Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Do breastfed babies sleep worse than FF babies?

65 replies

baddecisions11 · 20/04/2023 08:53

Not asking to start any fights, genuinely interested in peoples thoughts/experiences or maybe any links to research on the topic? It was my understanding that breast fed babies usually wake more often during the night as they are probably drinking less at a time than FF babies maybe? So more of a little and often approach. What do you think?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Babyboomtastic · 20/04/2023 10:58

BertieBotts · 20/04/2023 09:31

My theory (totally from my own head/people's anecdotes rather than any research) is that it's behavioural, but the behaviour that tends to lead to more consolidated independent sleep earlier is correlated with bottle feeding.

Consider this: A baby wakes in the night.

If you're breastfeeding, the easiest thing to do is to feed them back to sleep. It's instant, it works, you don't have to think about it, you don't even have to be particularly awake (once you've got the hang of latching anyway), you are probably more likely to bring them into bed and you all go back to sleep. Baby likely falls asleep with boob in mouth. If they wake an hour later you just do the same thing again. Most co-sleeping breastfeeding mothers report that their sleep is not very disturbed by night feeds, especially in the in between phase (newborn is tricky because of wind, nappies and getting started with breastfeeding; toddlers tend to turn into windmills with a limb in each parent's eye)

If you're bottle feeding, you have to go and get the bottle, and to do that means getting out of bed (or waking up partner and sending them) so you probably initially try something like jiggling, shhhing, patting, rocking or offering a dummy. This is easier than getting a bottle. You probably do this even if you're not actively trying to stop night feeds yet because the baby is still too little.

If you do give up and get the bottle, you might have to go to another floor of the house, you almost definitely have to go to another room. You might have to wait for the kettle or the prep machine or the bottle warmer. You might have to perform thinking tasks like counting scoops or seconds. It's likely that it is at least a couple of minutes if not longer between you making the decision to get the bottle and the bottle being available to the baby. Even if you decide immediately to offer the bottle, the baby has to wait for a brief period first.

If the bottle is empty before the baby falls asleep, it is unlikely that parents will get a second bottle. They'll try other methods to soothe the baby - a dummy, rocking, patting, holding, or some babies are happy to be laid down now that they have a full tummy and just go off back to sleep (the legendary "drowsy but awake" Grin)

If the baby wakes 45 minutes later, the parents are likely to think that hunger is not the cause of waking and try other soothing methods for longer before offering a bottle.

So the bottle fed baby is more used to falling asleep in different ways. They are not expecting to get fed immediately on waking up. Sometimes they will be able to be soothed to sleep without feeding at all (parents find it easier to soothe in other ways than feeding, vs breastfeeding mothers finding it easier to breastfeed vs other soothing methods, humans tend to default to the easier option) They may be more likely to sleep in a separate space where they can't smell milk and follow instinctual rooting behaviour.

Anecdotally, it seems to me that people who breastfeed but in a pattern more closely following typical bottle-feeding patterns - roughly sticking to a routine, trying not to feed all the way to sleep, ensuring to put baby in a separate sleeping space, trying other soothing methods before feeding - you tend to see that babies fed in that way follow the more typical bottle feeding sleep patterns.

Also, some babies are just unicorn sleepers / wakeful sleepers whatever you do and will do their own thing regardless of what you try, but I think there's probably a good majority in the middle that can be swayed by parental behaviour and this is why you tend to see a generalised difference between bottle fed and breastfed babies.

But I also think it's unhelpful to moralise sleep - more consolidated, independent sleep is not the only goal and I don't like seeing things as feeding to sleep or co-sleeping called "bad habits", personally I found that cosleeping and feeding on demand works absolutely brilliantly for me and it's my preferred method right up until the point that it stops getting us more sleep. I did refine it a bit over 3 babies and currently working on getting DS3 to spend more of the night in his own cot, a year or so earlier than I bothered with the other two and yes, it's clear that parental behaviour can absolutely influence the baby's waking pattern.

Windy you may be partially right, some thoughts:

  • Not everyone can feed lying down, or go back to sleep with a baby latched on. Feeding lying down gave me agonising backache, and at one stage,
baby woke every 6 minutes to have 1-2 sucks (yes, I timed it). It was unsustainable. Baby went into her own room at 6m precisely as proximity to my boobs was causing her to wake almost constantly. So instead, I went into her room to feed, on a 1-2 hour basis until 18m 😳. I was a zombie.
  • my ff baby, I had a set up where I didn't need to even get out of bed to get her milk, and because she woke much less, and wasn't distracted by the smell of boobs, she stayed in our room longer. Her sleep was much much better, but more crucially, all feeds were shared 😃. I wasn't tired at all.

Now at 4&5 neither sleep through though, so I'm not sure what difference it made long term (though ff child can br comforted by either of us, but bf baby is still much more insistent on me).

theotherfossilsister · 20/04/2023 11:37

I had really low supply and my baby didn't sleep at all because he was hungry and dehydrated. Breastfeeding can be wonderful and I think for people with full supply the babies will sleep just waking to feed, the supply and demand thing is brilliant if it works

My underweight premature baby does sleep better with some formula but I'm still sad about it. At eight months he's having maybe twenty percent breast milk to eighty percent formula.

violetskypurple · 20/04/2023 11:38

I've never formula fed but my toddler went from waking hourly to waking twice a night once I stopped breastfeeding

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

YellowGreenBlue · 20/04/2023 11:40

My DS2 was a rubbish sleeper so I moved him from EBF to formula at 7 months, it made no difference 🤷‍♀️

Blughbablugh · 20/04/2023 11:43

My exclusive breastfed baby has always slept better through the night than my combi fed baby so no in my experience formula fed babies don't sleep through better. He's still very hit and miss at whether he sleeps through or not at 22 months old.

Orangebadger · 20/04/2023 11:44

Both of mine were BF, my first slept through from 5 months. My second is now 5 and still doesn't sleep through! And no I am not still breast feeding him before anyone asks!

Reugny · 20/04/2023 11:46

My DD was mixed fed. She started sleeping through from about 7 weeks and apart from teething and being ill is generally a good sleeper.

One of the big issues with DD was the timing of her daytime naps. They had to be at particular times of the day to ensure she went to sleep and stayed asleep at night.

Wenfy · 20/04/2023 11:49

No. Sleeping is personality related not food related.

Seeline · 20/04/2023 11:52

My BF baby slept so much better than my combi fed baby.

Parker231 · 20/04/2023 11:53

AnneLovesGilbert · 20/04/2023 09:01

In terms of your post question, there’s no worse. Babies are designed to consume breast milk and wake as often as they need. Babies on formula may sleep longer stretches but that’s not necessarily better.

Why don’t you think sleeping long stretches is better? My DC’s only had formula - one reason being that I didn’t have to do all the feeds, particularly at night. My DMil helped getting them into a good routine and they were sleeping through occasionally from eight weeks and reliably from four- five months which helped hugely as I went back to work full time when they were six months and I like my sleep!

TheOrigRights · 20/04/2023 12:30

Parker231 · 20/04/2023 11:53

Why don’t you think sleeping long stretches is better? My DC’s only had formula - one reason being that I didn’t have to do all the feeds, particularly at night. My DMil helped getting them into a good routine and they were sleeping through occasionally from eight weeks and reliably from four- five months which helped hugely as I went back to work full time when they were six months and I like my sleep!

One big reason - breastfed babies need to feed more frequently, therefore wake more frequently, and this lowers the risk of SIDs.

BuffaloCauliflower · 20/04/2023 12:35

The answer from research is no, they differ baby to baby not down feeding lines, but formula feeding mums tend to report their babies sleep more/longer than breastfeeding mums. So it’s a difference in perception of the sleep, not the sleep itself. When the babies are studied with sleep monitors and things there isn’t a difference a group level. Breastfed babies statistically settle back to sleep quicker too.

This lecture is well worth a watch if you’re interested in baby sleep.

What is Normal Infant Sleep: the view from Anthropology

Festival of Social Science 2020 Public Lecture

https://youtu.be/g5fOogsUpIk

baconisgoodforme · 20/04/2023 12:39

Child 1-combi fed-didn't sleep through till 4 years old
Child 2-was formula fed-is 3 and not sleeping through yet
Child 3-breast fed-is 15 months-nowhere near sleeping through but obviously due to my previous experiences,I am not expecting them to for a while yet!
So didn't make any difference with us,I just breed sleep thieves

Thelonelychicken · 20/04/2023 12:51

My 1st slept well untill she was 3
2nd horrible sleeper you'd get 20 mins if you was lucky. Now sleeps fantastic at 5.
3rd wasn't too bad textbook baby fed every 4 hours now sleeps through at 3.
4th has been waking once in the night since he was 6 weeks old.

All breastfed. All different sizes interestingly 4th is the biggest and my 2nd was the littlest don't know if that makes a difference. 4th is on the 98th line. 2nd was on the 5th line

RedRobyn2021 · 20/04/2023 13:04

I agree with @BertieBotts theory.

RedRobyn2021 · 20/04/2023 13:09

My DD is recently 2 and still doesn't sleep through, I am still breastfeeding her and she still sleeps in a cot next to me.

Most of the time I feel fine unless she wakes like 5 times or something excessive.

catsandkid · 20/04/2023 13:21

Scientifically and statistically.... I've no idea.

Anecdotally, in my group, yes the FF babies slept for longer stints and then slept through much earlier. However, I noticed that it was those that FF from birth that had the best sleepers, whereas those that BF for say, 4 months, saw improved sleep by introduction of FF but their babies were still quite restless of a night. Not sure why. It's all quite subjective anyway as different parents have different approaches to night waking, different tolerances for wake ups (some peoples 'bad nights' are considered 'sleeping through' to others I found!)

Totally agree with PP theory that its likely behaviour based. As a FF mum I couldn't rely on popping DC on the boob to settle him, so I had found ways to settle him without a feed and over time he kind of adopted those himself (for us, it was for DC to have a cuddly muslin that smelt like me - initially cuddled me and the muslin, and over time and with developing hand/grabbing skills was content to just have the muslin to cuddle and I was surplus to requirements!). Still likes to cuddle muslin to relax/sleep now at almost 2!

gogohmm · 20/04/2023 15:37

No idea. Mine were breastfed on demand and terrible sleepers. Once they were weaned (16 months) they remained terrible sleepers

Wenfy · 20/04/2023 15:42

What people don’t realise that newborns shouldn’t sleep through the night. When they do there is usually a major problem. It has nothing to do with feeding them formula or not & the old wives tales about this come from a time when newborns were often given brandy to help them sleep and so I wouldn’t trust it.

RosesofAmsterdam · 20/04/2023 15:44

Mums of formula fed babies sleep better than mums of breastfed babies because someone else can help with the night feeds. It's a very good idea to use this help.

iliketobooogie · 20/04/2023 15:47

Wenfy · 20/04/2023 15:42

What people don’t realise that newborns shouldn’t sleep through the night. When they do there is usually a major problem. It has nothing to do with feeding them formula or not & the old wives tales about this come from a time when newborns were often given brandy to help them sleep and so I wouldn’t trust it.

Newborns don't sleep through the night however they're fed, but there is a noticeable difference around 8 weeks plus where formula fed babies will wake less often.
Those who say babies should wake often are just going by BF babies behaviour, it doesn't mean that because FF babies feed less often that it is wrong, it just means they're more satisfied in terms of hunger for longer.

kfiend · 20/04/2023 16:02

My first was breastfed- slept terribly, my second was formula fed... also slept terribly 😩🤣. I think if they are bad sleepers they r just bad sleepers. Both love their sleep now tho at 3 and 2 :)

soberfabulous · 20/04/2023 16:32

Mine was FF and was an absolutely terrible sleeper!

PracticallyFlooredZero · 20/04/2023 16:39

I think @BertieBotts is right. All 3 of mine were formula fed and I remember a few times going down in the night to make up a bottle for ds1 and by the time I’d done it he was fast asleep. I started to wait a few mins before going to make one in future, put a hand on his tummy and he’d usually go back to sleep.

Anecdotally my formula fed babies slept much better than my friends breastfed babies. My nct group were about ready to kick me out 😂 all 3 of mine slept through the night with no feeds very early on.

DustyLee123 · 20/04/2023 16:40

In my experience yes. In fact I used to give mine the occasional bottle last thing at night to get them to sleep a bit longer.

Swipe left for the next trending thread