Do breastfed babies sleep worse than FF babies?

[baddecisions11]

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?

Anecdotally, my 100% breastfed baby slept through the night from about 7months, and much better than the others in our NCT group who were formula fed or mix fed by then.

I think if you asked a statistically significant number of people, you'd get a 50/50 results. Some babies are great sleepers some are not it's just the way it is

It was some years ago but I recall a study which showed breast feeding mums had, on average, 20 minutes more quality sleep than formula feeding mums.

It’s only anecdotal but my bf baby (now a teen) has always been a good sleeper, and quickly learned to feed herself. I did have to wake to pump once she was 12 weeks as I was back to work full time. By 6 months she was sleeping through and we were extra blessed with a child who would happily sleep through until 8am.

My FF baby was worse but was also in serious pain from a life threatening kidney condition. My bf toddler still doesn’t sleep though every night. However, neither of mine sleep well and we think both me and dh and both the children are likely to have adhd to some degree, so perhaps that’s why. I always chuckle at these mums who hold their babies hand while their babies gently drift off to sleep, it takes ages to get mine down and a lot of down regulating activities beforehand. I do think for me it’s easier co-sleeping and breastfeeding than fumbling about in the night readying a bottle. Then again my bf baby also bf for 7-9 hours a night at one point, so I’d probably have seen that in a worse light had my ff baby not topped it by never sleeping longer than 20-30 minutes and crying inconsolably for the entire time he was awake at night, bless him. She seemed easy compared, especially with the lack of medical appointments and no hospital stays.

Id say in general most babies sleep badly because the brain hasn’t developed the sleep-wake cycle in the same way as older children and adults yet. I’ve known both bf and ff babies who sleep well and other who wake often. There’s so many factors I think it’s pretty impossible to put it down to feeding.

I do pretty much what @BertieBotts said and quite often when I have gone downstairs to make the bottle, by the time I come back up again, baby is asleep!

Child 1 - formula fed and slept from 10-6 from about 9 weeks old
Child 2 - she's 8 weeks and generally has a feed at 10pm, 3am, 7am or so. Sometimes she'll go from 8:30pm to 3/4am but not consistently.

I do try the dummy and patting etc before dragging my butt out of bed 😂

Not always but i think its more likely, as the milk sits in their stomach longer as its slower/harder to digest.

My two have both been breastfed babies (EBF til 6m then Dd1 fed during night til 2 when I nightweaned her, and DD2 is still feeding at naptime/bedtime/during night at 18m).

Both have been AWFUL sleepers 😭

But my friend had 2 babies both breastfed for at least the first year I think, and they were both really good sleepers (so maybe I've just been unlucky in that regard 😂)

Another friend has a baby who has been totally Formula fed since birth and she has never been a great sleeper.

Also there is the whole emotional side of breastfeeding...so the baby is often waking for the closeness and comfort aswell as or instead of hunger.

One FF, one BF here. Sleep very very similar if I remember correctly. Both started sleeping through the night consistently at 9 months. I was more tired with FF baby as had to get up to make bottles!

Nope. Bf all 3 of mine. 1st awful bloody sleeper, 2nd had colic and moved on to formula at 3m and slept better but not grear. 3rd still bf and has always slept brilliantly- totally different to other 2, and she's never had formula, colic, constantly waking etc. It all depends on your baby. Mine are 9,6 and 16m, it gets waaaay easier and none of mine wake at all. Hang in there

I've had 2 bf babies, both quite good sleepers doing 8hr stints from 4/5 weeks. My best sleeper had terrible reflux so any night feed had to be followed by me holding her up for 20 mins, agree with PP that I think I naturally looked for other ways to comfort her before feeding her. The other DC was mixed fed from 5 months but slept worse as they got older and I shared a room with them for longer too

I EBF both babies. One slept through from 9 weeks .... The other didn't go through the night until 15 months.
The sleeper has always been more calm and in general needs more sleep.
Think it's more down to the baby than the feeding method

Oh wow. This is interesting. I never swaddled either of my boys, first DS screamed blue murder cause he hated it and I just never tried with second(now 12 weeks). Both slept / sleep with arms up. Never gave it much thought!

But to answer op's question, my first DS (breastfed) was always a very 'average' sleeper really. Went through rubbish phases and good phases like they all do then suddenly stopped night feeds off his own accord at 17 months and slept through the night.
Current DS is 12 weeks, also breastfed, and wakes every 2-3 for food. It's manageable. Sometimes I'll get 3 and a half hour stretches. I don't mind it as it gives me peace of mind with regards to sids. But 4 month regression not far off so let's see what happens😅

Not typical, but dd, ebf, slept through after 6 weeks. I stopped changing her if she'd just had a wee as it seemed to wake her up too much. Seemed to work.

i have done both so my 1st was formula fed and I found the first 4 months really hard as the night feeding takes so long when it’s a bottle whereas with my new baby the initial first 4 months were alot easier as we co sleep and breastfeed the disruption was less and alot quicker he also has never woken more than twice in a night.

however now we are at the 6 month stages my first born little girl was in her own room and not feeding at night whereas my little boy is still waking and being fed. My little girl even though she didn’t feed in the night she was still waking. I think every baby is different but breastfeeding is a long term commitment for the mum especially if you have a baby like mine who refuses bottles.

For us, the bottle was the key. She slept through the night with breastmilk or with formula as long as it came from the bottle.
When she was breastfed at night, she was up in every 2 hours.
I guess they can drink more in one go and it's fills them up for a longer period of time.