Do breastfed babies sleep well?

[Whatisthisstuff]

Please forgive my naivety here. I have two children currently. DD8 and DS5. I had PTSD following the birth of DD and as such, my body didn't produce any milk whatsoever. I was too afraid of trying and having a rough time with DS so I didn't event attempt it.
We are TTC number 3. If it was to happen this month we would be taking a 11 week (approx) on holiday abroad. I wouldn't want to take all the formula etc and feel I have recovered sufficiently to warrant giving BF a try again.

My worry is...I have heard that BF babies don't sleep well? Is this true or is it a myth? I'm so awful without sleep. My MH goes in tatters when I havent had much sleep.
DD slept through from 10 weeks, and DS was 7 weeks. I know I was so lucky with them.
Please be kind. I have huge anxiety over this subject.

Not in my experience

Breastfed both DCs. DC1 slept through until about 9:30am as a newborn baby. DC2 never slept.

Interestingly, as young adults (students)
they are much the same now . DC1 will sleep til 10 or even 11 when the opportunity arises. DC2 is up at 6 every morning, even weekends.

My elder one slept through at 11 months, and my 2 year old slept through at 7 months (and we're still breastfeeding). They're both pretty good sleepers to be honest, I think it's a myth formula fed babies sleep better , I think it just depends on the baby

One ff and one bf.

Ff first slept through the night at just over two years old, second is now nearly one and a half and doesn't sleep through the night. My bf one wakes more than ff one ever did.

I think some of it comes down to their temperament.
My children were both breast fed. Eldest DC started sleeping through the night from around 6 weeks, has always been very independent, not much of a hugger etc.

Youngest DC loves a cuddle, needs to be around people etc and reliably woke for a feed every three hours. We switched to follow on milk at 7 months (my choice) and he still reliably woke every three hours.

First dc didn't breastfeed; wonderful sleeper. 2nd dc breastfed and still is at nearly 3 and hasn't slept through the night and still wakes numerous times.

Breast fed both of mine, one sleeping 12 hours by 10 weeks the other still up 2/3 times a night at 4 years old.

My BF baby slept through from 6 weeks. (It all went to shit later mind!) Cluster fed all evening and that seemed to fill them up.

In general they're less likely to have tummy trouble, but more likely to need to feed often.

If co sleeping when safe, they help themselves to the boob and you do not know you are feeding. I really didn't have sleepless nights after the very infant stage

Both breastfed, one a horrendous sleeper, one fabulous. I don't think the feed has as much to do with it as the temperament of the kid.

Your children need mentaly stable mum more than to be EBF.

I had low milk supply with first so I topped him up after boob as he would be hungry after half an hour and tried eating from empty boob. So he was not sleeping well before topups started.

You can always try EBF and if your baby is super hungry or your milk supply is low, you can introduce top up after.

Some do, some don't.
My 3 were all exclusively breast fed.
1st baby slept through by week 4.
2nd baby slept through by 4-5 months.
3rd baby didn't sleep through until 3 years 😢.
No problems feeding any of them/no issues with milk production etc.
They're all individual OP.

3rd baby is 15 now and still a PITA 😂

Haha. For some lucky women maybe.

For others (like me!) you must certainly do injure, and feeding on the side gave me excruciating backache.

It's different for everyone.

Breastfed babies tend to wake more often as breastmilk is digested quicker than formula. Bottle feeding however doesn't guarantee more sleep!

I EBF both mine and tbh I don't think breastfed babies sleep as well in general (of course there are exceptions), it would be normal for an 11wk old to still be waking up to feed every couple of hours because breast milk takes longer to digest. On the plus side they tend to have less issues with wind and colic so you never know really! Breastfeeding is definitely easier on holiday than having to worry about sterilising bottles etc

You’re going to get a ton of anecdotal evidence here which is about as useful as a chocolate tea pot.

Have a look at the BASIS website. It’s all about infant sleep. They’ve done a few studies that show there’s no evidence that method of feeding impacts sleep. Babies aren’t designed to sleep for long stretches. Partly because they have no circadian rhythm, but also because their survival is dependant on others. They wake to check their caregivers are still there.

Interestingly the evidence suggests that breastfeeding mothers get better sleep than formula feeding ones. Especially if they co sleep and baby can latch and unlatch without really disturbing mum.

I breastfed DD1 and she slept well at night; better than the norm, but she never slept much during the day despite all the baby books insisting they do.

We didn’t co-sleep and I wonder if that helped. She was in a Moses basket at the end of our bed (tiny room or of have had her next to me). I swaddled her and woke with the increased snuffles and wriggles that precede crying so she rarely had to cry for a feed so they were super calm and efficient and she’d go straight down after.

I think back in the day formula fed babies slept longer because the formulation was heavier and digested more slowly but in recent years they’ve improved the formulations to more closely resemble human breast milk and so this is no longer the case. My mother’s generation, giving birth in the 1960s and 1970s, who chose not to breast feed, expected babies to sleep for 4 hours between feeds. My mum used to annoy me with her comments about the frequency of DD feeding “She can’t be hungry again!” Luckily MIL breastfed, which was quite unusual for women of her class back then. Even my dad, born in 1927, was bottle fed, a Cow & Gate baby! He once said, to my surprise. I’m surprised he even knew.

My daughter was breastfeed until 10 months, formula fed until 2 years and has had no drinks overnight since 3years....she's a terrible sleeper.

Her reasons for poor sleep are nothing to do with hunger. She has severe silent reflux and multiple food allergies and she wakes up because she's in pain or itchy or dozens of other reasons. When all of her needs are met she can sleep through the night once something is amiss she wakes up. The same is true for me!

I think based on mine and friend/family experiences it’s temperament of the baby and not the way they’re fed.

I’d always breastfeed if I can though because I can’t be bothered to get up and make formula, and like you say it means you don’t have to carry/source bottles and formula and find somewhere to warm milk whilst out and about.

Breastfed both of mine and they were both good sleepers and nappers. I didn’t feed to sleep or rock to sleep, they slept next to be for the first 6 months and I lay them them down to self settle. (Can’t remember with DD1 now lol) but DD2 would have slept through from 3/4 weeks but she was a little dot, so we did bedtime at 7, then I woke her up for a feed at 11/11:30 as I went to bed, then she would sleep through til 7. Dropped the night time feed at 6 months.

I think there’s an element of luck and also a good routine to get a good sleeper!

Thank you all so much ❤️