in breast-feeding and formula feeding support

Combi feeding bedtime bottle

I’m wondering if anyone can help. My LO is 11 weeks and we combi feed - with 1 bottle of formula before bed. When it works, it works really well and she sleeps 10.30pm-4/5am. But this has only happened a handful of times as we seem to be struggling to get the timing right. She BF a lot in the evenings, sometimes until 9ish. We then find she’s not properly hungry enough for the bottle and only ends up having half, meaning she then wakes up a lot earlier. Last night I tried giving her the bottle earlier at 8.30pm instead of the breast, thinking maybe she’d finish the whole thing and it would knock her out. Well that didn’t work, she woke up at 10pm and then BF until midnight 😴 I’m writing this having had about 3 hours sleep and wondering what we are doing wrong and how to crack it. Can anyone offer any advice?! Thanks so much x

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We also combi feed, little boy is 17 weeks. We give formula overnight, he has one bottle between 9:30-10:30pm then another if he wakes and another between 6-7am. He often wakes up between 2-4am but sometimes sleeps for longer. The formula isn’t guaranteed to see you through until 4 I’m afraid. However we find he sleeps better having had more breast feeds throughout the day and a last feed ending around an hour before his bottle. Honestly we have also tried bringing the bottle forwards and just paid for it by having less sleep than usual, instead I cut him off at around 8:30 from breastfeeding, he might nap on us for a bit and then bottle routine and bed

@Beth this is interesting can you explain this further for me? I have a nearly 8 week old and I want to stop BF - he has been been on both breast and then has a top up - I feel like I can’t mentally cope with BF anymore he is on for a while then wants the formula. Thanks x

@Nisha we were initially doing top ups, we just swapped this for bottles overnight. We doubled the top up amount at first to replace a breast feed at bedtime and if he completely finished it increased the bottles. If you are wanting to continue breastfeeding at all you would need to pump at least once during the night to maintain supply, although tbh I also do this for my own comfort, it wakes me up otherwise! It took about 3 weeks for this to steady out and not wake me as frequently. I pump just before we go to bed, when it wakes me and again in the morning now. This also means that I have some extra breast milk available to top up during the day or swap out a feed for a bottle. If your little one has a semi consistent time they would start their night time, you could try increasing your top up to a bottle and expressing 😊 I do get my partner to feed the night bottles, especially at first! As otherwise your up for nearly an hour for a change feed and 20 min pump x

@Beth I can’t pump I never get anything more than few ounces it’s really traumatic for me. I’m having problems with him bf he feeds fine on my right breast and my supply in that breast has regulated however he doesn’t feed well on my other, which is resulting me getting clogged up which is ever so painful he also has traumatised that nipple ☹️ Im trying to reduce BF although feeling very guilty

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