For Breastfeeding only moms

lfrackie · January 2011

Honestly......how long does your baby sleep? I have friends with babies around the same age as mine that use formula and their babies sleep for long periods at a time. My, almost 5 month old does not sleep for more than 2 hrs at a time!

amahrey · January 2011

at 5 months i think ds would sleep about 2-4 hours. he was never a great sleeper though. that won't influence in any way my decision to nurse lo #2 though. sleeping wasn't really a factor when i was deciding how to feed him.

my brother's wife only nurses their 5 month old and he sleeps through the nights most nights. i think each kiddo is just different.

Jeffsgurl86 · January 2011

Mine were both different. I BF'd exclusively and both my boys had different sleep habits. Breastmilk is easier to digest than formula, so they will need feedings more often. However, by 5 months I was getting a four/five hour stretch from them at night. Good luck and enjoy it while it lasts. :-) They grow up WAY too fast!

citychicks · January 2011

Formula doesn't make it better. I think every BF mom gets told that formula babies sleep longer and most of us at some point crack and give them a bottle to try it (I did with both of my kids) but it only worked for DD for one night and didn't make any difference for DS. I'm sure that once this LO is around 5-6months I'll probably crack and try it again. All babies are so different, it's not the formula that is making them sleep better, it's metabolism, sleep paterns, habbit, personality etc. Good luck, hang in there, they all sleep eventually, but most kids don't sleep through the night on a regular basis until 18mths-2years.

mollymurphy · January 2011

We EBF-ed and DS was sleeping about 8-9 hours at a stretch by then, so hang in there: every baby is different.

MiraclePending · January 2011

I exclusively breastfed until 6 months and my daughter was sleeping through the night by about 4 months old. I think eating a sufficient amount of protein helps a lot. Your milk will be more filling. It's suggested to eat between 65-70 grams a day.

BetchySprout · January 2011

Learn how to dreamfeed, it will change everything.

Kellymom.com

chloephoebecali · January 2011

DD gave us 6 hours at 2 months so we moved her to her crib. It got better from there except the 4 month wakeful period.

erbear · January 2011

Kate didn't go much more than 3-4 hours at 5 months (EBF). She started longer stretches between feedings maybe around 6 months?

fluffybuns · January 2011

Pattypoundcake:
Learn how to dreamfeed, it will change everything.

Kellymom.com

I completely agree with this! DD slept in our room, and a lot of times in bed with us. Dream feeding made it so that we didn't have any actual awake time in the middle of the night and helped dd get her days and nights in order quickly!

crabbypatty426 · January 2011

My breastfed baby slept through the night at 4 months. My sister's formula fed (from birth) baby still doesn't sleep through the night at 12 months. Some babies sleep better than others. I never really thought it had anything to do with what they ate.

Kitten80 · January 2011

Mine only slept 2 hours at a time at that age! From all I read and pedi info, it is natural for BF only babies to wake sooner and to weigh less than FF babies.

BarefootContess · January 2011

I think it has more to do with the baby than BF or FF. I have EBF my three boys and each had a different sleep pattern. My first started going to be at 5pm and sleeping until 5am when he was 4 months old.

Mrs.Leah.Maria · January 2011

DS was a relatively great sleeper and certainly slept for longer than 2 hours.

PinkBackPack · January 2011

DD would only wake up once during the night to feed once she reached 6 weeks.

MidwestTexan · January 2011

DS was EBF (literally, in every sense, because he would never take a bottle - even with breastmilk). We started rice cereal at 4 months and it did wonders for his sleep habits. (He had been waking up 2-4+ times a night to nurse.) We also did Ferber around that same time frame because we had to break DS of his swaddle (he was over 19 lbs at 4 months). After that, he nursed once a night and then dropped that one feeding around 5-6 months. I think my son was waking more out of habit than hunger.

rssnlvr · January 2011

I exclusively breast fed and my daughter started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old (9:30 p.m. - 5:30 a.m.).

Studies have shown that formula really has no effect on how long babies sleep. It all depends on the child.

abergale · January 2011

I EBF and my DD would go to bed at 8 ish, have an 11:00 feeding and then not wake up again until 6am. She started this at just about 5 months. Before that we had to feed her every 3 hrs as ordered by the Dr.

ak1234 · January 2011

It depends on the kid...at 3 months, my DS started sleeping from 6:30 to 3, and then to 6 again on BM. Once he was switched to formula, that didn't change.

llcoolay · January 2011

I'm not really sure your reason for asking this and I hope its not becuse you want to stop nursing so your baby will sleep longer?

My little one would wake up quite often to nurse but I NEVER, not even for a moment thought about stoping so that he and I would sleep longer. In my personal opinion the benifets are far to great to consider not nursing so that I could get some sleep. I nursed him for a year and once he was down to only nursing a few time a day. (after they start baby food they dont nurse as often) he would wake up fewer times.

Good luck and remember its only temporary.

Nadiaz · January 2011

mollymurphy:
We EBF-ed and DS was sleeping about 8-9 hours at a stretch by then, so hang in there: every baby is different.

This! You can do it!

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