Does anyone's exclusively breastfed baby sleep through the night?

[jessica3692]

I can't help feeling jealous when I see mums post that their babies slept through where my daughter is 5 months and still wakes me every 2 hours (3 if I'm lucky) I know once I start weaning her things will get better... It's just every mum that proudly declares her baby sleeping through is formula fed. I having nothing against ff whatsoever. It just makes me a little bitter and jealous.

I wouldn't change bf'ing her for the world though, I just wondered if anyone's ebf baby sleeps through?

Ta muchly

[Milkyway1304]

Mine did from 8 weeks to 6 months. Then she woke hourly until 8 months, since then it's been sleeping through a third of the time, one wake up most of the time and on a bad night 2. She's 14months. I know lots of ff babies who wake up plenty and continue to do so in toddlerhood!

[SASASI]

DS started sleeping through at 8 wks, now 10 months & still BF.

I really thinking my morning porridge with full fat milk keeps my milk thick & creamy so it's filling for DS.

If not already I recommend adding full fat milk & porridge to your diet.

I'm a bad sleeper & often wake to look at him thinking I'd love a cuddle!

Easy said but don't get wrapped up in what other people's children are doing m&s enjoy this precious baby stage for what it is.

[MarinaCoyle]

Nope. Not a chance. Every 2-3 hours till about 7/8 months, then maybe twice a night (not necessarily for a feed either) and since about 10 months sleeps through maybe 40% of the time (bastarding teething/heat/colds/noise/bright mornings/full moons etc etc).

I have to say even the twice a night wakes felt miraculous in comparison to the early days.

You just muddle through don't you?

And yes, surrounded by FF peers sleeping through from 6 weeks blah blah blah. BUT DO THEY REALLY LOVE THEIR BABIES AS MUCH AS I LOVE MINE?!!!! (Note: I know that of course they bloody do but lack of sleep makes me cling to utterly irrational internal monologues.)

[OnGoldenPond]

My DD slept through virtually from birth never had a bottle until 6m.

DS, however woke hourly through night until did sleep training at 8 months. He was on bottles from 4m as I was so tired

I think it has more to do with individual personalities of babies and how much they manage to take at each feed. DD was taking 6oz at a feed by 3 weeks despite being bf and HV said it was impossible. Got her to weigh DD before and after feed to prove it

All you can do is try to get baby to feed last thing at night and deal with other issues keeping them awake as they come up. It is rarely as simple as upping the amount of milk they drink.

It will get better OP

[Kelly1814]

I FF mine and she work every night every 2-3 hours until she was 6 months.

[cabbageleaf]

mine doesn't.
I'm quite certain it isn't as simple as having porridge every morning, I have loads of butter on my toast, oil on my salad and porridge with full-fat milk, but in seven months I can count the times DS has slept more than five hours on one hand.
I too feel quite bitter when I hear of ff babies who sleep through, but then I remind myself I'd rather wake in the night to bf than ff, so it's my choice.

[PoorNeglectedBike]

mine did from about 10 and 8 weeks respectively. they were both huge babies though and fed A LOT during the day

[Ems1812]

My DS was formula fed (not my choice but was unable to bf) & although he mostly slept through, he went through a long phase of waking several times a night where as my friend who has a 3 month old DD is ebf & she has slept through from 10pm until 9-10am every night since about a week from birth. I think it really is down to each individual baby.

[Bunbaker]

DD didn't. She was tiny and her stomach was the size of a marble so there is no way she could have enough in her to keep her going all night. The first time she slept through was at about 9 months.

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Mine was EBF, she's now 19 months and still doesn't sleep through the night!
However I do know EBF babies who slept through from early on (2 of my NCT friends had EBF babies who slept through from 3-4 months) and also lots of formula fed babies who didn't/don't sleep through!

[CultureSucksDownWords]

SASASI what you eat really doesn't make a difference to the quality of your milk in the way that you describe, but if you feel better for it then that's helpful in itself.

My DS slept through reliably from 10 ish months, although he was waking less frequently in the run up to it. "Sleeping through" though doesn't mean from bedtime till morning, it only means a chunk of 5 or so hours at the same time each night.

This is an interesting read about "sleeping through":

www.isisonline.org.uk/hcp/how_babies_sleep/normal_sleep_development/normal_sleep_sleeping_through/

[ohthegoats]

I ate porridge with full fat milk every morning, and my child only started sleeping longer than 3 hours at a time when she was 8 months old and had been fully weaned off the boob onto formula.

[taptapioca]

I ebf both of mine until roughly 6 months.

DC1 slept through at 6 weeks, and then 13 hours at 12 weeks (I was also ebf and the same apparently).

DC2 fed every 2 hours day and night until 8 months - then just dropped that routine and slept through. Now she is older, seeing her personality and eating style it makes perfect sense.

[pasbeaucoupdegendarme]

My dd did, from 8 weeks to 4 months and then started teething. At her most settled then she only woke once a night though.

Ds is only 10 days old so I'll give him a chance before commenting on his sleeping patterns!

[NoMaybeAboutIt]

Mine is 15 months and still bf. She still wakes at least every 90 minutes in the night more like every hour I too cling to internal monologues Marina

[Littlef00t]

Mine started sleeping 5 hours at 3 months, needed some sleep training at 6 mo and started sleeping through at 7 months. I think it's more that a bottle takes more effort and so babies perhaps settle in the couple of mins where ebf is immediate, or parents wait to see if really needed.

[TendonQueen]

Mine didn't till about 9 months. Has been an absolutely brilliant sleeper after that, though, much better than any other kids of the same age.

[westcountrywoman]

Both DCs were exclusively breastfed. DD (my first) slept 7-7 by 4 months. DS was still waking in the night at 3 years, although I stopped the night feeds by around 10 months.
I didn't really do anything differently. DS was generally a hungrier baby. DD was slow to gain weight but was quite content and didn't really feed much day or night!
Each baby is different & they'll drop feeds and sleep through when they're ready.

[applecatchers36]

Mine didn't.... first slept through at 15 months but now at 18 months reliably sleeps through thankfully

[HippyPottyMouth]

Mine was doing about 6 hours from 3 months and 12 hours by 6 months. She needed a bit of shh-patting when she stopped wanting to breastfeed at 12 months, but otherwise I've been incredibly lucky. It wasn't down to anything I did, pure luck.

[Etak15]

My oldest is 7 and dc4 is 6 months - I haven't had a full nights sleep for 7 years!!! Mine have all co slept and breastfed till about 18 months when I gradually got them into own beds, they then still woke a couple of times in the night until they were about 3 and started nursery and get into their own little busy day and are so tired they finally sleep all night! My 6 month for eg has gone to sleep now and is totally random could wake up after an hour for a little feed or might go till 2 but he does still wake a few times in the night - I'm used to the lack of sleep now - could do with something for the dark circles under my eyes though!!

[GrouchyKiwi]

DD2 is nearly 11 months and usually wakes every 4 hours or so. Last night she did 8 hours then 6 hours. It was amazing.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Don't assume it will get better when you start weaning, sorry OP.

The feeding component of BFing is, IME, only a small part of the frequent wakings. Some babies just need the security of mum for a lot longer than others to be able to sleep. The instant baby-calming comfort of boob reassures them that they are as protected as can be and are 'safe' to sleep. Both of mine can/could have been fed a vat of porridge made with neat formula, laced with Piriton before bed, and they would still have been (or in 10mo DS2's case, still is) awake every 90 minutes or more for boob. I've tried, with the help of a sleep consultant, to lengthen his stretches of sleep, but to no avail. Some babies are just slower to develop the ability to sleep than others.

[TheABC]

23 months here. DH is stepping up to the bat next week and we are night weaning. It's going to be horrible.

[LibrariesGaveUsPower]

Yes. What Elphabathegreen said. Some bf babies sleep, some don't
Some ff babies sleep, some don't.