@nader1 I breastfed and my baby slept fine. She had a habit of waking up around 4:30 to 5 and we usually snuggled and co slept a few hours those early hours. I really didn’t want to do it but I got to the point that I needed to do it to keep sane because I was exhausted and even when I was awake I was so tired I felt like I was going to drop her.
I don’t think I was comfortable up and down the stairs with her the first 4 months because I was so sleepy. Realistically speaking she started giving me 6+ stretches after the 4 month mark.
I strongly recommend the side lying nursing position. It saved me and our breastfeeding journey. I was ready to throw in the towel every week for breastfeeding and somehow we made it to 9 months.
@nader1 The only correlation between feeding method and sleep I see is that with breastfed sometimes a baby feeds more often due to how much the mother produces at a time. With formula there is control over how much is fed and when. Maybe a formula fed child gets most of their required food during the day which means less night time wake ups vs a breastfed baby who gets their required food consistently say every 2-3 hours around the clock. This doesn't include pumped milk of course as that would go along the lines of formula feeding and that level of control.
@nader1 Anecdotally my baby started sleeping through the night at 2 months, then had her 4 month sleep regression, we sleep trained at 5.5 months and has slept through the night again ever since! She is 13 months old and was exclusively breastfed (plus food) until she was 12 months old. We also never co-slept. It is possible!
@becca17 Taking Cara Babies! I don't agree with her personal beliefs but a friend shared her sleep training guide and it worked like a dream! Her Instagram has some great advice that has worked super well for my daughter as well.
@oxfordmoveman Thanks! We’re a Moms on Call family, but I want something gentler for sleep training. I can’t just close the door and get her in the morning… Now it’s up to me to convince my husband that we need to use something other than MOC.
@nader1 Anecdotal but for the first month or so of my baby’s life I would sometimes “give in” and give her formula before bed because the witching hour/cluster feeding would drive me crazy and make me doubt myself. Even with giving her formula before bed she would still be upset and not sleep and still want to comfort nurse and stuff and didn’t sleep any differently throughout the night compared to nights I didn’t do it. It literally changed nothing and was pointless in our case
@nader1 I know you are uncomfortable co sleeping and that is absolutely your choice. But you mentioned guilt around it too which maybe this article will help you with. Safe co sleeping is very common in a lot of countries
@nader1 My EBF baby starting sleeping through the night a 5 months. My SIL’s EFF baby is still waking up several times each night at 11 months. We stopped nursing to sleep around 4 months, and it made a huge difference for us. It might be that parents that EBF are more likely to nurse to sleep, which could stop babies from falling back to sleep on their own.
@nader1 I found that the biggest factor with both my kids was room sharing. My oldest was combo fed from day one, and EFF from around 4 months old. We moved her from our room to her own around 2 or 3 weeks old, and she went from waking hourly to one or two wake ups a night. She slept through the night reliably starting around 7 months old. My youngest was EBF until 4 months, combo fed until 6 months, and has been EFF since. He only started reliably sleeping through the night this last week at 11 months, and we are still room sharing as we don’t want to move him into his sister’s room until he’s more reliable on the sleep front.
I fought not to move our oldest out of our room because I was worried about SIDS, but ultimately I had to weigh the benefit of room sharing against the harm that sleep deprivation was having on me, my partner, and my daughter. It did us a world of good and I was able to be a better caregiver with more sleep.
@angie4777 This was also the case for us. We made a risk mitigation decision that our poor sleep wasn’t safe and that roomsharing was a less risky variable to change than bedsharing. Both my kids almost instantly slept better when we weren’t in the same room. We did keep ABC sleep while not roomsharing.
@angie4777 Hard agree! My youngest is EBF and the he started consistently sleeping through the night from the night we moved him out of our bedroom at 5,5 months. We recently visited family where we shared a room with both kids. And that's the first time he's gotten up to nurse at night in months.
@michou89 We’re doing a test run this weekend of the baby in his sister’s room, he’s been sleeping better so we hope that’s the final step to take to get him sleeping later in the morning. He’ll still be sharing, but there’s a big difference between a sibling who goes to bed at the same time as him and his parents. I’m
@nader1 Only another anecdote to add but my son was exclusively fed pumped breast milk until about 8 months old, then went over to exclusively formula.
He was sleeping through the night before the switch, noticed zero change whatsoever in his sleep since. He's a year old now and sleeps through the night from 8 PMish to 7 AMish every night.
I'm sorry to hear you're struggling, I wouldn't hold out hope that feeding formula is going to fix this sadly.
@nader1 Anecdotally I have 2 unicorn sleepers who have slept through the night since 6 weeks - one was formula fed from 2 weeks onward and the other has been exclusively fed expressed breast milk. I think it has a lot to do with temperament.
I will say though, I was worried that my exclusively breastmilk fed baby wouldn’t sleep like her sister did (I attributed a lot of it to the formula) but she surprised me very much.
@nader1 Breastfeeding protecting against SIDS may be more about the mother baby dyad. When mothers breastfeed and keep baby close, they are possibly more attuned to them. Baby is probably more attuned to the mother too.
@nader1 Both of my kids were breastfed. The first exclusively until around 8/9mo then she got formula at daycare and breastfed at home. She was a shitty sleeper and didn’t STTN until 15mo. My second is 11mo, exclusively breastfed, has been unicorn sleeper since around 2 months old. Regularly sleeps 12-13hrs now. I don’t think it’s so much whether they get breast milk or formula as it is that they’re getting enough daytime calories. Plus I think personality, temperament, and sleep routines can make a difference. You’re still in the weeds mama. Hang in there. Even my shitty sleeper got a little better after 3/4 months old.
