AIBU to think ff babies sleep better than bf babies?

[Scrumptiouscrumpets]

It seems blatantly obvious to me that ff babies sleep better than bf babies. Just take a look at the sleep board on here, the bad sleepers under a year old are more or less all bf (and many of the older ones too!). Yet nobody officially seems to acknowledge this, all bf info I can find on the Internet states that bf mums actually get more sleep than ff mums because it takes more time to make up a bottle etc. Well maybe that's true during the first three months but definitely not later on when the ff babies start sleeping in long stretches while the bf babies start to wake more and more often!
I have a 4 month old who is ebf and I love bf, but I am seriously considering switching to formula.
Am I just imagining things? Are all these bf blogs right and bf mums actually get more sleep?

[Araminta99]

They do sleep more because it is so heavy for their stomach it knocks them out. They are often more chubby as well.

[calimommy]

Daaaangerous territory. Step away.

[MrsBlennerhassett]

i dont know about that? it may well be because people breastfeed right at the beginning then switch to formula and their babies do sleep better. However that may have something to do with their babies having gotten slightly older! I dont really think it makes any difference in the first few weeks, not many babies sleep well at that time. My friend exclusively breastfeeds and her baby sleeps amazingly and is only a few weeks old. My LO slept appallingly until about six months and was combination fed.

[GwendolynMary]

My first was EBF. Silent reflux, nightmare sleeper. My second was mix fed, with formula before bed. Also silent reflux, also a shithouse sleeper. Didn't help us.

[purplefizz26]

I think it's true, but nobody likes to admit or advertise it incase anyone considering breastfeeding goes running for the formula instead.

In my experience, myself and 1 other friend in our mum and baby group formula fed, the other 3 breastfed. The 2 formula fed slept well from a couple of months old, the other 3 were more often than not up throughout the night and never really had a long block of sleep until way beyond a year old.

Of course, breast milk is nutritionally better, but formula is a heavier more filling milk and often tends to satisfy babies hunger faster which leads to sleeping longer.

[Motherfuckers]

I think formula can be more filling, so the baby may stay asleep longer. But they are also far more likely to suffer from wind so would lose sleep there. I coslept with mine so we didn't even have to wake up fully for feeds, whereas getting a baby out of bed and preparing bottles would mean both parent and baby woke more fully.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I work with teenage mums. They live in my house so believe me when I say I know how they are sleeping. All 5 so far BF except one and he is by far the worst sleeper. By a mile.

However DD was BF and she was a complete nightmare who didn't sleep through until she was 2. By then she was eating pizza so I think her terrible sleep was hardwired.

I think it might be that people EBF, get no sleep, switch to FF, baby is older so it sleeps and they attribute that to formula.

[Justme3]

Untrue

[NoncommittalToSparkleMotion]

I've heard this argument and, as a bfing mother with a bf'd child who was a terrible sleeper until she was 2.5, I'm inclined to agree.

[NoncommittalToSparkleMotion]

I was probably a glutton for punishment.

[Littlelostdinosaur]

Having had lots of interaction with both ff and bf mums, some of whom stopped bf due to poor sleep on the basis that ff would be a magical cure...no, it doesn't make a bit of difference.
My first ebf until 14 months, would sleep 12 hours a night unless I'll/teething etc. When weaned, he would wake up plenty, no correlation at all.
This baby 7 Months ebf, sleeps well generally but currently insists on being held. He isn't waking out of hunger so I don't see why ff would make any difference.
I believe there was a study done by a British university (can't recall details now and haven't read r myself) which looked at this and found no correlation at all in amount of wake ups between ff and bf babies. Only difference was on waking ff babies less likely to be fed than bf but will awoke just as much.

[Caterina99]

Purely based on my anecdotal experience, I don't think there's much difference for the first few months.

However, once the babies get bigger I think they can take a larger quantity of milk from a bottle and it's more filling and so they can sleep for longer. I also think there doesn't tend to be as much of a comfort factor in bottle feeding for the baby so they are more likely to go back to sleep when they wake up. Finally, getting up and making a bottle in the night is a right pain. Therefore I think bottle feeding parents are more likely to sleep train earlier.

Please note that these are just my personal opinions and I am in the US where everyone goes back to work much earlier and they are much more into sleep training here, presumably as a result of working full time from the babies being 3 months old

[SmashDemGuineaPigs]

Not in my case, both times 😭

[abigwideworld]

I don't think it's true. I know people who've weaned onto formula hoping for more sleep and been disappointed. My ebf baby is 10 weeks and either sleeps through or has one wake up currently. I'm not bothered either way - he's a baby. You expect babies to wake up at night!

[Pluto30]

I don't think so, tbh.

Breasted all three of mine. DS1 slept through virtually from the time he came home from the hospital. Didn't nap past maybe 6mo, but slept like a gem through the night. DD was sleeping through the night at 9 weeks.

DS2 was an awful sleeper. No reflux or colic or anything. Just a shitful sleeper. He's still inclined to procrastinate going to bed, and is a very light/very particular sleeper.

So, no difference in the method of feeding, just a difference in babies.

[RicStar]

Nah. Don't think so. I had two good ebf sleeper's which makes me an expert on neither feeding nor sleeping. Neither does having a good ff sleeper. Babies are different. For sure my main reason for ebf was laziness / not having to get out of bed / sit up to feed. Wish they slept now (2 and 4) but that is not to do with milk.

[Littlelegs19]

Tell that to my DS! 7 weeks and I think it's actually getting worse!

[MummyIsAFreeElf]

My first born was ff and a great sleeper until he was around 18 months. Now at nearly 6 he's a nightmare! Refuses to sleep for hours after bedtime no matter how tired or late he goes to bed. My second was ebf until 4 months, combination fed until 7 and didn't sleep a full night until 16 months. My third is 6 months ebf with no intentions of ff. she's a great sleeper. Best out of the three. In my experience it doesn't matter how the baby is fed, I think it just depends on the baby

[Acunningruse]

Well I'm currently up with a FF 4 month old...

[dylsmimi]

I think it's down to the baby whether they are a sleeper or not - mine aren't
I would imagine that mums of ff babies may be able to get more sleep as they can share the night feeds and have a night away from the baby if they want to at an earlier point
There is also, I'm guessing, less coder sucking and from my observations ff babies tend to have dummies more than bf babies so perhaps settle with those rather than a feed when they are a big older?

[AnnaT45]

I think it's down to the baby to be honest. Of course hungry babies are able to go longer on formula but I wonder if bf babies can be settled quicker if they wake by the comfort of the boob? In the early days of dd2 I was so tempted to switch as she was feeding a lot in the night. Met a dad of a similar aged baby who told me they were ff every 90/2 hours in the night too which reassured me formula was an miracle cure for sleep!

For me if I were to switch to formula I would do it not expecting baby to have better sleep but for me to have the chance to by getting DH to do some feeds.

[AnnaT45]

Sorry *wasnt a miracle

[GruffaloPants]

I don't know.

My first BF baby was a terrible sleeper.

My second, also ebf, is great. Wakes once in the night, or not at all. Just luck of the draw for me.

[QuinnPerkins]

My breastfed baby (now 7 weeks) immediately started sleeping better when we gave him a bottle at bedtime.

And there was one morning I had to go into hospital, I had BF him a few times that morning before I left but my mum (who was babysitting while I was at hospital) said he was cranky and gave him a bottle, and he then snoozed happily for most of that day.

So I believe it to be true.

[M0nkington]

Mine EbF great sleeper, Dsis's Ff crap sleeper, even now aged 5. It makes no difference IMHO.