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!

I think it's true up to a point. My bf dd was a terrible sleeper until 14 months when I lost it sleep trained her. She slept through 7 until 6 after that.
All my friends who ff had babies that slept through brilliantly early on but then they hit the 9 month sleep regression and sleep went out the window. And most of them stayed bleary eyed until their babies were toddling.
One is 5 now and still up at least twice a night.

My DD is 5 months and ebf, she has been an excellent sleeper from birth, just woken to feed and then straight back to sleep. When she is having a growth spurt she obviously wakes more frequently to feed.

She generally goes to bed around 7.30 to 8pm and wakes between 8 and 8.30. sometimes, however, she sleeps in to nearly 10am and completely messes up the day I have scheduled!!!

I bottle fed all 6 of mine and they all slept from 8/9pm to 6/7am from 6 weeks old. With nice 3 hourly breaks during the day.

I was breastfed and my mum said I never slept and wanted to be on the noon all the time.

Dd is still bf at 2.5 and has yet to sleep through although one set of cousins were also bad sleepers and both ff so I don’t think it makes that much difference.

Dd had a regular bottle of formula from about six weeks, the intention was for her dad to have the experience of feeding her to and to swop fully to formula with weaning.... ha! She decided point blank to refuse any kind of formula from that point on so I kept going with new end date of one year and here we still are.... (dummies were also treated with much mirth and amusement).

It’s really hard to plan for imho. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a second but I’m inclined to believe that I would swop to fully ff at three months. I don’t really think it’s a magic cure for any sleep issue but it does make it easier to share the load.

I know that realistically bf’ing can only be done by me but it doesn’t half breed resentment. I’m a grudge holder at the best of times though!

Sleep wasn’t my consideration in whether or not to BF, so I didn’t think it was important either way

Anecdotally, it rings true. Among my nct and other mum friends FF slept through sooner. One of the BF ones still isn't at 15 months. I FF DD from day 1 and she slept through from being tiny, unless ill. Aware this is not scientific!

I think breast fed babies sleep the normal amount for babies! I had one bad sleeper (he was actually disturbed by dh snoring and once he went in his own room at 6 months became a good sleeper) and one good sleeper from birth. Both breastfed.

Don’t choose one option over the other just because you think it will give you a baby that sleeps well, everyone is different.

Sleep was a consideration for me, although it was by no means the only factor in deciding to FF, as I didn't fancy cracking up and completely losing the plot through sleep deprivation.

Perversely, the research done suggest mothers of BF babies get more sleep, because they spend less time awake in the night (no bottle related faffing) and BF itself stimulates production of sleep-inducing hormones, so they get back to sleep quicker after feeds...

I think they generally will wake more often/want feeding more often due to breast milk digesting easier and quicker.
However theres the other side where it can be easier or quicker to settle breastfed babies (as a generalisation!).

My middle DC had to go onto formula at 8 months and went from 3 feeds a night to sleeping through/1 feed a night, but that one feed would mean getting her bottle and rocking her for ages to get her back to sleep rather than just lying her in the bed for a feed when she first stirred then back to sleep a couple of minutes later.

My DC3 is 8 months and wakes every 2-3 hours for a 1-2 minute feed. I think if he was on formula then he would sleep better but I don't mind, they're not babies for long and it's not a big disruption I'm still half asleep myself.

My bf babybslept through from. 5 weeks until 8 monthswhen indent back to work. . She is now 6 and doesn't sleep through

From my ante natal group all our babies are one now and the FF babies have been sleeping through for months. Some BF mums still tearing their hair out waking every 2 hours.

It's only the firsts few months anyway, and it sets them up for a lifetime of better immunity. On population levels however there is a difference in immune systems, allergies etc.

Not really. There's certainly research purporting to show some of that, but the better quality evidence doesn't. PROBIT for example. There are a few more colds and stomach bugs on a population level in ff babies though.

That said, one just cannot generalise about whether bf or ff babies sleep better because there are so many variables. I think perhaps a more accurate way to put it is that when a bf baby is a very bad sleeper, it's more likely to fall on just one parent, the mother, who the HV is more likely to see. Whereas with an ff baby the load can be split a bit more. And it's perfectly legitimate to be concerned about parental sleep too, because we know lack of sleep is bad for us.

There was some research a while ago, saying that by around 3 months there wasn't much difference in the amount of sleep mother of bf and ff babies were getting. Anecdotally, that seems plausible. Bf babies obviously wake up more initially, especially if the milk takes a while to come in, but by 3 months it's not particularly uncommon for them to only be on 1 feed a night or less.

My BF baby woke once from 6 weeks and slept through from 5 months. Always been a great sleeper

Also only ever been ill twice and she’s now 3

Breast milk is more easily digested and so a breastfed baby will wake to feed more often. But it does to an extent depend on the baby. All 3 of mine were exclusively breastfed, 2 were awful sleepers (and still are!) and one slept like a log (and still does!)

I breastfed my eldest, but he had some formula and he slept much better. My youngest is still breastfeeding and does not sleep!!

My theory is that after they’re not newborns breastfeeding becomes part of the settle to sleep routine and babies are just used to waking up and being fed back to sleep.

With a formula fed baby you start to distinguish whether they’re hungry or just want comforted but with a breast fed baby that’s a 2 in 1 deal.

So formula fed babies stop waking up for feeds sooner... because if they wake up and what they’re after is actually just soothing back to sleep, they’re asleep before the feed is ready.

It's true for me. None of my three EBF babies slept well. But that's the thing with anecdotes...

I breastfed both of my boys for a year each. My first slept through the night, 10pm to 6am, from three months. My youngest woke every night until he was well past two.

I breastfed both. DS was a poor sleeper, DD has (so far-touch wood!) Been a far better sleeper.

One advantage of breastfeeding is that I don't have to get out of bed to feed. An advantage of formula feeding is someone else can get out of bed to feed.

Wow lots of replies :) and very interesting.

To those saying don’t decide based on sleep alone, should be about the healthiest way to look after baby,
totally agree. After our losses if I ever actually have a baby my decisions will be made
on a lot
more than sleep :)

Makes sense about the digestion of formula vs breast milk, hadn’t thought about
that. I’d never heard of a link before so was surprised.

Interesting to read other experiences. I only have one so very limited perspective.

I EBF my five-month-old and he’s a heavy sleeper, was able to sleep through the night as early as two weeks. We do co-sleep, so the few times he does pop awake I just feed us both back to sleep (or maybe just myself, hard to say) He was born big though so that’s probably why. Feel very lucky about it.

Bf 3 babies - all of them ended up mostly co sleeping as they’d wake through the night often to comfort feed...

Another thing to consider is some babies don't do as well on formula with reflux/it causing more wind/having CMPA or dairy intollerence which can lead to a more unsettled baby than the amount they may be waking on breast milk from it digesting quicker.

My middle DD went onto formula at 8 months and had an awfully bloated tummy and diarrhea for about 6 weeks until the doctor prescribed milk for dairy intollerence.

DD was an EBF bottle-refuser. She slept brilliantly. 6 hours reliably from 3 months increasing to 12 hours by about 5 months. I'm sure it's all down to luck. I have 8 nieces and nephews, all BF for at least 6 months, so much variation in sleep and no significant change in those who were fully FF from 6 months - those 2 are still shocking sleepers at late primary school age, but otherwise happy, healthy active kids.