does ff/bf really affect how long a baby sleeps?

[MamaChocoholic]

anecdotally, most of the "good" sleepers I know are ff. yet most bf counsellors I know say it doesn't make a difference. have there been any studies?

I don't know of any studies but I do have a few friends who have had babies sleep through from 7ish weeks and they have been fully bf(one of them did a bottle of ebm) at 11ish.
I also know others who have ff and their babies haven't slept through for months.

A lot of it is down to luck and obviously each baby is different.

yes there have, although i don't have links to hand

formula can make a baby sleep for longer stretches as it's harder to digest
however all the studies i've seen have said that overall the mother gets more sleep because the baby barely wakes, is fed, goes back to sleep and mum goes back to sleep quickly cos of the hormones released while feeding

Anecdotally, the "good" sleepers in my baby group were also the ff ones.

But I never got the the root of it and whether it was because the mums were more easily able to share night-feeds with the dads and just got more sleep as a result.

Anecdotally, the order of good sleepers in my circle of friends/family went like this:

Best sleepers = Big ff boys
Next best = Big bf boys
Next best = Big ff girls
Next best = Big bf girls
...then the smaller babies with the worst of all being small bf girls. Guess what my DD was?

But, this is just anecdotal! It's always hard to know how honest others are being, and some mums cope better with sleep deprivation than others. I always felt I coped pretty well with it, getting up 3 times a night with DD and holding down a part-time job, whilst non-working friends would moan if their DC woke once in the night.

Anecdotally, the babies I know that were good sleepers tended to be ff.

But know they're toddlers / preschoolers, some of the previously good ones are now awful and vice versa.

I had a small bf girl who slept through about 4 times out of seven from 8 weeks. Slept through meaning slept from when I went to bed at 10 until about 8ish. She would often then sleep more until 10 or even 11. Happy days. She's four now and can read the numbers on the clock so I can't even con her it's not time to get up yet.

Good to hear that, Halogen as DC2 may be another small bf girl and I don't know if I can cope with all that night-waking and a toddler (DD1)!

MrsBT - I think you might be onto something there

DD was a big bf baby - 91st centile for the first couple of months. She slept through every night from 4 weeks until about 5 months. At 10 months, she's now 25th centile and rarely sleeps through. Still bf, just not big anymore.

But we have finally got her onto one wake up [relieved]

I think it depends what you mean by good sleeper?
After the first couple of months, my bf DS fed every night at 11, 3 and 6 till we night weaned at about 11 months. But he was only awake for 10 mins at every feed, and went straight back down, so I barely woke myself. I count that as fairly good sleeping.

Ff babies in our group tended to go longer, and some slept through sometimes. But when they woke, they were more difficult to settle, especially if they weren't really hungry. If they were hungry, they were obviously up for longer while bottle was made. And they all suffered more with wind. A quick snuggle on the boob made for easier sleeping in my book!

Good luck, Blooming. Hope yours is as amenable as mine was! Four nights out of seven was definitely enough to feel human which is all you can really hope for at that stage...

My 1st child, boy, took until a year to sleep through, often waking every 90mins in the early days for a feed. It was exhausting and he was bf.

My 2nd, a girl, also bf and colicky or just plain fussy, has slept through from a few weeks old if you can count only waking once at 1.30am and again at 5.30am as sleeping though, which I do. She is only 7 weeks now and I think that she is a great sleeper compared to DS!

If you mean sleeping through 7pm til 7am ish........

My eldest was ff she slept through at 7 weeks

dd2 bf woke once per night until I twigged she was comfort snacking at 4 months

dd3 bf from 2 weeks although we had sleep issues due to undiagnosed silent reflux - she wasn't fed at night was just awake screaming.

dd4 bf from about 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was a bit militant about waking mine during the day and feeding every 2-3 hours during 7am and 7pm!

Errr, i will blow your small girls theory out the window

DD1 was 5lb7oz at birth, went to under 5lb. She slept through 7-7 from about 8 weeks when she was probably only 7lb. Fully breast fed.

Her sister mind you was 6lb11oz at birth and slept through at about 19 months. Fully breast fed too.

As above, the "studies" suggest overall total sleep amount not very different, tho' can get longer night interval with ff. Anecdotally, I had 2 small, entirely bf children (DS1 was 6lb, 2nd centile, DD2 6lb 10, 9th centile). DS1 went through 10pm till 5am from 11 weeks, DD2 9pm till 5am from 5 weeks. Both have (touch wood) remained good sleepers. Tho' have never cured DS1's early waking.....
I suspect it's more to do with the child than the mode of feeding!

Anecdotally, I have 2(smallish) girls...

DD1: 7lbs at birth, never took more than 1 feed between 10 and 7, slept 10-7 (minimum - sometimes until 9!) at 7 weeks, never regressed.

DD2: 8lbs at birth, fed like an utter monster, didn't sleep through at all until 6 months, then took to waking at 4. I went cold turkey with her on one occasion (7 months) and she has slept through since (she's 18 months).

Both of my (breastfed) children slept much better than my brother's FF children, who did not sleep through until they were one. My two both fed every 2 hours in the day so were tanked up - his kids are fed every 4 hours so presumably might have been eating less. It's not just a question of food though, I reckon it's a question of how speedy the mum is at reacting to every whimper. I am a lazy swine with a fondness for earplugs...

I don't know about studies but I would agree with thisisyesterday - FF doesn't necessarily mean more sleep...

I'd have to say I don't necessarily agree with the weight thing though, I had one 75%ile baby and one 25%ile one, both boys, both BF, and they both slept through the night at pretty much the same age!

I think it really does depend on an individual baby, and also on your definition of 'good sleeper' and 'sleeping through' .

I'd say both my babies were 'good sleepers' because they slept 7pm-7am with an 11pm dreamfeed from 9 weeks old, then dropped the dreamfeed at about 6 months and did the 12 hour stint. I can't imagine needing to feed a baby in the night after the first couple of months, because I've never had to do it. But a friend of mine considers her 6 month old to be a 'briliant sleeper' because she now only has to feed him every three hours during the night now, rather than the hourly feeds he had for the first five months of his life. So her definition of a 'brilliant' would be a horrendous night for me! But it's just different babies, different experiences.

I think it depends on more variables than just the way they are fed, tbh - i.e. where they sleep, whether they can self-settle, whether they have a dummy, , what kind of personality (i.e. quite mellow or prone to getting overtired) they have...I think these kind of things have far more of an effect on how 'good' a sleeper a child is likely to be than the BF v FF thing.

In the early months, yes, there was a marked difference.

Anecdotally, the babies I know who were ff slept through at a young age- 9 weeks ish. Their mums often started ff as they were so sleep deprived, and I heard the phrase 'she's like a different baby' more than once, to describe the change in the way they slept.

The babies I know who didn't sleep through til later were indeed ebf. I had one of these. It was quite disheartening at the time! But eventually I weaned dd off night feeds at 7mo and she has slept through (on and off) since.

I can only think that breastfeeding fills them up less so they wake through genuine hunger. Though am no expert!

Fwiw, by one year nearly every baby I know was sleeping through fairly consistently, and if they don't it's not to do with feeding but to do with their temperament and/or sleep habits (eg they can't self settle).

And also fwiw, ALL the babies I know were hit by sleep regressions regardless of whether they were ff or ebf, especially around 9 months.

I think the hunger issue probably only comes into it for the first few months. After that it's about whether they are able to self settle- and I suppose if you are using breast OR bottle as a way to get your baby to sleep/back to sleep, they will continue to wake.

Oh and by the way, for my lo, 'sleeping through' is 7pm til 5.30am-6.30am. Not what some would class as a 'good sleeper', but we'll take it, thanks very much. I know very few, if any, 7-7 merchants!

If I had the time I would collect all these anecdotes, call them data, and do a proper analysis. But as I have twins, one of whom goes 3-4 hours at best (my good sleeper) and the other of whom goes 1-2 hours (my less good sleeper) I won't . maybe it's the parent? my ds1 didn't sleep for more than 40 minutes till 10mo. all ebf. I do sometimes wonder whether in a parallel universe they would be good sleepers...

Wow,well I think breastfeeding twins at all is pretty amazing!
Of course there are things the parent can do to help instill good habits but from the replies you've had it does seem like luck.

My FF DD is 6.5 mo and until recently has slept 7pm until 11pm (meant to be a dream feed, but often would wake up), then until anything between 2am and 5am, then again until 7am. Over the past few nights she has sometimes, but not always dropped the middle of the night feed. I known EBF babies to sleep 7 till 7 from much earlier than this. But DD might be being woken by my snoring.