"Changing to formula made her sleep through the night"

[snowchick1977]

Hi

I had my daughters 8 week jabs today. She is ebf and feeds every 2-3 hours feeding at midnight, 3am and 6am most nights which is fine for us.

I was in the waiting room at the doctors and overheard a Dad boasting that changing to formula at 3 weeks has meant that his daughter sleeps 7-6.....surely he's lying?

He said people were mad to breastfeed because of the sleep deprivation.

Made me feel a bit low :(

Anecdotally, I have heard a lot of people say ff has resulted in better sleep, which I think is because it is heavier and harder to digest than bm (my midwife likened it to the sleepy feeling we have after Xmas dinner?). However, I have two friends with absolutely terrible sleepers and they are both FF, so I'm not sure. if you had a bad sleeper and then changed to FF thinking it would help you sleep, then were up in the night making up bottles - how rubbish would that be?

You should not feel low about this silly comment. He was probably exaggerating anyway. Babies are supposed to feed often and this means broken sleep. It does not last forever, and you are doing what is best for your baby and you are coping with the broken nights.

Perhaps those 'mad' people think there are more important things than getting a good nights sleep for a while?

Plenty of FF babies don't sleep through and some BF babies do, if what you are doing suits you, then just keep doing what you're doing.

I had a 3 hour stint between feeds last night which i was sooooo chuffed with but part of me wonders if a 7 hour sleep in an 8 week old is even possible?

Balls! Every baby is different. My nephew and a girl in my baby massage class both EBF and slept 10-12 hours from 8 weeks!! Wee boy I sit next to in same class almost 6 months, FF & up for feeds 3 times. Ignore ignore! Your baby is happy, healthy and loved and that's all that matters.

my ds was formula fed from about 6 weeks and didn't sleep through until 15 months.

my dd is ebf (not my choice, she won't take a bottle!) and started sleeping through (and i mean no night feeds and not a peep from her 7pm-6am) from about 8 weeks. she's 7 months now, just starting to explore proper food and still, fingers crossed, sleeping through

The Dad is talking what I like to call "utter bollocks".

Ds suddenly went 7 hours through the night without a feed at around 7 weeks. He was EBF until 6 months, but I guess if I'd given him a bottle of formula the night before I'd have put the extra sleep down to that.

As it was, I got the fright of my life when I woke up and realised he'd slept all night, and I also was in absolute agony because my breasts weren't expecting it either!

Every baby's different blah, blah.

Whaaaaat I only bf for a short time (long story) had to go onto formula, and noway did dd sleep through the night, she still does not at 4.5 years, what a myth. It depends on the child!

don't worry. He'll get his come upance at the four month sleep regression.

Or his poor poor wife will.

(don't worry, it seems only to affect "good" sleepers. Cringe at that term.)

My breastfed baby slept 8 hours 7pm-3am from 8 weeks.

Then at 18 weeks he started waking every 45 minutes and didn't sleep through (and then only sometimes!) til 9 months. In fact last night he slept 7.30pm-6am, and that's pretty great for him - and he's 13 months now and eats loads and drinks cow's milk as well as bf.

The kind of milk they drink is no guarantee of anything.

Dd1-breastfed-sleeping through v early
Dd2- formula- didn't sleep til she was 5
Dd3- breastfed -slept through once in 11 months
Every baby is different!

Although my ds is older and has recently had a spell of very broken nights (which coincided with the appearance of his first molars and lots of developmental change) I got the "If you nourished him differently then he will sleep better" line from a "well meaning" relative.

I haven't changed anything and his sleep has settled down again.
All babies are different and all sleep differently.

Ds1 was formula fed and did sleep 8 - 7 at eight weeks old. Just saying.

From 8 weeks my dd slept through the night and then went straight back to sleep after her first feed, she was ebf!

Ds2 was the same weight, on the same formula, and woke twice a night until about 11 months, so don't switch to formula to make your baby sleep - his baby probably would have slept through anyway.

Oh, and my "good" sleeper has ADHD and ASD and rarely sleepsmore than 8 hours a night now, and sometimes as little as three. My "bad" sleeper goes right through, 7.30 til 7.30 if his brother lets him.

He's publicly bellowing about the sleep aspect because that's one aspect where he is Winning (this week). If his baby was EBF he'd be bellowing to formula feeders about how he can't understand why they aren't doing exactly what his wife is doing. Because he is the King of the parents and his job is to educate and belittle his subjects. They're often liars and crap parents too.

They come in male and female forms and you will encounter a LOT of them. Ignore them and stick with your own choices.

My ebf 10 wo DD sleeps 11-8 most nights (she's still asleep now so def going to start bringing her bed time forward!). However this is relatively new. At 8 weeks she was still waking for a feed at 4am. All babies are different and yours is still young to be sleeping through. This dad is talking out of his arse and is best ignored.

DS1 ebf and slept 7pm - 6am from 11 weeks.

DS2 ebf and was still waking up twice a night for feeds at 10 months.

Both fed on demand in the same way.

Also, you don't really know what's happening at his home or how his wife is feeling. Maybe she has been very upset as she may have wanted to keep bf'ing for longer, but couldn't for whatever reason. I'm not saying that all women get upset, but of my friends who moved to ff early on, some were traumatised as they had so wanted to bf and felt guilt/disappointment etc. Only he knows how he and his wife are feeling and maybe he's overcompensating in this context. Dunno.

BTW snowchick, sounds like your 8 week old is doing great. Sleep deprivation is shit, but your baby sounds like she is doing perfectly :)

I have the same chat from a couple friends, ff = longer sleep for them. But I reckon they are knocking their kiddies out with giant bottles so the wee ones are so full they are zonked. [Unproven] but I reckon that could lead to obesity problems later in life plus losing out on all the other benefits.

DD slept through from 6 weeks and she was ebf'd. Then she stopped sleeping through at 15 weeks and its still hit and miss now at nearly 11 months. I miss those heady days......

I was having to top up my BF DD with formula at night due to weight loss and she slept much much worse with formula then she does now shes EBF.

It's an old wives tale i think.

I was ff and didn't sleep through till I was 4. My sister was bf and slept through from 6 weeks. Every child is different.

Don't forget that bfing has all sorts of health benefits, not only for LO but for you too. Thought that you might like to see what you've achieved already.