Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are all bad sleepers breastfed?

137 replies

sharkstale · 22/10/2025 09:54

DD, breastfed until 18 months. Horrific sleeper until we stopped.

DS, combi-feeds, but wants to be glued to my boob all night every night. Even worse sleeper.

Due to the fact that sleep improved instantly when I stopped bf DD, it makes me want to stop bf DS now at 8 months, believing breastfeeding is the issue.

What are your experiences please?

Yabu - bf is not the issue
Yanbu - stop bf and get some decent sleep.

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 22/10/2025 10:03

FF both of mine, 1 slept and one didn't BUT at least me and DH could take it in turns

Original poster
sharkstale · 22/10/2025 10:01

AnneLovesGilbert · 22/10/2025 09:57

What an odd question. Breastmilk is what human babies are supposed to have, it’s the biological norm.

Yes and it's also a fact that breastfeeding helps prevent SIDs as they wake more frequently (although not sure if that still applies at 8 months), and that we produce the hormones more during the night. Also the fact that he can obviously smell it right next to him all night.

I don't think it's an odd question at all, but important to get others experiences before basing my decision on it.

OP posts:
Anditstartedagain · 22/10/2025 10:01

My ff baby sleep was even worse than my bf baby. They were both awful sleepers. My friend had a bf who slept well.

LostMySocks · 22/10/2025 10:00

Breast fed both of mine. DS1 slept like a dream from second night home. Woke for a night feed went straight back to sleep. Through the night from 9 weeks old.
DS2. Dreadful sleeper. Parties all night til 15months. Tried night weaning. Still woke to party.
It's baby rather than feeding method.

lljkk · 22/10/2025 10:00

Oh yeah. Definitely. Ferber wrote his book & developed his sleep-training techniques because all Americans were breastfeeding their babies & toddlers in the 1960s. True Fact. For sure.

(Not.)
ps: true part, Ferber famously coslept with his own kids.

Just like nappy rash only became a thing when people started using cloth nappies. It never existed in the old days when people only used disposables. That's why every childcare nursery I toured in year 2000 had nappy rash cream for specific babes & tots who were in disps only. (oh wait...)

ps (sincere): Breastfeeding is a relationship that needs to work for everyone & this relationship may not work for you how it is at moment. I hope you soon find a way forward you're happy with.

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 22/10/2025 09:59

Having said that, you’ve done really well to bf till 8 months, and if you want to stop, stop. Your DS will be fine.

ExposedCankles · 22/10/2025 09:58

2 breast fed kids. 2 excellent sleepers. I don’t think there is a link.

MintTwirl · 22/10/2025 09:58

My second was a terrible sleeper and was formula fed. Even when he no longer had formula he slept poorly.

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 22/10/2025 09:58

We did nightwean both of them at around 1. That helped a bit with the horrendous one, although she still didn’t sleep through the night till she was 3.5…😩

AnneLovesGilbert · 22/10/2025 09:57

What an odd question. Breastmilk is what human babies are supposed to have, it’s the biological norm.

SJM1988 · 22/10/2025 09:57

BF is not the issue. My DS was a bad sleeper and he was formula fed.

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 22/10/2025 09:56

I breastfed both of mine - one was a horrendous sleeper, the other was a dream.

Swipe left for the next trending thread