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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Do breastfeed babies ever sleep through?

72 replies

Princesspowersparkle · 04/10/2007 21:22

Just curious really- my LO is 11 weeks old and still wakes up 2 or 3 times a night for food. Do breastfed babies ever sleep right through? x

OP posts:
TheQueenOfQuotes · 04/10/2007 21:25

11 weeks is very little still - most FF babies aren't sleeping through at that age either.

DS1 was exclusively bf and finally slept throught at 6 months

gomez · 04/10/2007 21:25

Some do, some don't.

2 of mine did from quite early, then number 3 lulled us into a false sense of security by doing so for a few weeks then give it up as a bad joke - he then continued to get up at least twice a night for the following 5 months. Does again now thou' coming up to 1 year.

slayerette · 04/10/2007 21:25

I don't want to depress you but my ds was nowhere near sleeping through at 11 weeks! Can't remember when he did start going through from 10 pm til 6 am...

gomez · 04/10/2007 21:25

When I say quite early I mean roughly 12 weeks ish.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 04/10/2007 21:26

Yes.

DD slept through from 11 weeks - 7pm till 7am.

No.

DS only started sleeping through at 10.5 months.

HTH

gomez · 04/10/2007 21:26

oops x-post sorry. But honest so all hope isn't lost.

ja9 · 04/10/2007 21:26

neither of mine did.

about 7months for us and by then they were on 3 solid meals a day. sorry!

VeniVidiVickiQV · 04/10/2007 21:27

Seriously - ALL babies are expected to wake during the night for the first 6 months. You are lucky if they dont.

berolina · 04/10/2007 21:27

2 or 3 times a night is good for 11 weeks... I don't think bf or ff necessarily makes much difference.

CastsSpellsWitchySpells · 04/10/2007 21:29

DD started to from 10 months ish, and still mostly does (except when teething or ill or just being plain weird!) at 19 months, so yes.

spookthief · 04/10/2007 21:29

Ds slept from about midnight until 6 at 7 weeks and midnight until 8 at 12 weeks. He's a bit of a nightowl though so getting the midnight bit to move back took a while... and he has never slept for more than 10 hours at a stretch. That's him though, not the way I feed him imo.

FF, BF - I really don't think it makes a huge amount of difference from talking to friends whose babies are fed in various different ways.

CarGirl · 04/10/2007 21:29

yes they can do - 4 months, 10 days & 5 days here - they were all hefty birthweights though and I did used to waked them up to feed during the day etc from being a few days old. I'm talking a 12hr solid stretch btw.

FrayedKnot · 04/10/2007 21:29

I have been told by 1 or 2 friends that their babies did (excl. bf) from 3 months-ish

And others when they started weaning...

mine didn;t....until he was 14 months

YOu get used to it

Roseylea · 04/10/2007 21:30

Yes!

Ds woke every 90 mins through the night for a feed until he was 3 months (bleary eyed emoticon)

Then...as if by magic...he started sleeping through and is the world's best sleeper now at 3.5 yo! (He slept through a firework display on bournemouth beach!)

TheQueenOfQuotes · 04/10/2007 21:30

It doesn't make much difference (FF or BF) IME. Before I switched over to FF with DS2 he was waking 2/3 times a night (depending on what time you call night - first feed was about 12.30ish, 2nd around 3ish, and 3rd around 7ish. When we switched to FF he woke exactly the same times.
It's only been in the last week or so (he's now 4 months) that's he's dropped the 12.30ish feed - and sometimes stretches until just gone 4am for his next feed (although still usually around 3am).

CastsSpellsWitchySpells · 04/10/2007 21:30

Oh yes, I have a friend with 2 good sleepers. Her dd has been sleeping through since about 8 or 10 weeks iirc.

MamaG · 04/10/2007 21:31

DD slept through from about 12 weeks IIRC and was BF

DS was BF until 6 weeks then FF (grrr at HV) and slept through from about 2. Years that is

PavlovtheWitchesCat · 04/10/2007 21:32

yes, some babies do. DD slept through at about 9 months, breastfed, but also had some solids too. I have two sister-in-laws with babies aged 9months and 1 year and they have been sleeping through for a few months, the 9 month old is exclusive on account of tummy trouble (or something like that).
I agree it depends on baby rather than on type of milk.

Feenie · 04/10/2007 21:33

Still waiting at 21 months. You do get used to it!

pooka · 04/10/2007 21:34

Yes! Not my first, but have friends with dcs that did (but they then started waking at about 10 months, by which time dd was sleeping through consistently and I got to say I'd had unbroken sleep). From 6 months dd no longer had night feeds, and when she woke she wasn't hungry, she just ... woke..

And ds started sleeping through at about 16 weeks.

lemonaid · 04/10/2007 21:35

DS didn't until he was 9 months (apart from one night at 2 months that I think he did just to tantalise us...) but plenty of friends with breastfed babies have had them sleeping through (either completely or waking them up for a dreamfeed) fairly early.

clandestine · 04/10/2007 21:37

DD breast fed slept reliably from 12pm - 6pm at 4 weeks - DS who was mixed feeding at the time did the same stretch at 5 weeks.

They were both big babies though (9lb 8oz at birth) and I am a firm believer that bigger babies sleep through earlier as their feed capacity is a lot bigger

eggontoast · 04/10/2007 21:40

I bf my DS now aged 1yr - he has never slept through. Wakes on average 4/5 times, mainly for comfort suckle and quietly goes back to sleep(in my bed) I did not co sleep for the first 3 months (knackered!) then have co slept ever since (aaahhhh wonderful sleep!) So if you are knackered and in a position to try it, it feels like DS is sleeping through even though he is not!

eggontoast · 04/10/2007 21:43

PS. my mother did not co sleep with me, and I was bf till 9 mths - I slept through 7-7 from 6 wks. Lucky her (not that I'm jealous......)!

coleyboy · 04/10/2007 21:46

DS was bf and slept through at 14 weeks.

I can't tell you how or why it happened, it just did. I didn't change anything, I just think ds was ready to do it then.