I am exclusively breast feeding Sam and really enjoying it so no plans to stop, but in my dark moments in the middle of the night (usually when DH is snoring away happily next to me :x ) I do wonder whether formula would be better to help him sleep through the night sooner rather than later.

For those of you that are breast feeding only and have older babies, what is their sleep like now? I don't really mind Sam waking up once or twice and I want to do what's best for him, but just interested to know what might happen in the months to come!

Coco and Sam - 6 weeks and 1 day xx

I bf my son for a year and it took until I stopped for him to sleep through the night!!! I think he was just relying on it as a comfort thing. Good luck xxxxx

Barney didn't sleep through from 7.30 till 7.30 till he was about 9 months, but in his case I am fairly sure it was because he is a fat greedy pig :lol: He did sleep in at least 6 hour stretches from birth, and by about 10 weeks was only having one night feed which started off at about 2.30am and gradually got later and later untill he dropped it. I think the important thing is to try and make sure they aren't feeding to sleep every time as this can mean that they get into the habit of sucking to get to sleep so they can't settle themselves without a feed. I didn't find the actual feeding that tiring, it was the resettling afterwards that was the problem, Barney settled himself but with my first I used to pass her over to her dad once she was fed and let him have a go settling her while I went back to bed.
xx

just to say formula doesnt always make lo sleep thru.

my twins slept through quite early and were bfed, but ds3 was up all the time, in the end i gave him formula and he still woke hungry. he is now 13 months and despite following all hv advice he still wakes once starving hungry. my lo is under 50th percentile in weigh (90th height) and paediatrian thinks his metabolism very high and he just needs to feed regularly.

xxDBx

Mine started sleeping 10.30-8ish at 10 weeks - but didn't sleep 8-8 without a feed consistently til about 6 months. I counted 10.30-8 as sleeping through as it allowed me to get a full nights sleep! I kept up feeding him before I went to bed, as if I didn't he'd still sleep through but be starving and want feeding 2-hourly the next day!

It did go a bit wrong when he got ready for weaning though!

Ava started sleeping through at 6 weeks while breastfeeding! She is waking now though as we are starting the weaning/teething process!

OMG you are all so lucky! Holly is 20 months and STILL doesnt always sleep through the night! She doesn't get for a feed she just wakes up and thinks its play time.

Every baby is different!! IMO ff doesnt equal a good nights sleep!! I know some FF babies that dont sleep through. My lo is 8.5 months old and was ex bf for the first 5.5 mnts and he has slept through from about 6mnts old. You will get used to the night waking, in fact Im more tired now without the night wakes than I was when he was waking 2 times a night! He will prob still wake during the night until he has being weaned onto 3 meals a day. It is hard buit I kept reminding myself that he is waking cause the milk is so easily digested and so he needs food more often. Do you have a bedtime routine? I would def suggest it even at such a young age cause it will help him understand its night time in the future.

Good luck and Well done !!!

Emma

Lucas was bf and slept thru from 6 weeks! I don't think sleeping thru has anything to do with bf or ff, just think its to do with the individual baby.

7 months in and still waiting here!

My ds1 was bf for 8 months and didnt sleep thro until about a month after that but that only lasted a few weeks, he is now 22months and wakes up nearly every night....

This time Carter now 16weeks, has slept through the night quite a few times on average 2-3 times a week the first time he slept through he was about 6 or 7 weeks, When he does wake normally around 4ish i put him in bed with me n feed him pretty much till the morning as he wont settle after he has woken...

I do give him a ff before bed and i will say that he does sleep better with it but he is not consistently sleeping thro... like others have said evry baby is different, maybe just buy a carton of ready made formula and give it a try for a couple of nights and see what happens xxx

my LO is 4 n half months old and im BF he goes 2 sleep bout 8-9 n wakes bout 4ish 4 a feed... We have had a few nites were hes slept threw... Onli problem im havin is trying get him on a bottle he refuses 2 take 1 x

Lily woke anywhere between 3 and 5 times a night from birth. I had hopes at 4 and 5 months when she was on one and then two meals a day she'd go longer, but no. Then at 6 months once she was on 3 proper meals a day with protein etc it was like someone had flicked a switch - she's now getting on for 11 months and has reliably done 11-12hrs/night since then (except when ill).

There was a brief period where I considered giving her formula before bed, but I'm glad I didn't because as I later found out it sometimes made her a little bit sicky, unlike bm (NOT saying you shouldn't, though, just saying that that's why this time round I'll be sticking to bm for as long as poss).

My lo is 7 months and slept through for the first time this week!! Whoo Hooo!!

I used to always 'blame' the bfing but i dont think he would have slept much better on formula as he's never slept well during the day either.

Last night he had one feed at 5am-that's good enough for me!xx

Thanks ladies. Very interesting as always!

I am going to stick to just breast feeding for the foreseeable future. As I said, I'm really enjoying it and Sam is thriving (in fact, thriving a little too much - gone from 50th to 75th to 91st centile ). On average he wakes up twice in the night and even when it's more he's easy to settle and I have plenty of energy in the day so I'm desperate for him to sleep through.

My reasons for starting formula would be selfish - not what's best for Sam at the moment.

Thanks again for your opinions xxx