Are breastfeeding and sleep training mutually exclusive?
A very common question among breastfeeding Mums.
So here’s an interesting fact.
Ready for it?
Nobody sleeps through the night.
You might think you do, or that you did before you had kids. You might think your partner does, but I assure you, they don’t either.
Unless you’re heavily sedated or falling into bed after a truly heroic bender, you wake up at least a few times during the night, every night. You always have.
When we sleep, we go through what are called ‘sleep cycles‘.
These cycles go from light sleep to deep sleep and back again. Typically about four or five times a night. When we get to the end of a cycle and enter into that really light stage of sleep, we often wake up. People who think they sleep straight through the night typically don’t remember these little rousings. They experience them nonetheless.
Babies’ sleep cycles are shorter than adult ones.
They wake up more often in the night. Babies who are said to sleep through the night are still waking up. They are, however, managing to get themselves back to sleep on their own, without any help from Mum and Dad.
So when we talk about sleeping through the night, in terms of babies anyways, what we’re really saying is that they’re able to get to sleep on their own. Or as we call it in the baby sleep industry, they have ‘independent sleep skills’.
It doesn’t matter if baby’s breastfed, formula fed, or eating a burger twice a day.
They’re going to wake up at night, several times, for the rest of their lives, just like everyone else.
Now, as for the idea that breast milk digests faster than formula, that’s actually true. Not to the degree that a lot of people describe however.
Newborns can go about 2 1/2 – 3 hours between feeds if they’re breastfeeding.
If they’re eating formula, that number is closer to 4 hours. So it’s not like formula is some kind of magical elixir that’s going to keep your little one full for 10 or 11 hours. Their stomachs are small. They digest liquid food quickly. Whether it comes from a bottle or a boob.
What does that mean for parents of newborns in regards to their newborn babies sleeping 11 – 12 hours through the night?
Well, simply put, forget it. I mean, it happens, some babies are such sleep aficionados that they’ll go down for the night regardless of hunger. They’re few and far between, however.
Chances are, you’re going to have to get up at least once in the night to feed your little one until they’re about 6 months old.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you should put your baby’s sleep on a back burner until they hit 6 months of age. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Teaching your baby to fall asleep independently is something you can’t start too early.
If they’re under 6 months old, you might not get a full night’s sleep just yet. It doesn’t, however, hinge on whether they’re breastfed or formula fed. Both are going to have similar results when it comes to keeping baby feeling full.
After the six month mark, or thereabouts anyways, your baby should be able to start sleeping through the night without a feed. Including babies who are breastfed.
This is the part where the debate heats up a little.
Let’s say you are breastfeeding on demand. A very popular approach and one that I fully support. If baby’s waking up five times a night for a feed, the principle of feeding on demand would require you to get up and feed baby five times a night, right?
Technically, yes. However, if baby’s six months of age, gaining weight at a normal rate, and able to eat as many calories as they need during the day, then the chances are that baby is, in fact, not waking in the night for food.
The most common reason for waking at night past the six month mark is because feeding is part of their strategy for falling asleep.
This is something else that we adults have in common with our babies. We all have strategies for getting to sleep.
As grown ups, we establish our own little ritual for bedtime.
We might get a glass of water and put it on the nightstand, get into a specific position, or read a book for a little while. In the end, it’s a strategy that helps to signal our brains and bodies that it’s time for sleep.
Baby sleep strategies are less sophisticated.
They still, however, serve the same purpose. They help baby get into a familiar, comfortable place where their system recognises what it’s supposed to do, and they nod off.
So if feeding is part of that strategy, then it doesn’t matter to them if there’s actual food coming their way. It’s the sucking motion. It’s the feel of Mum next to them. This, and the familiarity of the situation, helps them to get to sleep, and they can become very dependent on it.
Every baby is different.
Some may actually still be getting hungry enough during the night to need a feed. With that in mind, there are a few indicators that can help let you know if those night time wake ups are the result of hunger or a lack of independent sleep skills.
Does baby only take a small amount when they feed in the night?
Do they fall asleep within five minutes of starting their feed?
Does baby eventually go back to sleep if they don’t get fed?
Do they only sleep for 45 minutes to an hour after a night time feed?
If you answered yes to most or all of those, then your little one probably falls into the ‘feeding as a sleep strategy’ camp, and could benefit significantly from learning a few sleep skills.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t breast feed on demand.
It just means that you’ll have to reassess when exactly baby’s demanding a feed and when they’re looking for help getting to sleep.
So to answer the question posed at the start of this post. Are sleep training and breastfeeding mutually exclusive?
The answer in my mind is a straight-up no.
Breastfeeding is an absolutely wonderful experience for both Mother and baby. I support it 100% (all 3 of my boys were breastfed). Having a baby who sleeps through the night is maybe not quite as magical, but it sure comes close. There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t have both together.
