Breast V's Bottle on the wingie non-sleeping baby debate.

[Sushipaws]

I saw a friend of a friend today who has a 4yo ds and a 5mo dd. This is the second time I've seen her since she had her dd and both times she's felt the need to tell me how much better it is to bottle feed for the following reasons.

Her ds was bf and had terrible colic, he didn't sleep through until he was nearly 2. He wouldn't take a dummy either. She decided to ff her dd as she's heard babies sleep better and cry less. Her dd sleeps 12 hours a night and hardly ever cries, she didn't have colic and sucks on a dummy most of the time.

I'm still bf'ing my 15mo dd and she doesn't sleep very well. I personally don't care if ff babies sleep better, I want to give my dd and any future lo's the best and thats my milk.

I want to hear from other Mummies and see if this theory is true. I felt a bit like I was being attacked for my choice to bf my dd, as if it was my fault she doesn't sleep very well.

Both mine were bf and DC1 was a nightmare sleeper and DC2 is a dream.... maybe bf babies are more demanding early on if you demand feed but that doenst last very long in the scheme of things, cetainly DC 2 loads better at 6 months than DC 1 was. Ignore your friend. Maybe you bf-ing makes her feel guilty that she has ff so she has a go at you - her problem tbh.

my bottlefed dd slept through at 5 1/2 months (8pm till 6am) and didnt particularly have colic, etc. She wasnt interested in her dummy either so after a couple of months we stopped offering it.

my bottlefed ds slept through at 8 months and also didnt have colic. He had a dummy but I took it away at 5 months as he was waking multiple times for it and I got fed up of replacing a million times a night.

I would say ds is the more laid back baby and was less demanding. He also enjoys his sleep more than dd ever did.

I dont think the sleeping, colic, being content thing is to do with the way they are fed, it is more to do with their personality and how they relate to the world. Well done for bf for so long - I tried with both of mine but didnt manage for more than a few weeks with dd and about a week with ds.

I breastfed DD until she was about 12 months and found that it was more timing of feeds than anything else that helped her sleep.

A 5 month old who sleeps 12 hours a night? Um, not sure this is a good thing......

Personally, I think it is down to the individual kid tbh.

DS1 b/fed was doing a 7 hour stint at night by the time he was five weeks and 12 hours by the time he was 5 months. No colic, lovely contented baby.

DS2 b/fed is now 14 weeks and only goes about 5/6 hours at night, wakes at 4.30am and doesn't returnt sleep. A bit colicky in the early days but seemed to settle after some cranial osteopathy. I can't se him sleeping through anytime soon. He has a totally different personality to ds1 and you asjust accordingly, nthing to do with how they are fed IMO.

My LO was bf! He woke every 2 hours until 3 months, then every 3 hours until 5 months, then every 4 hours until 7 months and then slept through the night for 11 hours and has done ever since (he's now 18m) and I stopped bf at 18m!

Do whatever you want - if your friend is happy with her choice, great. If you are happy with your choice, great!

bf all my 3
ds didn't sleep through until 3 and still poor sleeper
dd1 slept through from 6 weeks and still loves her sleep
dd2 much like ds having lack of sleep at the mo (5 mths)
Load of rubbish every dc different imo

My daughter was breastfed and has always been a fabulous sleeper (nothing I did, she just came that way). Do what you want to do. But if sleep is your priority then maybe best not to have a baby at all!

I only have one DD so not a wealth of experience. Exclusively BF and never tried any routines, she seemed to have her own routine from quite young though. She is 11 months now and has been sleeping through 7-7 from about 5 months. She was always a good sleeper though I know I am very lucky!

In our post natal group it seems there is a huge range of sleeping habits from the babies, from good sleepers to appalling. There doesn't seem to be any correlation with the feeding method.

I think it's down to the baby. Definitely that theory is rubbish IMO.