Do breastfed babies sleep worse than formula fed babies?

[Calphurnia88]

I've heard this a few times now and interested to hear people's experiences (and if your EBF is a good sleeper whether they take a dummy).

Me: I have a 7mo who is EBF, has woken up two-hourly most nights since 4mo and won't take a dummy. Feed or motion to sleep.

DD was formula fed, and has only just started sleeping through at 2. Always slept awfully. Friends breast fed baby slept fine, another friend FF and her baby slept well also. I'm not convinced it makes a difference.

3 EBF babies. DD1 was sleeping 6 hours from 5 weeks. The two subsequent did similar from 7 weeks. By 11 weeks they all did 10 hours. Never used a dummy.

Not for me. DD was breastfed and was (still is) a wonderful sleeper! I did used to do her a dreamfeed at 10/11 to top her up. It worked really well and she would often sleep to 6 after that from about 2 months old. (She fed loads in the day though!)

I guess there must be more to it than EBF or FF from reading these responses.
My son was FF, he often slept 6+ hours from birth. He was sleeping right through (10pm to 8am) by 11 weeks. He was in his own cot bed by 7 weeks (was in Moses basket in our room until then).
I've got to say though, he was never a particularly hungry baby. He didn't guzzle his feeds and has consistently been in a low centile for weight. So, I've always thought that played a factor. He's now 3
and still had a low appetite and is an amazing sleeper (7.30pm to 8am)

This is exactly my experience. I couldn't tell you how many times DD2 woke last night. She stirs, she latches on with a little help from me and that's it. My watch tells me I am getting good sleep and I feel fine in the mornings. Last night I got 8.5 hours apparently! Whereas with DD1 I could tell you exactly how many times she woke up, what time, etc. I even watched TV sometimes during night feeds!

I guess according to research there’s no difference but among my circle the children with very poor sleep past the age of 1 are breastfed. Not much different in the early days but lots more frequent waking as they get older by comparison.

I'm doing this these days.. How did this come to an end for you (assuming your child is now not doing this as you spoke in past tense!)

1. yes my ebf baby slept worse than my ff baby, though neither even occasionally started showing through until toddler hood. Ff baby would do 1-3 wakes at a year, ebf baby upto a dozen.

2. I also got a lot more sleep with ff baby as I only did half the nights. 50% of nights I had an unbroken 7hours or whatever. Bliss.

I have 6 DC and for 4 of them they were EBF. For my younger two they were FF from birth. I found with my FF babies I knew what quantity they had drank. I would tickle toes to keep them alert to drink the bottle other than have to feed again an hour later. ( was told this by midwife ). With my EBF. i never knew how much they had had so would find myself constantly feeding day and night. So yes my FF DC did sleep better at night as I made sure their tummies were full and if they did wake would cuddle and put back to sleep ( when they were slightly older babies ) as I knew they wanted a cuddle and not a feed.

My FF baby woke every 40mins for the first 12months. Slowly improved from there.
my EBF baby slept wonderfully until 12weeks then just stopped. We coslept for ease and more sleep and he slept through from about 2 1/2yrs. I found both pretty shit.

Ha! Every child I know who's been a bad sleeper has been formula fed - it's a total myth touted by formula companies 🤣

Both of mine were very good sleepers, one bottle fed & one breast fed. They both had dummies. I think eldest dd (bottle fed) slept slightly better but there wasn't much in it. The one thing I did consistently with both was put them down to sleep when they were awake, even if that meant rousing them slightly.

I have one formula fed & one EBF. Both slept through the night from 9-10 weeks (10pm-7am) DD is 20 weeks now & wakes the very odd night for a feed but I can live with that!

I have 3 dc. All EBF until over a year.

dc1 - fed on the dot every 3 hours. At 5 weeks he dropped his 4 am feed. By 7 weeks he slept 7-10 in the evening, then fed, then slept until 7 am.

dc2 - woke every hour through the night to feed until 6 months. Then in depseration I refused to feed her at 2 am and she fell asleep cross and exhausted and slept til morning and then night on 2 slept 10 pm - 7 am, and continued to be a good sleeper ever since.

dc 3 - fed every 3 hours, took a lot longer to drop the 4 am feed, but even after she stopped feeding at night she would occasioanlly wake in the night until she was 4 or 5 years old.

So, no, I don't think they are worse sleepers.
But I didn't feed mine off to sleep. This was accidental to start with as dc1 would not feed at all if his tummy was full. I then followed th esame pattern with dc 2 and 3.

Not my experience. Both DC EBF, both good sleepers. DC2 slept stretches of 4-6 hours from birth, slept through night (10-11hours from around 7-8 months. Was EBF until 11 months, but has a dummy.

DS was FF and slept through since birth but I could've just been really lucky!

Due twins soon so I'll let you know if they sleep through 🤞🏼 🤣.

My sisters DC have been EBF and are not good sleepers at all. My other sister tried to BF but it didn't work out to well so went to FF and my DN slept better.

Not sure if it makes them more full but I'd assume babies who have colic etc wouldn't sleep through regardless.

Dc2 was breastfed and my best sleeper. Self settled at night & did a good 6 hour stint from 8 weeks. Dc1 was a mix, expressed & formula, awful sleeper until 3, CMPA & reflux though. Dc3 expressed breast milk, formula mix until 6 months awful sleeper until 2. Dc4 formula fed from birth and didn’t sleep or settle well until 18 months. Luck of the draw I think.

DC1 was EBF and a bad sleeper, waking 1-2 hourly until I night weaned gently over a few weeks at about 10 months then was brilliant ever since.

DC2 EBF was a brilliant sleeper almost straight away doing 7+ stretches from about 8 weeks. Better feeder though, much less time latched on. Unfortunately somewhere between 4-5 months it all went wrong and I'm really hoping the early brilliance will return!!

I have three DC, all breast fed. DC2 was the best sleeper by miles, going 12 hours at a stretch when she was 12 weeks old. DC3 was the worst sleeper, and I did switch to formula at 8 months to try and improve his sleep. It didn't work!

In my experience it definitely does make a difference.
Ds1 was exclusively BF and I was up all through the night feeding him.

Ds2 we had a bottle of formula before bed from the get go as well as BF the rest of the time. He is a much better sleeper and always Wakes up happy. However for the last month DH has really let the formula bottle slip and I've been doing more feeds I'm the night and actually just tonight it clicked in my head why.
I think DS is going to refuse the formula now he's been having only breastmilk for a month. Don't know why I haven't realised sooner!

I’d highly recommend this very accessible lecture on baby sleep as my answer. Essentially there’s no discernible difference factually, but there are some perceptual differences that make mothers think breastfed babies are waking more.

I had 2 EBF babies. Both boys. Both similar birth weights. DS1 slept through from 9 to 6 from 8 weeks old and from the first night fed and went straight back to sleep. DS2 on the other hand woke every 3 hours through the night and wouldn't settle after feeds. Ended up cosleeping and he'd help himself. Went cold turkey on night feeds at 15months as he was a really good eater and rather rotund. Didn't sleep through the night until he was 3. Now sleeps really well.
However DS1 has started waking in the night and regularly comes into our bed..I really think it depends on the child not the way of feeding.

@Calphurnia88 you have to remember that breastfed babies feed and stop when they've had enough, formula fed babies are fed by the bottle size depending on their age. I read for a hreastfed newborn they take around 10mls of breast milk as newborn baby stomachs are about the size of a pebble, whiles ff babies will be fed around 20ml. Also breast milk is easily broken down while formula takes ages to break down due to complex dairy protein. So this means bf babies wake when they're hungry which could be between 2-4 hours within the first 6-12months. So bf babies may wake more and ff may sleep more but maybe sometimes that's the way they would have turned out regardless of how they were fed.

In my experience no. Mine have slept through from 6 weeks although I introduced a dream feed at midnight ish to ensure milk supply didn't drop whilst they were still that young.

No dummies but I did/do ensure they're well fed before nighttime.

I do have a good supply and fast let down which I imagine helps a lot.

EBF no dummies and co-sleeping - didn’t notice any sleep “regressions” at all (ok might be the co-sleeping!), then after the first couple of months i got plenty of sleep once she stopped pooing at night, I’d side feed if she stirred, never had to get out of bed, could doze while she fed.
shes 2 now and like myself likes to stay up fairly late (8-9pm bed) she will enjoy a lie in at the weekend until 8am 😂