AIBU “Breastfeeding makes for bad sleepers”

[mmmgoats]

I can’t help but think this cannot be right?!
Friend told me yesterday that she bottle fed her children because breast fed babies don’t sleep and are nightmare sleepers.
She said her midwife admitted it but also said the goodness they get from it should put weigh the bad sleeping.
I have never heard this before?! Was your breast fed baby a good sleeper?

(I don’t have babies yet, not for the want of trying, but have always had the idea in my head that I would give BF a go. So not being goady, generally interested!)

I feel like this must be purely anecdotal as surely there are formula fed babies that are nightmare sleepers too!

All 3 of mine were FF & all 3 slept 11pm-7am from around 8 weeks whereas all the BF babies in my family/friends circle were terrible sleepers.

At primary school age it was also the BF kids that picked up every bug going whilst my 3 were very rarely off due to D&V or colds etc so the whole BF building up the immune system argument doesn't hold much sway with me.

Yes in my circle of friends it has tended to be the case that ff babies sleep through the night sooner and more consistently than bf babies. I breastfed for 2 years and dd only slept through the night when i weaned her!

I know mine both slept better when we switched to formula. I think the theory (among mothers,not sure there's any science) is that it's harder to digest so tummies stay fuller longer. Not really a great reason for making the switch but yes they do seem to sleep better.

I think there's some correlation but not 100% there's always outliers.

2 of 6 of my NCT groups babies were breastfed, they between them they were the best (slept through from 8 weeks) and worst (woke up every 1.5-2 hours til 1 year old)... No prizes for guessing which one was mine lol

My EBF DS has always slept well. My FF niece and nephew have never been great sleepers, even now. It has more to do with just FF/BF.

My bf baby/toddler is an amazing sleeper aged 3.

He just only started sleeping through when he was biologically ready (which is 3-5 years for the majority of children).

He always fed straight to sleep though and never stayed away during the night.

It depends on what your expectations are. If they are realistic then bf babies probably just sleep in a way Mother Nature intended.

I would have agreed with this until I had my second child. She is an AMAZING sleeper, and so content, and is exclusively BF. It's genuinely taken me by surprise as I had previously believed formula babies slept better!

Ha, you should tell my mum that one! I was bottlefed and was apparently the worst sleeper in the world. DBro was bottlefed and slept ok.

DS is breastfed and sleeps ok - he was great as a little baby, only woke up once or twice a night pretty much from birth, but unfortunately now at 16mo he is still waking up once or twice a night. Not really after food though, sometimes he is thirsty (settles down after a drink of water), sometimes he just wants to come in our bed (usually around midnight) or to get up and play (usually around 5:30). He does sleep a lot better for DH than he does for me, but when he does wake up with DH he is completely inconsolable, whereas I can get him back off to sleep pretty quickly.

Think that might be bollocks.

DD1 is now 2 and she slept through perfect from about 9 months. Before then her routine was one feed a night at around 2am (which is grand). At 9 months she slept through and has been every since, even when we transitioned her to her big bed.

I’ve a 3 week old DD2 and last night she slept 10-2am and then 2.30am - 6am, similar to DD1.

I know FF babies who keep their parents all night... How you feed your baby doesn’t impact I think, having and sticking to a good routine definitely has more positive results IMO

I BF both of mine, first was sleeping 11-8 from 8 weeks and has always been a great sleeper. 2nd didn't sleep through until she was 20 months. Fed the same , treated the same.

From my anecdotal evidence whiskeysourpuss dd1 is about to leave primary school with a grand total of 4 days off ( chicken pox and scarlet fever). Dd2 about to go into year 5 with a total so far of 7, same as dd1 plus 1 episode of d&v.

Some babies are just shit sleepers. If you have one you will only find peace with it all when you stop looking for reasons and just accept that you are not going to sleep well for potentially a few years. Stop counting the hours and looking for remedies and just try and find ways to cope with the tiredness. Somehow that makes it more bareable.
My eldest was FF my youngest BF and for me there was no correlation between feeding method and sleep.

My entirely unscientific sample of two babies suggests it’s entirely down to personality. Both were exclusively breastfed for the first few months, DS1 started having the odd bottle of formula at around 4 months, and breastfed on demand until he was 2. DS2 didn’t have any formula until he started nursery at 10 months and I intend to keep feeding him at least as long as I did DS1.

DS1 was an utterly appalling sleeper from the outset. He’s 4 next week and has still never slept through the night. DS2 was an amazing sleeper until he was about six months. Now I’d say he’s a good average.

My friend had two fully formula-fed babies. One slept brilliantly and the other, like DS1, is nearly four and has never slept through.
I think maybe formula feeding can help a naturally good sleeper sleep through earlier, but I’m not convinced it would turn a bad sleeper into a good one.

Surely the important thing is healthy baby not one who sleeps through the night at any cost

This. They sleep more because they need longer to digest the artificial food.

It's only the firsts few months anyway, and it sets them up for a lifetime of better immunity.

By two or three months they wake, you pop the boob in, you go back to sleep. Some even learn to, hm, serve themselves, if you're fine with sleeping topless. By the time they're on solids there's little difference, and by the time they're toddlers there is none.

On population levels however there is a difference in immune systems, allergies etc. So totally worth it.

If your largest aim with your children if to get them to sleep through from day dot then maybe kids aren’t for you.

I'm sure if it was as cut-and-dried as they way they were fed only, it would be a lot easier to discern. There must be a lot more to it than that, as you get good and poor sleepers in both - or all, if you include mixed feeding - brackets.

FWIW my ds was EBF and slept through from an early age. In fact I used to wake him up to feed him (the HV was when I told her and said, "Fuhgawdsake let him sleep!" but I expressed in the night to freeze some milk so DH could bottle feed occasionally.) But ds was a great sleeper then and is still now. For all I know though, if I'd had another they might have been terrible, who knows?

I’ve also heard that theory but pretty sure it’s down to the baby rather than how they’re fed; my friend’s DS (3 weeks older than my DD) was formula fed and a horrible sleeper, to the point where they sought professional advice. My EBF DD on the other hand would clusterfeed like a beast all evening then sleep through from a pretty early age. Of course that’s a sample size of 2... haven’t seen any studies with actual evidence either way! Do what works for you and your baby.

Nope not true.

I haven't breast fed, but my own mum breast fed my brother and I. I was a brilliant sleeper as a baby but my brother (a year younger) was a nightmare to get to sleep. However, since our teens it has been the other way round haha.

Well I bf DD until she was 21 months, at which point we stopped because she was waking every 45 minutes for a feed and I physically couldn’t survive on that little sleep any longer. DP gradually took over night wakings, then I went away for a few days as my milk dried up. She has slept through the night 90% of the time since we stopped bf. My friends who formula fed (or switched to formula early on) had babies sleeping through the night at weeks old rather than close to 2 years old. I don’t regret my decision to bf though, it was tough going but it gave DD and I a wonderful bond, she’s never been ill, and it was free.

Horseshit. Quite frankly.

Two bf babies, one excellent sleeper (10 - 7 from 10 weeks), one average sleeper (needed 2 feeds a night until nearly one, but regular as in you could set the clock by her, and a very fast feeder so 20 minutes to take both sides and straight back down). Neither ever had any formula. I don't think it's as simple as bf = bad sleeper.

Rubbish. I breastfed both mine and both were great sleepers. Slept through from 3 months.

Carboholic, see I disagree with this.

A friend of mine struggled to get pregnant and then once the baby arrived was determined to bf etc. But her dd didn't sleep for 2 years. Put pressure on her, her marriage, her health etc. Yes breast milk is good for babies, but if bf is causing strain on other areas of your life sometimes you just have to stop.

Mine were both ff and great sleepers. The occasional night of not sleeping but definitely a rare thing. Both healthy boys. Both bright, but ds2 is very advanced. My ds1 picked up a lot of bugs when he was under 1 but I definitely put that down to the fact that he was constantly teething. Unlike most babies he didn't drool or complain (bar making himself wretch by constantly chewing on his hand). He cut 10 teeth in 9 months and every time he got a bug, out came yet another tooth.

I think ff babies often do tend to sleep better, but it's no course and effect, it's the parenting styles that effect both.

People I've known who bf (myself included) tend to also follow more gentle patenting methods, so are less likely to sleep train. Whereas families who are stricter on routine, and getting baby to fit in around their lifestyle, tend to choose ff.

It's not universal though, there will be people who bf to scheduled and sleep train or ff on demand with baby led schedule. So parenting outlook and baby's personality have more influence then feeding style if taken in isolation.

Exclusively breastfed my son for 6 months, continued to breastfeed him until he was 15 months old. After a couple of months, he'd sleep in 3-4 hour bursts. He started sleeping in longer stretches from about 8 months, was sleeping through the night from about 12.

I didn't find it too bad to be honest - co-slept for ages and breastfed him lying down, which meant that I wasn't running about in the wee hours of the morning.

Both my dc were ebf.
DS only ever woke twice a night as a newborn and was sleeping 10 hours by 5 weeks.
DD woke every 45 mins- an hour for 6 months.
Both have slept 12 hours from around 6 months though.
It's entirely child dependent. It does annoy me a bit when people bang on about giving a bottle every time a bf baby doesn't sleep