nights -help

my baby is 5 weeks and EBF. at night he sleeps ok in the first half of the night but every night 3am onwards he just doesn’t settle. i’m always then awake from 3am but stay in bed with him till about 8am so he knows it’s still nighttime i’m exhausted. i breast feed at 3am but does anyone think he’ll possible get back to sleep if i give him a bottle of formula at this time instead? will it make him sleepy? i’ve seen other message seeeing EBF people feee formula to help baby sleep thanks x

Show your support

I have no experience with formula but I know it’s really common for the second half of the night to be harder because there’s less sleep pressure so sleep is lighter, is usually the same for everyone we just notice it more in babies. I’m going through the same as you i know how hard it is x

We’re the exact same, get to 3/4am and it’s all down hill from there most nights. I personally don’t want to introduce any formula so I’m just riding it out 😵‍💫

I've never tried formula. I EBF my daughter and she slept a lot better than my friends babies who were formula fed so I think it just depends on the baby.

Not sure about formula (personally see no harm in trying! or you could express a bottle for the night?) - but do you use a dummy? I just introduced one after my baby was waking just to comfort suckle and it keeps her going longer stretches. I do also think it’s the phase a baby is in. One night my baby just started sleeping longer after waking every 45 mins to an hour for the first two weeks. Keep persevering because it will get better!

We had this but at the start of the night. We’ve found feeding a bottle of express milk or kendemil formula has helped as when was breast feeding he kept falling asleep and not getting enough so was constantly cluster feeding whereas with the bottle he drinks it all and goes to sleep as he is full straight away. I then breast feed / express the rest of the time. I needed it for my own sanity cos cluster feeding from 8pm to 2am was killing me 😅 x

They'll find their rhythm, I usually switch to co sleeping if he's really not settling at that time - some nights are fine and he goes back down whereas others he's just grunting away and crying unless with me. Just a case of riding it out. Everything's your choice though and if you're struggling and what to try the formula that's absolutely fine. If you want to protect your BM supply though you'll also need to pump during that feed so your body knows little one needs milk. Breastmilk at night actually contains higher levels of tryptophan which helps little one nod off so it's good for night wakes when they get a little older - just still in the newborn trenches currently where the little monkeys do what they want 🤍

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌