer stretch.

OP, I'd see how it goes with #2. You never know what you'll get.

Anonymous wrote:If you do formula at night, would you sleep through the night as DH fed him? Or would the formula enable the baby to sleep longer? If you didn't nurse or pump, would you be in pain in the am? FTM here with sumilar questions as OP.

Formula digests more slowly, so yes, baby would likely sleep longer.

At first you'd probably be engorged and in some pain if you didn't feed or pump through the night, but after a week or so your body would adjust to the demand and things would normalize.

Mom of a 4 month old. I imagine this could work. There would be initial pain/engorgement after weaning the night feed as your body would be producing a feed that isn't being used. One option would be to wake up the next morning and feed the baby then pump the rest. I did this after my baby stopped night feeding. I generally had about 4 oz extra after his morning feed. I froze this but you could feed it if you didn't mind the extra work. Otherwise, formula would work too!

If you do formula at night, would you sleep through the night as DH fed him? Or would the formula enable the baby to sleep longer? If you didn't nurse or pump, would you be in pain in the am? FTM here with sumilar questions as OP.

I don't do that exactly but kind of -- nurse exclusively except one formula bottle right before bed to help him sleep a longer stretch then. It's worked fine for me. BFing is a supply and demand thing and your body will learn to understand when you do and need milk from it.

It's hard to know when or if it would affect your supply. I agree that waiting six weeks is smart. If you find it does affect your supply, you can go back to all nursing and take fenugreek for a bit.

I'm about to have #and plan to breastfeed, but am considering using formula for one or some of the night feedings after the first six weeks or so. DD #1 was a horrible sleeper and I nursed her in the middle of the night, every night, for 8 months. We weaned at that point and of course she started to sleep 7-7. The constant sleep deprivation really wore me down though. DH really couldn't do anything, because I didn't want to skip a night feed and jeapordize my supply, so it was just easier for me to nurse her than try to pump and have him do the bottle, etc. And I have to be honest, my friends who use formula and have their husbands split the night feedings look a hell of a lot better than I did with an 8 week old...

My question is - did this work for anyone? Nurse exclusively with the exception of one middle of the night feeding being formula?

Note: although I plan to BF, I do not have issues with formula whatsoever so I'm not looking for a debate here.