You get at least as much good quality sleep if you're breastfeeding as parents who formula feed

Here are three myths that have now been busted about baby sleep and breastfeeding. You might find this information comforting as you find your way through (or breastfeed your way through) the days and nights with your little one.

This article might also bring up grief for those courageous women who did all they could to make breastfeeding work, before accepting they needed to formula feed their baby. If this is you, there is more here.

Myth #1. Formula fed babies sleep better

For a long time, parents were told that formula feeding their baby resulted in better sleep. So when they were feeling horribly sleep-deprived, it was tempting to introduce bottles of formula, in the hope this would help. But the research has now proven that this belief isn't true. In fact, breastfeeding women have the same amount or even better sleep overall.

• Sometimes newborns and very young babies have breastfeeding problems which result in not-enough calories. It can seem that bottles of formula help with sleep, but really the underlying problems aren't being dealt with. If this is your situation, you can find more here.

• It's most helpful to think about baby sleep by thinking about patterns over time. A single night of better sleep when bottles of formula are first introduced can be deceptive, resulting in unnecessary formula use but without lasting improvement in your sleep situation over time.

• Sometimes formula feeding parents don't get as much sleep as breastfeeding women because the time taken to get up in the night and prepare the bottle results in a dialled up baby who is slower to return to sleep. Parents become wide awake themselves when they have to prepare the bottle, which means it can also take them longer to get back to sleep. You can find out about making bottle feeding as easy and enjoyable as possible here.

Myth #2. Babies sleep better in their own room

Parents might have heard that moving their baby into a separate room improves sleep. But now the research tells us this is not the case, because parents who sleep their babies in separate rooms have a tendency to overestimate their babies' sleep durations.

Sleeping in a separate room (day or night) is not consistent with safer sleep guidelines for babies six months of age or less, when sleeping baby in a separate room increases the baby's risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Between six and 12 months of age there remains added safety in continuing to sleep in the same room as an adult caregiver.

Myth #3. Babies who share the parental bed have worse sleep

Parents are often told that cosleeping worsens their babies' sleep. This is not true.

• Most breastfeeding women bring their baby into bed with them for some or all of the night, at least some of the time. Many bring their baby into bed very regularly or always. You can find out about safety here and here.

• Breastfeeding women bring their baby into their bed because they find it's easier, and they get more sleep.

• A new analysis of multiple research studies has found that breastfeeding women who share the bed with their baby sleep better than non-breastfeeding parents.

It's important to know how to share the bed safely. There are some families with particular vulnerabilities (such as cigarette smoking, alcohol or drug use or a prematurely-born baby) for whom it's not safe to bring baby into the bed. You can find out about bedsharing and safer baby sleep here.

Acknowledgements

The image below comes from the collection of images found in the excellent Baby Sleep Info Source basisonline.org.uk, and was taken by Rob Mank.

You might notice that the little one's hands and arms are between the mother and baby's bodies in the image at the bottom of this article, with the baby's body somewhat turned out from hers. If all is going well, there's no need to worry. But if this pair had any breastfeeding problems at all, like maternal nipple pain or baby fussing at the breast, it would be important to make sure the baby's lower arm was tucked away safely under the mother's breast. You can find out more about the gestalt method of fit and hold when you're breastfeeding in the side-lying position here and here.

Selected references

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