Breastfeeding and sleep?

Question

My daughter is about five months old. She seems to wake and eat frequently at night. My husband says that I shoudl stop breastfeeding and start giving her formula so she will start to sleep through the night. He thinks this will help because our son who was formula fed slept through the nigh by three months. I was wondering if me breastfeeding was really keepingher from getting more hours at a time or if we just have different babies. I understand that my babies are different but is it her personality or the milk that causes her to hae so many night feedings? Thank you!

Answer 1

Honey, I am so shocked at your question! So many mothers breastfeed just so that they can sleep all night! It is the reason that so many women prefer breastfeeding because you do not have to get up at night! Why does it keep you awake when your baby wants to eat? Just keep her in bed with you and let her nurse as she wants to and both of you will sleep all night. I am confused.
If you give her formula (YUCK) then you will have to get up and make a bottle and mix and sterilize and heat it up and make sure it is the right temperature....well, you know the deal. If you bottle fed your first baby you know how much work it is! Why would you want to do that when you don't have to? I had to bottle feed my 5th baby as she was adopted and I could not relactate for health reasons, so I know the difference too. Bottle feeding is labor intensive! I hated it and I felt so sorry for my poor little baby to be subjected to it!
You have done such a fantastic job so far by breastfeeding your little girl. Why would you want to ruin it now? Intorducing formula to her would be such an awful thing to do. All she has known is your milk and her digestive system would not be at all prepared for trying to deal with formula. It would really be an unkind thing to do to her.
I am not surprised that your husband is the one that suggested it. Men just don't "get it" sometimes when it comes to breastfeeding. It is a great deal more than simply a way to get nutrition to your baby, it is how we love and nurture our babies. I know that you and and your baby would miss the closeness and the bond that breastfeeding creates.
There is NO guarantee that your baby would sleep all night just because you put her on formula. Then you would have given up the precious time of breastfeeding for nothing. You would have a baby trying to deal with digesting formula and she might still be waking up at night! Then you will be up fixing bottles!
No, it is an awful idea! Instead keep her bassinet by your bed and just reach over and get her when she wakes up. Snuggle down and nurse her. If you both fall asleep, fine. If not you can always put her back in her bassinet if for some reason you do not want her in your bed. I breastfed all four of my babies and they slept curled up next to me. I could never tell anyone how many times they nursed at night because I honestly did not know. I changed sides occassionally but other than that, we slept. From day one neither one of us had to wake up for a feeding. Breastfeeding is a guarantee of a good nights sleep. I never slept better than when one of my babies was snuggled down next to me.
BTW, just for those few that worry, the odds of SIDS are lower for babies who sleep with their mommy's than they are for babies who sleep alone. Just for the record.
I hope you do not abandon something as important as breastfeeding in the hope that you baby will sleep longer. It would be a very sad decision to make. Your daughter will be a baby for such a short time and her time spent nursing will be gone before you know it. It will soon be a memory that is gone forever. Cherish this time with her and don't do anything to cut it short. The health and the emotional benefits far outweigh the benefits of extended sleep. In fact I don't think that there is any proof that sleeping all night ever did anything positive for a baby. Breastmilk on the other hand raises a childs IQ and protects them from a long list of potentially fatal diseases. There is no contest.
Good luck and I sincerely hope that you will not give up on nursing your baby.
Love and Blessings
Lady Trinity~

Answer 2

You have heard the best and worst advice already. Breast is best. All I have to add is the reason behind what's happening. Breastmilk is more easily digested. Babies seem to feel hungrier more often because their bodies have been able to digest and use the nutrition in the breastmilk. Formula fed babies have to wait to get needed nutrition until their bodies can deal with and expel the nasty fillers etc in the formula. They "feel fuller" because their bellies are filled with a lot of stuff that isn't food and isn't readily digested. Giving your daughter formula may make her feel fuller but you will be sacrificing good food for junk. She is going through a growth spurt and will start sleeping through the night pretty soon. Try going to bed a little earlier yourself and see if you can get a little more sleep. Babies are just different, some use more energy at night than others. I have two breastfed sons, one didn't sleep through the night until he was 9 months old, the other was sleeping through the night at 4 months old. Guess which one moves so much that his sheets are all torn off by morning...babies just are the way they are. Best wishes, and keep breastfeeding, it will make you healthier and your baby healthier forever.

Answer 3

My son is 4 months old. He was waking up every 2 hours like clock work to eat. He just starting sleeping a five hour stretch (from 3a-8a). He'll get up and eat then go back down. It was really hard at first. It still is sometimes. Breast milk is easily broken down and is usually digested quickly (around 2 hrs) which is why they eat so often. Some breast fed children go a lil longer thru the night. Some still wake frequently. This can change with growth spurts, teething, etc.

I've had LOTS of mothers recommend pumping and adding cereal to a bottle before bed to help them sleep. It is suggested to wait til they are 6 months before introducing solids (their digestive systems are still developing and waiting to introduce can reduce the chances of allergies). I am going to wait the two months.

Mothers I've spoken to who formula feed...their kids seem to sleep longer but you've been going 5 months I would try to stick it out until you start introducing solids (that is if you choose to do it at six months...some do it later).

Answer 4

My son is 4.5 months old and wakes up about three times to feed but sometimes just twice. I don't think it's the breastfeeding that keeps you awake it might be you. She might not be hungry when you feed her but a baby will always take the breast. If this is the case then my advice would be to try and wait a few minutes before you try to feed her, babies wake up at night and need to learn how to soothe themselves. I know it's hard to do this as sometimes I breastfeed half asleep. but I notice that if I give my son a few minutes he falls right back to sleep. Sometimes he sleeps about a full six hours before he feeds and his doctor told me that was great and to expect more sleep as I start solids, which he has been on for a week but I haven't noticed a difference yet. Good Luck!

Answer 5

Breast fed babies do seem to require more frequent feedings. (I breast fed all of my children.) My doctor told me that breast milk is more readily digested and, while the nutrients are exceptional, it doesn't have a lot of "sticking power" for the baby. With my first child, I just put up with the nightly feedings for the duration of the time I was breastfeeding. When the second and third came along, I started feeding them cereal before the last feeding before bedtime when they were around 3 or 4 months old. I didn't feed them a lot of cereal and I made it so that is wasn't very thick at all....more like a "soup" than cereal, but it really worked. The cereal put enough on their stomachs so that they slept all night long. I would suggest asking your pediatrician if this would be acceptable, or see if he/she has any other suggestions. Of course, like you said, each child IS different and she may just be one of those children who takes a while to sleep all night.

Good luck to you....and to her. I hope nights of peaceful slumber are in the immediate future for you both!!!!

Answer 6

Different babies sleep differently and have different nighttime needs. Your second baby could just be needy at night (like my first). It's possible that your first baby was just happy to sleep all night.

Some parents do exactly what you said. They give baby one bottle at night to make the baby sleep longer. I wouldn't, but some women don't have a problem with supply on that schedule.

Formula does make babies sleep longer because their bodies have to work much harder to process formula. There is a bunch of stuff in it that is really hard to filter out, so baby sleeps longer while her body works overtime. I say this because it sounds like you might be concerned that breastfeeding is robbing your baby of sleep. It's not; the sleep she gets is more restful.

It's not typical for babies to sleep all night that early, and it's just unusual for babies to sleep all night at three months (and maintain that pattern).

The best solution for me was to put my daughter down in the crib, then bring her into bed with me when she first woke up. When you sleep with your baby, you sleep right through the feedings, and you even offer the other breast in your sleep.

Answer 7

Breast milk digests a lot quicker than formula, that's why your daughter wakes so often to nurse and your son slept through the night sooner. If your baby is already 5 months old it shouldn't be too much longer before she sleeps through the night. I personally wouldn't give her formula just to make her sleep longer...breast milk is soooo much better!!

Answer 8

I think it's probably just because your baby is getting some bonding time in with her mommy. Not necessarily that your breast milk is making her wake up, but just the fact that her waking up is giving her mommy time. You could definitely try bottle feeding, but if you're not ready to give up breast feeding and/or if her waking up through the night isn't a huge problem, then don't switch yet.
It could definitely also be the difference between boy and girl, or just that they have different personalities.
hope this helps...good luck! :o)

Answer 9

My breast, then bottle fed child (could not let down for a pump after returning to work) didn't sleep through the night until 13 months... he started on formula around 4 months.

Answer 10

Honestly giving her formula is not going to make her sleep more at night. I breastfed both of my babies.. my son didn't sleep through the night at all and would wake up frequently to feed. My daughter, who is only 6 weeks old is sleeping through the night since the next day I brought her home. Don't ask me how or why, but she just is. And even though our pediatrician said to wake her to feed her... I am not going to set a pattern for her to wake up and eat and get her used to waking up throughout the night. My other pediatrician agrees with me that this will only set a pattern. So it just depends on your child's personality on whether they will sleep or not. Formula has nothing to do with it.. neither does adding rice cereal to your babies formula... that does not make your baby sleep through the night either. Those are all myths. So just take your husband with you to the docs next time and let the doc tell him this fact. Goodluck

Answer 11

#1. every baby is different. #2. breastmilk is best.

the reason your 5 month old daughter is nursing so much is that she is experiencing a growth spurt. also, breast milk is easier to digest, so it moves through the system faster, and her "hunger alerts" are more frequent. formula is much harder to digest, and sits in the stomach for a much longer period of time, hence why your son slept through the night. do not give up breastfeeding. there are several life-long benefits. your daughter will go through several growth spurts like this where you feels like she's just "attached" to you 24 hours a day. THIS IS NORMAL. Its also part of the bonding process. you will not regret continuing to breastfeed your daughter if you stick with it. I have four children and breast fed them all. there's ups and downs and it seems like a lot of frustration (especially when you've got things to do and you are "tied down") but it is worth every moment of it.