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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

'You know what breast fed babies are like'

31 replies

picklebum2011 · 14/07/2011 21:41

Was the comment made by the health visitor at my dd's 1 year check when i said she does not go through the night. Her comment made me a little angry as i think she was being too generalised, i have friends whose children are similar ages who don't go though yet and they're not all breast fed, am i being too sensitive? She was implying that bf babies were clingier anyone find this to be true? I just think it wasn't very good that someone in her postion was making comments like that.

OP posts:

itsastrawpoll · 14/07/2011 21:42

I don't know, presumably she's met quite a lot of babies in her line of work?

Perhaps she was trying to reassure you? IME babies DO sleep for longer stretches at a time when they're formula fed

catsareevil · 14/07/2011 21:45

I think that its true that breasfed babies dont sleep as much as ff babies. I dont think that its anything to do with being clingy - I think that it is just an effect of the different feeds.

fluffles · 14/07/2011 21:46

no, she wasn't saying anything about clinginess, i think your paranoid, she was saying that bf babies need to feed more often and so can't sleep all night as early as some ff babies, this is true.

hermionestranger · 14/07/2011 21:46

Both my DS are/were BF and both slept through at 5 days and 3 weeks and by sleep through I mean 12 hours a night.

bluepanda · 14/07/2011 21:48

I had a similar comment from someone at DS' nursery - although it wasn't said in a snide way I think it was meant as genuine observation - but she reckoned bf babies were clingier when left at nursery for the first few weeks because they were less likely to have been left for longer periods of time before.
It's an interesting one - how would you know if it is down to being bf or just your little one's nature? My DS2 (13mo) has yet to sleep through the night but his big brother (also bf) was going through quite reliably at that age

suzikettles · 14/07/2011 21:49

At 1 year old??? I can't believe that there's statistically any difference between ff and bf babies at this age.

I remember being quite excited about all the extra sleeping ds was going to be doing when he got to 6 months and I gave him some formula sometimes. Made no bloody difference.

Moulesfrites · 14/07/2011 21:50

my understanding was that formula is harder to digest than bm, so ff babies are more likely to sleep for longer. Bm is v easy to digest and it is babies' natural sleeping pattern to wake for frequent feeds? But, if your DD is 1, presumably she is established on solids and so not waking due to hunger? Or did the hv mean she is in the habit of waking as she is bf?

I know plenty of ff babies who are rubbish sleepers. My ds is nearly 6mo and ebf and is nowhere near sleeping through. My sils 2 dds, 14mo and 2 mo were ff from birth and both sleep through - so I use the ebf line to explain why this is, as opposed to my sil being a better mum than me as she likes to believe!

suzikettles · 14/07/2011 21:52

Funnily, my hv put ds's "confidence" around other people (he settled very quickly at nursery and was fine being left with other people) down to the fact that he'd been excl bf for 6 months so had a very secure attachment to me.

More bollocks. All babies are different.

Original poster

picklebum2011 · 14/07/2011 21:52

Good points bluepanda, i think every little one is different just like every adult is.
I wasn't moaning about lack of sleep she just asked me as part of the routine questions and i said she generally doesn't sleep through all the time (she has sometimes). i do think a lot is teething at this age as the nights when she wakes up she generally doesn't want the boob she wants comfort....

OP posts:

moaningminniewhingesagain · 14/07/2011 21:54

I doubt there are enough babies still BF at 12 months for there to be any evidence either way. Neither of mine slept throught until gone 12 months. One was BF til 2yo, one was FF from 3 months.

Lots of babies take ages to sleep through. I still get woken by one or both of them most nights

PuppyMonkey · 14/07/2011 21:55

Hermione - five days????

mo3d · 14/07/2011 21:55

All my 3 dds were bf and slept through at different times. dd1 5 months, dd2 7 weeks (she sucked her thumb so was v content), dd3 6 months.

Surely by 1yr the difference in sleeping through between bf and ff is negligable with the food they'd be having as well?

Original poster

picklebum2011 · 14/07/2011 21:59

Lol moaning about knackered comment. I agree witn comments that every lo is different and i agree that bf or ff have nout much to do with sleeping patterns, as like someone mentioned 1 yr olds have plenty of food during the day so are generally not waking due to starvation. I was just astounded at how the hv generalised. My dd has settled with my dh and my mum on occassion so i wouldn't say she was overtly clingy.

OP posts:

wigglesrock · 14/07/2011 22:00

I formula fed 3 dds, dd1 slept through at 9 weeks, dd2 at 3.5 years (no, that's not a typo ) at dd3 is 5 months tomorrow and not sleeping through, formula made no difference in my opinion.

emmanumber3 · 14/07/2011 22:10

wiggles I can beat that - my ff DS1 didn't sleep through until he was 5 . DS2 was about 2 weeks old.

houseofheave · 14/07/2011 22:11

I FF DS and he didn't sleep through until he was 18 mos. Lovely BF dd slept through at 8 weeks.

As far as I'm concerned its more to do with the baby than how they are fed.

TheRealMBJ · 14/07/2011 22:12

There is no actual evidence to the myth that bf babies/toddlers sleep any worse than ff ones. It is a myth perpetuated by formula companies and mother's afraid to tell the truth about their children's sleeping habits.

Interesting summary of normal sleep studies

Most interestingly Goodlin-Jones Et al notes that even at 12 months 50% of infants need parental intervention to get back to sleep.

HipHopOpotomus · 14/07/2011 23:15

My bf baby, 10 weeks, currently sleeps throughout the night (( deep joy emotcon )).

Dd1 however woke every 3-4 hours for 14 months.

I've heard "that's what bf babies are like " comment too many times to mention.

SpeedyGonzalez · 14/07/2011 23:17

at hermione.

EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 14/07/2011 23:22

She should meet my niece. 3 years old. Never slept through a night. 100% bottle fed. And she only wants her mum during the night.

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 15/07/2011 08:53

moulesfrites ime being established on solid meals doesn not exclude the possibility of a lo being hungry in the night. Ds regularly needed a sanger in the night at 15m. Despite putting it away through the day.

Cosmosis · 15/07/2011 08:59

My CM is an ex nursery nurse and she said in her experience bf babies do take longer to settle at childcare, but having said that my ds didn?t take long to settle with her at all so it?s not a rule for all. My bf ds has slept through 4 times (the 4th time was last night, hurrah!) he is 10m.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 15/07/2011 09:11

Your HV shouldn't have said that you are right, it was a careless comment. However I do think you are being a tad sensitive, by 1 year you should be a little more confident in your parenting choices.

As others have said, I think that the studies show that at 1 year solids, ff or bf make no difference to how many times your DD will wake during the night.

If the night wakings are a problem for you ask your HV if they run a sleep clinic or have you tried NCSS?

Original poster

picklebum2011 · 15/07/2011 17:30

Hey Jiltedjohn i'm very confident in my parenting choices just wanted to express that it wasn't appropriate what hv said - as you yourself just said!
I also never said that night times weren't a problem in a previous post i was just responding to hv's general 1 year review check questions.
Your middle paragraph was the reason why i put this post!! Wanted people to agree that every baby is different and that generalised comment about a particular way of feeding shouldn't be made.

OP posts:

Ba8y1 · 15/07/2011 20:01

Inappropriate comment I think.

I don't believe their sleep has anything to do with the way they are fed; my breast fed baby slept 11-5/6 from 3 weeks and 7-6/7 with a dream feed at 10:30 from about 6 weeks.

He is also not at all clingy and is just as happy on his play-mat now (5mo) as being cuddled ! He is a very chilled out baby unlike his mother!!
We'll see how he takes to nursery in a month's time!

I'm not generally a fan of purely anecdotal evidence and spent the last 3 mths of my pregnancy, when I was housebound with spd, reading everything I could on AP/routines etc.. and I truly believe how they sleep depends upon making sure they get enough food during the day and having a defined, relaxing evening routine - we take nearly 2 hours having nappy free time, a bath, a massage, a story, a long feed and then he goes down at 7 in his cot with barely a whimper.

Will run away now as have mentioned the dreaded 'routine' word - breast fed babies can thrive on a routine (as early as day 3 for my LO)....there I've said it, I'll probably be blackballed on mn forever.....!! [hwink]

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