As a new mama, you often hear that breastfeeding equals being up all hours of the night and that for as long as you exclusively breastfeed you will never sleep again! While I am not here to tell you breastfeeding is all sunshine and roses I am here to say that according to the evidence, and my personal and clinical experience, there are many many babies who are exclusively breastfed and also very good sleepers.
When looking at the facts we know this:
- Frequency of awakenings does persist longer for breastfed babies (which is why breastfed infants are more easily aroused from active sleep than formula-fed infants at 2 to 3 months of age which is within peak age during which SIDS occurs)
- Total sleep time for breastfed and bottle-fed babies is equivalent
- Nursing in it of itself does not cause poor sleep habits
While breastfed babies initially awaken more during the night for feedings, their sleep patterns — falling asleep, staying asleep and total sleep time — stabilize in later infancy and become comparable to non-breastfed babies
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2011, October 17)
So now that we know the facts what are some ways you can promote a strong breastfeeding relationship and also still get the zzz you need to be a functioning human being?!
First off, the first few months are called the fourth trimester for a reason. Give yourself some grace and don’t push yourself. It’s so hard to fight the urge to get up and clean the house, take a walk, or let’s be honest… scroll Facebook and Instagram. The truth is your body does need you to sleep a bit more than you are used to. You are in recovery mode and your body needs SLEEP!
Once your baby is getting into that 3-month mark (or even earlier for some families) you can start doing these tips:
- Start to put the baby down drowsy, but awake. This one is hard to do those first few months, but now that your baby is awake longer you want to make sure the feed is earlier in that wake window and then the feeding is separate from sleep.
- Consider a dream feed. A dream what? Yes, a dream feed. When most babies start to “sleep through the night” it is a 5-6 hour stretch. For some the dream feed helps reset the clock so that stretch starts when you go to bed at 10-11pm instead of at 7pm. Read more on these specifics in my Instagram stories.
- Don’t focus too much on what your baby “should” be doing when it comes to nursing. Some babies nurse twice a night at 3 months and some nurse four times. What matters is progress over time! You should over months at a time see your baby waking less and less at night. Of course, there will be nights when he has a cold or teething and he needs to nurse more. It’s a blessing you can soothe your little one in this way. But if you notice that your 6 month, 9 month, or toddler needs to frequently nurse both to sleep and during awakenings in order to fall asleep AND this is not working for you then Nested Sleep is always here to give you guidance and 1:1 support!
I will also end on one last note which is that you can still have a beautiful long lasting breastfeeding relationship and not nurse your baby and toddler to sleep every night as they get older. I totally respect anyone who wants to do this, but I just need people to know that the journey doesn’t have to end just because you moved breastfeeding earlier in the evening and out of the bedroom environment. Check out a great story on this here!
I hope this information on breastfeeding and sleep has been helpful! While breastfeeding can be a challenge for so many I never want poor sleep to be the reason why you stop.
Until next week,
References:
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2011, October 17). Sleep disruption for breastfed babies is temporary, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 1, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111017092037.htm
