Now, I don't want to start some debate about which is best, benefits etc etc (there's another board for that!) and I won't even mention what I do with my DS, but I'm just doing some research and would be very interested to find out from you lot.

DD slept poorly whether she was BF or FF. But she was 99.9% BF, and only FF because DH and I had a 3 night holiday and she stayed with her Granny.

ds has always been a good sleeper.

bf up to 7mo with a ff bedtime bottle from about 12 weeks iirc.

we did cc from about 5mo as well.
we co slept for the first 2 weeks then he was in his moses in our room until 5 mo ish.

DS1 terrible sleeper until he was 6 months old (and we did CC) - excluisvely BF

DS2 - great sleeper from 3 weeks old - FF

DS3 - frequent waker/poor sleeper until he was about 8 or 9 months old (still not always brilliant now at 11 months), BF ex for 3 weeks, mix fed until 4 months, FF since then.

DS1 slept from 12 - 6am from 6 weeks & 7-7 from 12 weeks exc breastfed
DS2 slept from 10-4am from 6 weeks & 7-7 from 7.5 months exc breastfed.

jj

why ? LJA

ds is frequent waker, ex bf. what's your research?

Ds1 was a poor sleeper and bf.
Ds2 was an excellent sleeper and bf.

Dd not a great sleeper FF
Ds1 very good sleeper exc BF
Ds2 awful, awful sleeper exc BF

DS1 breastfed for 4 months - wakes 1-3 times a night until...now (he's 4 yrs).

DS2 (6 mo) breastfed until 4 months - waking 1-3 times a night and he's a huge eater.

IM(humble)E it doesn't make a difference how much goes into the childs stomach (whether breast, formula, puree or solids) - if they are genetically designed to sleep through or wake up frequently they will. I'm a crap sleeper, dp's not great and the kids are killing us. Hey ho.

DD is 12 months and has slept through only a couple of times. She was exclusively bf until 6 months, then mixed fed until 8 months and ff from 8 months.

dd1 - ff and great sleeper
dd2 - ff and great sleeper thought not quite as good as dd1
dd3 - bf and a really crappy sleeper till 9months and is now sleeping 12 hours <<touches wood>>

dd1 bf till 14 months - very frequent waker
dd2 bf till 9 months - very frequent waker
dd3 still bf at 14 months - very frequent waker

and very tired

jj 7-7 from 12 weeks!
that's fab

Ds, nearly 18 weeks, wakes 2-3 times a night, exbf.

thanks LJA, I just wanted there to be a balanced view, although alot of babies don't sleep well, some do thankfully

Dds 1 & 2 - good sleepers from the start - ff

Dds 3 & 4 - good sleepers from the start - bf

Ds - terrible sleeper from the night he was born until now (still wakes a couple of times a night aged 4) - bf

I don't think it's the bf/ff that makes a difference, not in my case anyway.

DD 4 months - poor sleeper exclusively bf. My mum tells me 1000 times a day to put onto formula and she'll sleep better. But I'm stubbornly perservering with bf and v. tired.

Thanks girls, keep 'em coming. I'm not doing any sort of scientific research - I just need a bit of ammunition to show my Mum (gave the game away there, I'm bf and DS is a poor sleeper!)

Hey Babyisaac heaven forbid your mum and my mum got together!!!! She means well but it certainly is a favourite topic whenever we speak.

DS 9 months exc BF until 6m and still BF now, crap crap terrible crap sleeper [wilts]

If I thought for a minute formula would make an iota of difference I'm now at a stage where I'd do it, but I'm sure it's his wiring [sigh]

when u say poor sleeper do u just mean waking frequently?
ds is 15 weeks,bf, and will not sleep if put down (at the mo he is in my arms!!)not only that,at night he wakes every 2/3 hours
i am also contemplating formula but the one time i gave it to him~made his windy tummy worse!!

DS1 & DS2 both very good sleepers from 3 months onwards. They were both ff.

DS1 slept through 7-5/6 from around 12 weeks old iirc - bf

DS2 (9mo) terrible sleeper, wakes frequently - bf

Dd- exc bf and terrible sleeper
Ds- exc bf and much much better- sleeps 10-2ish then once or twice after that (and that's better?!)

(Ds is only 9 weeks now and gradually improving- dd didn't sleep through until 12 months and was still exc bf at that point- did cc in the end)

DD1 FF slept 12 hours a night from 8 weeks and has never woken in the night since.

DD2 - FF - currently 6 weeks old sleeps 7pm-3am then again til 6am. So can go 8 hours.

DS1, slept 8 till 8 from 5 weeks, bf

DD, didn't sleep through till she was 2, bf

DS2, 22m, still waiting for an uninterrupted nights sleep, bf.

ds 1 bf till 6 weeks mixed fed till 12 weeks, formula then on
slept 7-5/6am from 6 weeks

ds 2 b/f till 12 weeks mixed fed till 14 weeks, formula then on
slept 7-7 12 weeks

one woke in the night, b/f then went straight back to sleep, the other didn't.

I would like dc 3 and would b/f again for as long as we could. Both my children started sleeping longer through the night form when formula was introduced. They may have started that time anyway or it may have been the formula.

My dd is 8 months, bf and still up 2-3 times a night. All in this house are shattered.

Last night I finally let dh give dd a bottle of formula - she took 7oz at 11pm and had fed well (boob and solids) all day. Anyway - she was up about 4 times I think until 5am!

I don't think it makes any difference how they are fed. Dh now agrees with me! Some babies just sleep better then others IMO.

Apparently I never slept till I was 4 (ff). My sister slept 12 hours from 6 weeks (bf). Think it all has to do with personality.

ds1 and 2, both exc BF and both really poor sleepers.

i dont care if it makes a difference or not, its how Ive chosen to feed them and thats that.

DS was dreadful sleeper til around 10 months and then wonderful ever since. DD brilliant from birth, slept 11 hours straight from 9 weeks.Both exclusively BF til 7/8 months. They'll both probably wake me up tonight now!

DD was appalling, appalling sleeper - exc BF but then turned a year of age and she just started miraculously sleeping through - it coincided with her starting to walk (or rather run around a hundred miles an hour). Now on the whole is wonderful sleeper. I had to have some return from her waking up 1/2 hourly to hourly every night for the first 6 months...sigh... Stopped BF at about 14 months.

This paper was referenced in the breast/bottle feeding section. Should be all the ammunition you need

DD1 was mainly ff and was a pretty good sleeper except when teething.

DTs (9m) are ff fed, one sleeps soundly all night, the other wakes frequently - I just think one is a heavier sleeper than the other.

ds & dd both bf - both poor sleepers (dd better)

DD1 - ex. BF to 6 mo. BF to 17mo. Slept from 9pm to 9am from 3mo (did CC). Maybe gave us 5 bad nights in her whole babyhood after first few weeks.

DD2 - ex. BF to 6mo Still bfeeding at 19mo. Still wakes up regularly, (never got round to doing CC till recently).