Hellobee Boards

I've always heard that most babies are capable of sleeping through the night without food by 4-6 months. My guess is he's just looking for comfort, certainly if he's getting up more than once. Personally, I would not give formula. That will just lower your supply more. I would try to do more sleep training. Sorry you're dealing with this. It's so hard to deal with sleep issues!

For my last two I used to "top them off" with a bottle of expressed milk or formula before bed. It also gave DH a chance to feed the baby and I would pump. I am honestly not sure if it helped them sleep or not but I don't think it hurts if you're comfortable with it! Like @BadgerMom introducing formula was a relief for me as well.

Unless there is a medical reason, my pediatrician explained that around 5-6 months a baby no longer needs night feeding. What is happening is a cycle, baby wakes you assume he's hungry and feed him, he gets sleepy and goes back to sleep.
At this age, babies need help getting from one part of the sleep cycle to the next. During the night sleep cycles through deep, light, and REM sleep and we don't usually wake up in between the cycles, or if we do we roll over get comfortable and fall back asleep. This is something babies need to learn. So instead of picking baby up and immediately feeding him, try placing your hand on him and singing a lullaby (try to repeat something very similar to your bedtime routine).
We started this when DD was 5 months old, and still slept in our room. I would hear her start to move or moan a little, I would quickly get up, put her pacifier back in, put my hand on her chest, and whisper sing Somewhere over the rainbow. These cues helped her not come fully awake and drift off back to sleep. We moved her to her own room at 6 mo, and she started sleeping through the night successfully, and if she woke, then I would do the same thing. Its about teaching them to transition though the sleep cycles. If you continue to pick him up, it wakes him up and cues its time to eat, which he likes but does not need.

I think I read most of the on the baby sleep site and in what to expect the first year.

I would not worry about your supply at night. He is getting what he needs. However I will say that my husband did bed times so my DD would get a bottle before bed. So perhaps switch to a bottle of expressed milk, you'll be able to see how much baby is drinking and give yourself piece of mind.

Bottom line is, babies do need some sleep training, but that does not equate all night screaming. Its something they need to be taught, just like everything else. You will need patience, and you will lose sleep for another month or two - but hopping up to sing a lullaby is much shorter than actually feeding, so you can get back to sleep faster.

I also suggest that you and your spouse take turns doing this. My husband would be 'on duty' from 6pm-12pm, so that I could solidly sleep. If the baby needed anything he took care of it. 12pm-morning was my responsibility. That way you can both get undivided rest, and the baby won't always smell you and your milk and assume its feeding time.

Hope that helps!

@jennlin821: totally agree with this. We did some classes when DD was a baby and this is exactly what they said. As long as your baby is growing as expected and has no other concerns, they don't need to eat at night when they are that old. I think it's natural to assume they want to feed, but it's just a cycle that they come to expect when you offer it every time they wake up. My husband handled a lot of the sleep training because babies just want milk if they see mom and expect it.

@SweetCaroline: I know everyone is different, but I had no problem continuing to nurse my kids after stopping pumping.

With my older child, I think it really was more about the connection, as he nursed all the way through pregnancy (which had a much more dramatic effect on supply). For my daughter, it's always seemed to be more about the food - she was a way more efficient eater and wouldn't linger - but she still nurses at wake up and bed time several months after I dropped pumping. And it definitely helped my quality of life a lot. I am not someone who has a stellar supply, had to supplement with my older child because I couldn't make enough, yet it still worked out post pumping...