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Original poster

Did stopping breastfeeding improve baby’s sleep?

63 replies

Moonshine160 · 29/03/2023 20:31

DS2 is nearly 7 months old and is waking hourly overnight, sometimes two hourly if I’m lucky. He only ever naps for 30 mins at a time. I honestly feel broken and I am writing this while crying because I am truly exhausted. I have to feed him to sleep as I can’t get him to sleep any other way. This is for every wake up in the night. We’ve recently got him to accept formula in a bottle from DH. Even when he’s had this, he still wants a breastfeed to get him to sleep and won’t settle unless he has this. I’m starting to feel touched out and completely fed up. If I gradually introduce more formula and end breastfeeding, would this improve his sleep? Did this happen for anyone else? He definitely has a feed to sleep association (breast, he’s never fallen asleep on the bottle). I am considering sleep training but I don’t know what method or how to even go about it. I just need to do something because my mental health is suffering.

DS has no health issues. Tongue tie was cut at 8 weeks. He is being weaned onto solids (purée and finger food but only has tiny bits of the finger food so far) and has taken to it really well, he’s on three small meals a day.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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TwinsAndTiramisu · 29/03/2023 20:32

DTwins were bfed for the first few weeks. When they went to the bottle they slept right through, literally that night.

Lochjeda · 29/03/2023 20:34

Reading and implanting the baby whisperer sleep technique stopped my ds from waking every sleep cycle to be comforted back to sleep with a breast feed. However, yes stopping breastfeeding did also help. You have my sympathy it is absolutely exhausting ❤

gemloving · 29/03/2023 20:35

It did for mine at 14 months. I stopped breastfeeding and he started sleeping through! It was amazing!

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Wrongsideofpennines · 29/03/2023 20:38

It made no difference for us. We eventually did sleep training because she needed to learn other methods to fall asleep. Feeding with a bottle instead made no difference as she still wanted feeding to sleep.

Maybe you need to be unavailable at some of those times he needs settling back to sleep, to allow your partner to do it and break that association.

claire841 · 29/03/2023 20:40

My little ones 10 months and seemed to start sleeping better after introducing more formula in the day around 8 months.

I have always done the last feed of the night but he started biting me before bed a couple of time the past few nights so I couldn't breastfeed so we gave him a bottle instead and he slept through 7-6:30 😳

MrsTerryPratchett · 29/03/2023 20:41

No difference here.

Fallingwhere · 29/03/2023 20:41

I am on the same boat with my 7 month old. Only wants to be fed to sleep and wakes up and cries for breast so many times. On top of that he is only eating sweet food and not savory now. Its evacuating and depressing but hopefully it will get better for both of us! I am thinking of doing sleep training but need to research more on it. Sending you hugs

addictedtotheflats · 29/03/2023 20:47

I didn't stop until 2.5 but after we night weaned around 1 it made a significant difference. DP took over and I did zero night wakes after this point until he was around 2. Not that he woke much after he night weaned

Rella357 · 29/03/2023 20:47

My DS started sttn at 13 months. I weaned him off the breast at 20 months and it made it so much harder to get him to sleep.

DragonbornMum · 29/03/2023 20:55

I was you a year ago.

The problem is it's not the BFing that is the problem: it's his inability to self-settle (which is totally normal at this age)

I used the Little Ones sleep training to solve his settling issue during the day. Mine never napped longer than 30 min until after he started crawling at 9 months, and even then it was iffy

At night I had to learn how to settle him without a feed. It wasn't immediate, but make feeding the last thing you try - Even better if you don't have to pick him up at each wake. Use white noise, gentle patting, hold his hand etc. Reassure him that you're there

Between 6-8 months mine was waking me 6-12 times a night minimum and would only resettle with BF. By 9 months (after night weaning) he was sleeping through. We continued (daytime) breastfeeding until his birthday.

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 29/03/2023 20:58

We used the Ferber sleep training method with our three, around 6 months old. They all slept through around night 3. Some crying, but nothing as dramatic or traumatizing as I expected, and the whole family (baby included!) had improved moods after doing so.

I kept on breastfeeding until nearly 2 years old. No need to stop breastfeeding, you just need to stop the feed-to-sleep association.

Kissedbyfire1 · 29/03/2023 20:59

BF DS2 for 2.5yrs round the clock (co-slept). Finally weaned him and put him into his own bed and never had another broken night with him. Wished I had done it a year earlier. It was a living hell.

swirly456 · 29/03/2023 21:15

I would say it won't make a difference because babies wake for many different reasons and not just hunger. Your baby is only 7 months it's still so little.
I really do feel your pain with the sleep deprivation. It's an absolute killer. Trust me, I've been there and it feels like you are going crazy.
Sleep training is teaching your baby to not cry for you and they learn that when they cry you won't come back so they give up. There is different types of sleep training but I really wouldn't recommend it.
My son is 15 months and started sleeping through just over a month ago. He dropped all his night feeds too. He's breast fed and well established on solids. I did absolutely nothing to aid this as such. He did it by himself. I will say if you can get the naps right it does help the night sleep. At 7 months sleep was awful for us too.
If you really are struggling with the breast feeding maybe combi feed so do a couple formula bottles a day as well as the breast feeds?

linziere · 29/03/2023 21:18

I only BF my 18 month old DD to sleep but she gets nothing overnight and hasn't done since around 14/15 months. She's still very hit and miss on whether she'll sleep through and the length of her wake-ups are about the same as they were when I did BF through the night. The only thing that's different is that now she isn't feeding to get back to sleep, my husband and I split the night wakes 50/50 so at least it's not just all on me anymore.

BHRK · 29/03/2023 21:20

Your baby is tiny. Stopping breastfeeding made no difference with my first, she was just a terrible sleeper!
I fed the other two to sleep for every night and night feed til 15 months… no crying. Feeding them to sleep is easy, who would you stop?
babies do just wake up a lot in the first year or so. It’s agony but it’s not forever

FiveHundredDucksWentOutOneDay · 29/03/2023 21:25

I haven't stopped breastfeeding yet; but my son dropped the night breastfeed at 9m. He still wakes up pretty frequently.

In our NCT group; one of the bottle-fed babies slept through pretty much immediately; the other still wakes every three hours. The other six (including mine) were breastfed. One has recently weaned - he started sleeping 6 hour stretches at around a year; but didn't wean then. They've just stopped breastfeeding as his mum is pregnant again, and he's now waking up again in the night, but hopefully that'll be temporary. Two of the others were weaned closer to 6 and 9 months, but neither sleep through. Both of those have been sleep trained once or twice each, too.

If our group is a constant reminder of anything to me - as well as a lovely place for support, etc, and some brilliant friends! - it's that what works for one baby really won't make a difference for another. There's no indication in what you've written that stopping breastfeeding would make a difference.

I don't breastfeed to sleep - DH does bedtime here most of the time. The first wake-up, he'll go back to sleep with cuddles with DH - no milk needed from me/a bottle/etc. It's developmental - he'll drop it when he's ready. It's still annoying and frustrating, and I've honestly only started to feel less dead recently, but there's nothing I could have done about it.

(Some will say sleep train; but again - that wasn't for me, personal choice; and it didn't work for the people I know who tried it, although I wasn't there when they did so I don't know how much effort they put in/what techniques etc)

Cakeandslippers · 29/03/2023 21:29

Not here. Night weaned eldest at 9/10 months as I was pregnant and it made no difference. Weaned youngest just before he turned 2, also made no difference.

The benefit with my eldest was that my dh could do night wakes. Youngest wasn't having any of that so i'm still up a couple of times a night with him (2y9m) but compared to the bad old days it's fine!

Babyboomtastic · 29/03/2023 22:07

My first (formula) dropping the night feed made sleep worse, as rather than being fed and back to sleep in 15m,. it would take around 2hrs 🥺

My second (bf) i went at her pace, and she slept better when she started reducing then dropping the night feeds (18-24m) but she still wakes up most nights now, and hasn't bf in over a year.

7m is still v young, as horrific as sleep deprivation is. Either sleep train (not for me) or they eventually get there in their own time. It takes time or tears - your choice 😢

MBK456 · 29/03/2023 22:09

Assuming you want to continue breastfeeding, the biggest things that made a difference to my 11 month old's sleep was working on self settling and replacing his sleep association with a comfort item instead.

Tips that helped were:

Feed baby at start of bath time / bedtime routine, as well as at the end. This stopped him getting too sleepy to take a full feed before bed.
if you're sure baby has had enough to eat, then send dad in to comfort baby on first wake up. A cuddle until the crying stops or slows, then lay down again... repeat until baby calms. This took a good while the first couple of nights but there was absolutely no crying it out and he did eventually drop back off.
Place a comfort item (Muslin / taggy/ blanket) between you and baby when feeding then let baby have this whilst falling asleep (obviously remove once asleep for safe sleep practices).

MBK456 · 29/03/2023 22:11

However, from what you've said I suspect formula won't help reduce night feedings, unless your baby successfully learns to self settle during the weaning process.

Does baby only ever feed to sleep, including for naps?

WandaWonder · 29/03/2023 22:11

Can't compare, my baby FF from birth woke for one night feed till 8 weeks than slept 12 hours every night

I have been told because FF but I have no idea so can't say why it happened

RosesofAmsterdam · 29/03/2023 22:16

Yes it helped for us! At the same age we started night weaning and DH doing middle of the night settling without me. By 8 months, no more breastfeeding and sleeping 12 hours.

Hohofortherobbers · 29/03/2023 22:17

Yes, literally like flicking a switch, suddenly slept.

wishuponastar1988 · 29/03/2023 22:17

Hasn't made a difference here. We are currently on wakeup number 3 since 8pm (baby is 8 months) although she is teething but even when she isn't she still wakes frequently

Hatscats · 29/03/2023 22:18

Night weaning definitely didn’t help - worse if anything!

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