The Secret to Breastfeeding and Baby Sleep

Overview

In today’s article we will be pulling back the curtain on breastfeeding and baby sleep.

You will learn:

Whether breastfeeding is compatible with your baby sleeping through the night and taking quality naps
Why formula-fed babies seem to sleep better
How to improve your breastfed baby’s sleep

Breastfeeding and Baby Sleep - Does it Work?

A month or so ago, I was speaking with a mom about her little nugget’s sleep. Her 5-month-old baby was happy and healthy, which is wonderful! But mom couldn’t figure out how to help her sleep without co-sleeping, which was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for mom.

Finally, she admitted, “It definitely makes me question if I’m doing something wrong … I’m like, is it my breastfeeding? Like, shall I formula feed this child and then maybe she’ll clock out for, like, the entire night?”

She was frustrated because her sister’s baby, who was similar in age, was sleeping independently through the night, and the only difference with her own baby that she could see was that her sister’s baby was formula-fed.

So was that it? Was formula feeding the answer?

I identified with this mom’s co-sleeping struggle. Although I don’t recommend co-sleeping due to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation for independent sleep only to maximize safe sleep for baby, when my babies were little, we co-slept because at the time, I didn’t know what else to do. I felt desperate to get some rest.

I didn’t like co-sleeping – I loved snuggling with my babies – but I didn't like co-sleeping because I wasn’t comfortable.

And it drove me nuts, because I was also very anxious about safe sleep and wanting to keep my babies safe, especially when I was sleeping and unable to check them periodically for movement and breathing.

I also breastfed my babies at that time. Our first I breastfed for 5 months, our second for 6 months, and our third for 18 months.

So was it the breastfeeding?

NO! 100% no.

Breastfeeding does not cause your baby to not sleep well.

Breastfeeding is 100% conducive to healthy, quality baby sleep. Breastfeeding and formula feeding both, in fact.

There is a very pervasive myth floating around that “you have to wean your baby from breastfeeding before you can help them learn independent sleep skills.”

And, rest assured, that myth is 100% wrong.

You can absolutely breastfeed and sleep train.

You can absolutely breastfeed and help your baby learn new sleep skills.

Breastfeeding, when you’re able and want to, is a beautiful, wonderful, healthful way to nourish your baby and build relationship with her.

(Don’t get me wrong, formula feeding can be, too, but this episode is focused on breastfeeding.)

All 3 of my babies were still breastfeeding when we successfully sleep trained.

Our first was sleep trained at 3 months, and continued to breastfeed for 2 more months. The only reason we needed to stop was because my supply dipped because I became pregnant with our second.

Our second child was sleep trained at 4 months, and continued to breastfeed for 2 months beyond that. Again, we only stopped because I was worried my supply was inefficient.

And our third child was sleep trained at 5 months, and I continued to breastfeed her until she was 18 months old.

Breastfeeding is 100% conducive to sleep training.

Why Formula-Fed Babies Seem to Sleep Better

So if breastfeeding and sleep training support one another, why do formula-fed babies seem to sleep so much better?

Is it the content of the formula? Does it fill their bellies more?

Well, if your baby is a snack and snoozer, and only receiving foremilk, her belly might not be getting full at each feed. So, in a sense, that could be true.

But it’s not really why formula-fed babies seem to sleep better.

Now, this is not scientifically proven, as far as I know.

I am all for research, so I readily admit that I haven’t seen any research – at this point - that attempts to answer this question of why formula-fed babies seem to sleep better than breastfed babies.

So what I’m about to tell you is my theory. I’ve based it on experience and logic. And I want you to tell me what you think.

My theory is two-part:

Why Formula-Fed Babies Seem to Sleep Better: Part 1

First, I believe that formula-fed babies seem to sleep better than breastfed babies because they are fed on a more regular, routine schedule. They are fed a known amount – meaning, you can see how much they’ve eaten by looking at the bottle, so, as long as they can see baby eating a typical amount and baby is gaining weight steadily, formula-feeding parents don’t typically worry that baby isn’t getting enough to eat. And they don’t worry that if they don’t feed baby enough, their supply will run out.

Whereas, breastfeeding moms do worry about these things. They can’t physically see how much milk baby is taking in. The only objective measure is a baby scale – where you weigh baby before and after the feed to determine approximately how many ounces baby consumed.

Many moms breastfeed baby on-demand in order to make sure baby is getting enough to eat and her supply remains adequate.

And let me be 100% clear here – breastfeeding on-demand is also absolutely conducive to sleep training.

Where we run into trouble in this instance is with snack-and-snoozers. This is when baby is not taking a full feed. Now, I’m not talking over-filling baby’s belly. His belly is super small in the very beginning. And even as he grows, we need to be aware of his belly’s capacity, which can be really tricky to gauge.

I’m talking about the baby who latches on, takes a few sucks, and falls asleep right away. Only to wake 15-30 minutes later, ravenous because that little snack wasn’t enough to keep his belly full.

And the babies I’m talking about, of course, are full-term, otherwise healthy babies. Not preemies, not babies with special feeding needs.

Run-of-the-mill snack-and-snoozing babies need to be helped to take full feeds – not overfull feeds – but full feeds so they can have nice full naps and nighttime sleep.

Now, this isn’t to say that formula-fed babies can’t be snack-and-snoozers, too. But I’ve seen it much more frequently with breastfed babies.

Why Formula-Fed Babies Seem to Sleep Better: Part 2

Secondly, it’s also – in my experience – much more common for breastfed babies to fall asleep while feeding.

Whether it’s the warmth of mom’s body, skin-to-skin contact, etc. Whatever it is, breastfed babies love to fall asleep while breastfeeding.

This is a beautiful thing. This can be a wonderful feeling.

The only time it becomes an issue is when it starts making baby wake up more frequently.

And it’s not the breastfeeding that makes the baby wake more frequently.

Let me say that again: It’s NOT the breastfeeding that makes the baby wake up more frequently.

It’s the feed-to-sleep association.

This happens most often starting around 3-4 months and up, when your baby begins to be more aware of his surroundings. This awareness is also there when he becomes drowsy and falls asleep.

And what happens is, whatever his environment is when he becomes drowsy and falls asleep, he begins to associate with falling asleep.

That means that when his sleep cycle ends, and he comes to the surface of sleep, his brain will check to make sure the environment is exactly the same as when he became drowsy and fell asleep. It’s a survival instinct, we adults do it, too.

And if his environment is different – for example, if you’ve stopped feeding, his brain wakes him up fully because it thinks it can’t get back to sleep until that environment in which he originally fell asleep is replaced.

And remember, feeding to sleep is not a bad thing.

It only becomes an issue if it begins to disturb his sleep, and his sleep is becoming too broken up or it becomes an issue for you having to repeatedly soothe him back to sleep over and over and over and you aren’t getting any sleep or it becomes overwhelming.

How to Improve Breastfed Baby’s Sleep

Now let’s talk about how to help your baby improve her sleep while still maintaining breastfeeding.

How to Improve Breastfed Baby’s Sleep: Full Feeds

The first trick to improving your baby’s sleep while maintaining a healthy breastfeeding relationship is to encourage full feeds.

This means that when you have a snack-and-snoozer, you use every trick you’ve learned to keep baby awake while feeding.

Undress her down to her diaper, tickle her toes, talk to her, pause often to burp, switch which side you’re feeding on, use a wet wipe or washcloth on her neck. Keep her awake.

And if your baby is taking very small feeds, it’s time to figure out why.

Is your baby still in the earliest weeks, his belly may still be really small and unable to take in larger feeds.

If your baby struggles to latch, it’s time to call the hospital where you gave birth or your midwife and ask for a recommendation for an IBCLC or CLC – that’s an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant or Certified Lactation Counselor.

And if your baby is spitting up a lot or seems adverse to feeding or having any other feeding difficulty, it’s time to call the pediatrician and ask for a referral to a feeding therapist.

Sometimes when babies aren’t getting full feeds, it’s relatively simple to fix. And other times, we need a specialist’s help to guide us.

How to Improve Breastfed Baby’s Sleep: Eat-Play-Sleep

Secondly, to improve baby’s sleep while breastfeeding, it’s time to implement an eat-play-sleep schedule. This helps to remove the feed-to-sleep association.

And, yes, this applies to both breastfeeding and bottle feeding.

If we give baby a full feed as soon as he wakes up – whether first thing in the morning or from a nap, then allow him to play and explore before it’s time to put him back down to sleep, it will remove that feed-to-sleep association.

Now, an issue I ran into with this when I was breastfeeding my babies was worrying about feeding-on-demand to maintain supply and make sure baby was getting enough to eat.

If this is your concern, too, then what you can do is change eat-play-sleep to eat-play-eat-play-sleep. Feed baby as soon as he wakes up, let him play, then give him a top-up feed. Then let him play a bit more, then put him down for a nap.

The key is to separate feeding from when he becomes drowsy and falls asleep – yes, even from him becoming drowsy.

Because once he hits that 3-4-month mark, drowsy is as good as falling asleep when it comes to sleep associations.

The same is true when he cluster-feeds. Feed him as often as he needs to be fed. Just make sure to keep him fully awake during the feeds and separate the feeds from when he becomes drowsy and falls asleep.

How to Improve Breastfed Baby’s Sleep: Replace Dreamfeeds

Third, let’s talk about dreamfeeds. Those feeds in the middle of the night where baby is still essentially asleep, you help her latch, and she feeds as she dozes.

In the earliest months, dreamfeeds can be a great strategy to extend those nighttime sleeps. Where it becomes an issue is if baby is associating feeding with falling asleep, causing her to wake frequently at night for feeds.

If this is the case, and baby is waking frequently for feeds at night and you’re still implementing dreamfeeds, it might be time to replace the dreamfeeds with awake feeds.

Wake baby up for the feed – I know this is hard. You don’t want baby to be awake in the middle of the night. But this is how we break the feed-to-sleep association.

Choose a time when you feel baby will need a feed, and wake her up at that time. Don’t go crazy, throwing on the lights and taking her into the living room, anything like that. Just wake her to the point where she won’t fall back asleep during the feed.

Give her a full feed, burp her well, and lay her back down in the crib in her sleep sack, awake.

This isn’t an instant fix. It takes time and consistency and strategy.

Try it, and if you need help, that’s what I’m here for. I offer 1:1 consulting and I can guide you step-by-step in helping your baby learn to fall back asleep independently. Click here to: schedule your free 15-minute Sleep Evaluation Call now.

How to Improve Breastfed Baby’s Sleep: Carefully Shift Night Feeds

Finally, let’s talk about what to do about nighttime feeds, how to know when baby is able to cut all night feeds, and what to do when he is ready.

As a rule of thumb, most otherwise healthy 6-month-old babies can shift nighttime feeds to daytime feeds.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule.

Some 6-month-olds may still need a night feed, but it is significantly less common at 6-months-and up.

Ask your pediatrician if your baby is ready before shifting all night feeds to daytime feeds, because the pediatrician will be able to look at certain indicators like baby’s size and weight, how well she’s following her curve, and more to help you determine if she’s ready for that step.

This is very important.

If baby is around 6 months old, even if she’s healthy, it’s worth asking, just for the peace of mind.

Now, if your baby is ready to cut night feeds, we aren’t just going to eliminate those feeds altogether.

We’re going to shift those feeds to the daytime. That way, baby still has the opportunity for the same amount of intake, just at a different time of day.

How you shift those feeds is very important as well.

We need to protect your supply. If you’re giving baby 5 full feeds in the night, and suddenly stop, your supply could be affected.

It might not, but it could.

What you want to do is carefully shift those feeds to daytime.

That means, pull one or two of the feeds, and offer more feeds during the daytime.

Sometimes when I work with a family, we shift feeds on a quicker schedule, but I’m in constant contact with mom to help her keep an eye on her supply.

Drink lots of water and offer lots of feeds during the day.

The first day or so, baby may still not eat much during the day, but she should start feeding more during the day very quickly – meaning, in those first couple of days.

If she doesn’t recoup her feeds in those first few days, then pause. Something might be up. Contact the pediatrician and ask for guidance.

Can you shift feeds from the night to daytime? Absolutely - if your baby is ready and you’re careful about it.