Are formula fed babies more likely to sleep through the night?

[Bluesea14]

Hi everyone,

recently had a baby and have been advised by the hospital to combi feed.

After reading more into breastfeeding it seems like Bf babies have less chance of sleeping through the night.

Curious to know when your babies slept through and if they are formula, ebf or combi. X

I agree with others that hospitals aren’t feeding experts, better to go to a breastfeeding support group or call La Leche League or get a private lactation expert. Hospitals only have really basic standard advice, not always helpful.
also agree with PP that the more formula you give the more your supply will decrease. It’s fine if you want to formula feed but if you want to breastfeed the best thing to do if offer breast at every feed then your boobs will know they are needed and make more milk

My first didn’t sleep so we tried combi feeding and it made no difference!

My second I learnt a tip from a friend. I breastfeed every 2 hours in the day 7am to 7pm, I made an alarm and it made a massive difference. Sleep was so much better, I think there is something about filling them up!

Yes, they definitely do. They are fuller for longer.

And of course the dad can do half the nights, so that's brilliant.

2 EBF babies, first slept through( 10pm till 6.30am) at 8 weeks, the other at 10 weeks. They had both been sleeping from midnight to 6.30 for a couple of weeks before that.

Because usually breastfeeding advice is shit and actually reduces your chance of bf successfully.

I heard some utter bollocks spouted about bd from medical professionals. You’re better with a trained bf advisor or someone like la leche. Many new mums don’t know to question what they’ve been told.

i was given shit for bf on the post natal ward. Constantly being told to “give myself a break”, and baby will sleep better if I gave formula. I wanted to breastfeed though, and if I hadn’t had the self confidence- from mums on forums such as these- to say no thanks, I’m fine, I would have been bottle feeding by the time I left the ward.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8625541/

FF babies do sleep better - evidence from a systematic review of the literature.

No unfortunately they don't. We started doing pre-bed/nighttime bottle feeds around 10 months to see if it would help, but made zero difference.

We did find that it helped to break the expectation of a night feed = night time cuddle though, which gradually improved night time wakes. But that wouldn't work (and I don't think you would want to do) on a newborn.

My 2 were bottle fed and both slept through from 8 weeks.

Fed babies are more likely to sleep through the night. If your supply is low give yourself a break and use formula. You also have the added bonus that it is not all on you and baby’s dad can get up in the night for feeds.

Eldest FF - she just hated sleep I swear. Co-slept and eventually moved into her own room at about 3, we had her (useless) bed in our room and she still ended up with us. She is 21 and still a rubbish sleeper.

Youngest BF - loved sleep, in her own room at 6 months.

A lot depends on the character of your baby, your supply and how your baby prefers to feed.

I combi fed mine. First because he lost so much weight and my supply was rubbish. Second because I just wasn't putting myself through that again.

My first was a guzzler (still is at 11). He could down a bottle in one. No issues with reflux, barely needed winding. He did sleep better with formula but that's because I couldn't replicate that amount of milk at once - some women with supply in abundance probably could - and he enjoyed the milky coma.

Second was a snacker. I did have supply with her but little madam couldn't be bothered to drink it in more than a few mouthfuls at a time. Same with a bottle. She suffered more with reflux. I don't think it made any difference whether she had breast milk or formula but she did prefer it from a bottle because she was better fed in a more upright position in the night. Agay, some breastfeeding women could manage this but I never got the hang of it.

Your baby is needing to gain weight and so may respond differently initially than a baby without these issues. The first few bottles of formula were like horse tranquilliser to my son but that's because the poor thing was starving. The effect wasn't so noticeable between the two during the day once he was back on track weight wise.

Both of mine were breastfed. The eldest was a terrible, terrible sleeper. Didn't manage more than a couple of hours at a time until he was 2. I was a zombie. His brother was an absolute dream and slept for about 7 hours the first night home from hospital. He pretty much continued like this, with the amount of sleep gradually increasing until he wasn't waking up during the night at all by about 4 months. At the start I kept waking up in a panic and checking that he was ok!

More =/= 'better'.

Mine drank formula via a tube at the breast (hypoplasia, so mixed fed from 14 days or so but very few bottles) DS slept through at 5 months and DD at 2 1/2 years. I don't think feeding has much to do with sleep

Hiya. Thank you for your reply. She's been checked for tongue tie by the hospital. I'm not really looking for advice on breastfeeding/ my supply.
More curious to see if there is any difference between breast and formula.

Hi. I'm already doing this. I'm not asking for advice on breastfeeding, thanks x

Dont know about the OP but they advised combi feeding with my baby as he was only 4lb 9oz when he was born ( 37 weeks ) and I wasnt producing a lot of milk

OP In my experience, in the early days it makes no difference at all. I moved my baby onto hungry baby formula ( midwives suggestion ) and that seemed to fill him up for longer and then he slept longer. Prior to the hungry baby formula he was waking every 2 hours for a feed where as when I had DD and I combi fed she woke every 4 hours

All 4 were bottle fed, all 4 slept through from about 3 months (got a land when the third started walking age 2 nightly at 3 in the morning and my fourth did similar!!!)

My exclusively breastfed baby slept through from 6 weeks. Never used formula so can't compare but her formula fed friends often were not doing as well in terms of sleep. I think it's got way more to do with genetics, as my mum said I was a good sleeper but I was formula fed 🤷‍♀️

I slept so much better once DD went from being breastfed only to having one bottle of formula in the night. That's cause DH gave her the bottle so I could stay asleep! Her sleep improved massively when we night weaned her.

More =/= 'better'.

Lol, OK there, BF fanatic.

My bf babies both slept through the night (midnight to 7am) from 6 weeks old.

my ff nephews didn’t do that till they were 2 years old.

baby will sleep through when ready irrespective of how they are fed.