Is there a correlation between FF/BF and sleep?

[HerculesMulligan]

NOT goady. My kids are both FF and have also been great sleepers - decent naps and then straight through from 10pm-7am from about six weeks, more often than not. My cousin's expecting her first baby and has asked whether they do that because they're FF. I have literally no idea, as I don't have a BF child for comparison. If you've had both, what do you reckon? I expect she'll be BFing regardless so asking for my own interest.

I reckon FF separates feeding out from the process of falling asleep whereas when you BF most people end up feeding them to sleep (me included!)

Based on nothing more than observation that friends I know who were either FF, or BF in quite a routine orientated way and specifically avoided feeding to sleep etc seemed to find the idea of a baby over 6/9 months, certainly over 12 months waking at night to be very strange, expressed that they couldn't possibly cope etc. Whereas people I know who breastfed on demand, co-slept, fed to sleep etc all find it normal to be woken throughout the first couple of years. Not necessarily a happy thing but just a normal/necessary part of baby and toddlerhood.

Maybe the formula/routine mums are lying or have a different definition of sleeping through the night, but I don't think so.

I bf all three of mine. All good sleepers pretty much from birth. So I think it's probably more genetic / luck of the draw than what you feed them.

I'm involved with baby sleep stuff via my job. One thing about slightly older babies is that if they are fed straight back to sleep whenever they wake they're more likely to continue to wake as part of a reinforced habit.

For some families, it's easier to "just breastfeed" as soon as the baby wakes (if you're knackered etc). If you have to prepare a bottle etc then you're more likely to do some different soothing techniques either instead of or while you're preparing bottle, which means the baby might be more likely to go back to sleep without feeding. Those associations are a little less habit forming than being fed to sleep, so the baby is more likely to go through future sleep cycles without waking fully.

So over time that baby begins to sleep for longer stretches.

The above doesn't apply when babies are waking hungry of course.

Out of my baby group yes, possibly a coincidence (I do believe it largely depends on the baby rather than how you feed), but the FF babies all slept through earlier. The post by @Roaren is a really interesting perspective.

I think it will also depend, with a breastfed baby where breastfeeding is the first choice of the mother and they don’t sleep for long chunks, how much you feel you need to “fix” sleep and as I said before, if you think it’s worth switching to formula not knowing how much difference it might make. My son was exclusively breastfed and woke every 45 minutes until he was 15mo. It was very very difficult, despite my expectations and general acceptance that he would wake at night indefinitely - that little sleep is very hard to deal with even if you are completely satisfied that night waking generally is normal. However I never even considered formula because he wouldn’t even take expressed breast milk from a bottle so it seemed pointless. I know others would have made the switch if baby had allowed because really that amount of wakefulness is incredibly tough and worth the effort of trying something else for many. But I wouldn’t have considered eg waking every 3-4 hours a problem in comparison (or even every 2!)

I'm not sure. Mine slept through at 4 weeks and 10 weeks and were FF from about a week. When they were BF they didn't really stop feeding, I certainly didn't get more than 30 min sleep in one go.

However all but 2 in my NCT group were sleeping through by 12 weeks, a mix of BF and FF. That seems unusual by MN standards though!

Yes breast milk is less filling and easily digested

I think there is two parts to it...luck of the baby and also feeding routine...in my experience BF have more often but smaller (by time) feeds whereas FF are time and spaced out. The go to usually for a BF mum is to pop the baby on the boob whereas I think that that is not the case, usually, with FF. I knew a person who did BF but with the same routine as FF and her baby slept through very early, I also know a person who is FF but on demand and her baby doesn't sleep much better than mine at this stage (BF). These are two examples though and every baby is different. I have BF both of mine and their sleeping habits have been very different. Not that your asking but my biggest tip is no lights/no phone for overnight feeds, makes turnarounds much faster.

In my experience, no, my ff one was a much worse sleeper. I did things e exactly the same with both: we co-slept, fed to sleep, often held for naps, no sleep training. My ff one didn’t sleep through til she was 3.5. Bf one was always just a better sleeper from the start. Much happier to sleep in his one room, though he still co-slept most nights if he did wake up. But he started sleeping through just before 2. I was definitely much more rested with him even doing all the feeds myself as he was so much easier. Self settles, etc.

It’s definitely down to personality and not how I fed them.

I wondering if FF babies sleep better partially becuase they are given more opportunities to self settle and feeding to sleep happens less. I am breastfeeding and it is so easy to do a quick feed when LO wakes at night. If I was formula feeding I would probably try to settle without feeding so much to avoid the hassle of getting up and making up a bottle. But maybe I am just a bit lazy.