Breastfeeding and sleepless nights

[Itsmyarmsthatarecold]

I'm due my first baby in a few short weeks. I'm planning on breastfeeding but keep hearing negative things about it and it's worrying me.

Do babies tend not to sleep as long if you breastfeed rather than bottle feed? Apparently bottle fed babies sleep a lot longer in the night whereas breast fed babies wake every 2 hours. Is this the general rule?

I have friends with poor sleepers who are bottle fed, so formula is not a guarantee of a good night's sleep. Fairly early on mine started having about a five hour sleep and subsequently waking every couple of hours. I coslept though so it wasn't a huge interference with my sleep.

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules with babies. I get the impression FF babies generally sleep better but I've heard horror stories about FF babies who only drink 1-2oz at a time every 2 hours day and night so I guess it's a gamble.

The advantage of BF at night is you don't have to prep the milk and once they stop pooping at night you don't even have to get out of bed.

My son (now 2 years old) was bottle fed and he woke bang in every 2 hours until he was nearly 1.
My daughter (7 weeks old) is breastfed and sleeps anywhere between 2and 6 hours a time at night. I don't think how they are fed makes a difference.. but for me I've found BF so much better as there is no faff with prepping a bottle

Generally yes, but of course all babies are different, so it's certainly not the case that every single formula fed baby sleeps better than every breastfed baby. There are plenty of other reasons to breastfeed though, so I wouldn't make the decision not to based just on the possibility they might sleep a bit better if you used formula - that might not be the case, and god I can't even imagine what a faff preparing bottles in the night must be 🙈 at least with breastfeeding you just stick them on the boob and they generally fall back to sleep while feeding. Wish I could still do that with my 18mo, she's a bloody nightmare to get back to sleep when she wakes in the night now!

once they stop pooping at night ha I'd forgotten about that!

IME - first baby - EBF, slept 12 hours a night from 6 months. Up and down to that point, never coslept (too nervous). Second baby - never co slept, EBF for around 4 months. A terrible sleeper so I switched to FF thinking it would help. Still a terrible sleeper. At nearly 4yo he's rarely slept through the night still (sob). Third baby- EBF and cosleep, a fantastic sleeper. Sleeping for long stretches from just a few weeks old. Needless to say, I'm not convinced feeding method makes an enormous difference. good luck and congratulations!

No rules. Both my ebf babies have been great sleepers. I know lots of my friends ff babies were shockers and still don’t sleep now as toddlers. I think it’s just the child and luck of the draw.

I dont think there is a hard and fast rule about which sleeps better, but with formula you can have a night or even a few hours where the feeding can be left to dad.

Definitely more the child than the feeding.

DS2 was 1 last month and has never slept for longer than around 4 hours at a time and that's a rarity. He's breastfed.

DS1 slept brilliantly and was FF.

DSS slept brilliantly and was BF.

Totally luck of the draw. I nearly gave up BF DS2 because of his sleep but there was no guarantees it would help and I'll be fucked if I'm getting out of my nice warm bed in the night 😂

I breastfed, my lo needed feeding every couple of hours as a newborn but I think most newborns do? For me the convenience of breastfeeding outweighed (the possibly) more frequent waking because I could just pop him on and off without getting out of bed and also often they just want a bit of comfort and not a full feed and few minutes of feeding and he was back to sleep. I wouldn't listen to the horror stories, try and see how you get on. Every baby (and mum) is different after all.

Breastfed for 6 weeks...woke every 90 minutes. Stopped under medical advice and switched to formula....woke every 90 minutes. 2.5 years old now and I can count on one hand the amount of nights he's slept through....formula is by no means a guarantee of a good sleeper. Don't let any comments put you off either method. Just do what's right for you. Good luck xx

DS is 10 weeks, EBF. Since about 7 weeks he’s slept 5-6 hours at the start of the night and then done a couple of 2-3 hour stretches after that (prior to this he was doing 2-4 hour stretches and it was pretty manageable tbh). He very rarely poos overnight anymore and is in a co-sleeping cot so there is no getting out of bed. I get at least 7 hours sleep most nights.

Babies are all different. I have a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old.

DC1 was colicky and a terrible sleeper, had to do sleep training.

DC2 sleeps really well and was sleeping through (5-6 hours) a few nights a week from about 1 month old. Still sleeps better than DC1!

Both breastfed no formula.

It’s impossible to say. I think as a general rule FF babies generally sleep longer as formula contains things they don’t need and fills their tummies a bit more. As others have said, BF involves less disturbance though as you don’t have to get out of bed. So even if baby wakes more it is less disruptive. Obviously night feeds will be 100% down to you though.

There are so many advantages to BFing though that I would not let night feeds put you off. During the day it’s so much easier as you can never forget your boobs and you don’t need to stress about when baby will need a bottle when you’re out!

It’s not a guarantee either way, but my bottle fed 7 week old is an amazing sleeper

Who is telling you these negative things, is it your partner?

I’m sure I’ve seen research that disproves formula makes a difference to sleepbut anecdotally lots of people will say it seems to. In my case, my formula fed baby has been a fab sleeper from about 6 weeks but I don’t think it was the formula and I know lots of great sleeping breastfed babies. As a newborn she was put on a 2 hourly feeding regime as we were really struggling with breastfeeding and she’d lost too much weight. Later on she had a natural preference for milk during the day. She’d feed far more during the day than my friends’ babies regardless of feeding method but wasn’t that bothered at night really. I think some kids are good sleepers and others aren’t unfortunately. There are probably things that parents do that help or hinder but I think at least 75% is luck.

There are all sorts of things to weigh up. FF does not guarantee better sleep. I think FF also makes babies a bit more gassy so it takes longer to settle them. Sleep is mainly a matter of luck I think.
BF also gives your baby's immune system a boost, this is obviously good for them but also in terms of baby sleep, they're less likely to be ill so you will have fewer nights sitting up while they sniffle or spew. I cannot tell you how bad a night with a sick baby can be.
BF can also give you good hormones that make night waking a bit better - endorphins as if you had just had a long walk. A trip to the steriliser doesn't do the same trick.
If I were you I'd aim to BF - it can be tricky but generally worth persevering - if you want you could add in a few formula feeds to see if it helps with night waking a few months in.

FF babies only sleep longer because their stomachs are not designed to process formula so it doesn’t pass through them as quickly as breast milk does. Let’s face it though, sleep is in short supply with a young baby however you choose to feed them .

@user1471426142 I came across one study that said BF and FF mothers get the same amount of sleep. Because FF requires getting up so mum is more alert and spends more time awake than BF. Not sure if the babies sleep more!

The majority of my FF friends whose husbands promised they were going to do 50% of night feeds...mum ended up doing more than 50% in the end. Sometimes much more.

We prepared night bottles in advance and put them in the fridge - there’s no need to mess about measuring out formula when you’re half asleep!
I think nowadays you can also get a single formula feed in a sterilised packet, so you could just keep one by your bed each night for complete convenience.
Both my DDs slept through for 8 hours from about 8 weeks.
(I did start off breastfeeding them but never produced enough - I was anaemic and they were both over 8lb babies.)

Apparently bottle fed babies sleep a lot longer in the night whereas breast fed babies wake every 2 hours

Who told you this? Because if it's a friend or relative and you do breastfeed you need to be prepared for the fact that this person will (probably with the best of intentions) undermine you. They will tell you the baby is hungry and you're not making enough milk if they feed a lot (which isn't at all true, breastfed babies feed frequently to get supply up, it doesn't mean that they're starving) and come out constantly with the helpful suggestion that any issue at all will be improved if you 'just give them a bottle'. If you do want to breastfeed I'd really recommend finding a local support group - it makes such a difference to find people to chat to, especially if not everyone in your life is being very supportive of you breastfeeding.

No it's made up.

It is also made up that if you have an xlb that you won't produce enough milk where x is any number you can think off.

You may find in the first few weeks that your baby will want to feed every couple of hours day and night but that's normal. They then may start to sleep for 4-6 hour stretch at night that is normal - or they may continue to need feeding every couple of hours which is also normal.

In short babies tell you when they are hungry as their stomachs are tiny and each baby is different.

It is also made up that if you have an xlb that you won't produce enough milk where x is any number you can think off.

This. Low supply does happen infrequently but equally my 9lb baby (who is now 10 weeks and over a stone in weight) has never had a top up. I’m quite petite but probably make enough milk to feed two of him 😬

I ebf my first, he started sleeping through the night at 6 months - we moved him into his own room at that point and he pretty much night-weaned immediately. It was around that time that I started to combi-feed and give a bottle of formula at bedtime. I was ready to stop breastfeeding by that point, so wasn't bothered if introducing formula meant the beginning of the end...

I'm now expecting number 2 and am planning to combi feed pretty much from birth this time. I found ebf extremely stressful and DS never really seemed to take to it like others describe. So this time I will put a lot less pressure on myself and be more flexible depending on what my baby seems to want/need at the time. Ironically it was the night feeds I enjoyed the most with DS as we co-slept and it was a lovely thing. It doesn't matter if its super frequent if you barely have to wake up to latch them on - the idea of getting up multiple times in the night to make bottles sounds grim...