Sleep and breastfeeding (2024)

Should I breastfeed my baby to sleep?

Breastfeeding and sleep often overlap in the early weeks, when your baby spends more time asleep than awake. Dozing off mid-feed and waking for more milk a short time later is normal for newborns (NHS 2018).

You can carry on breastfeeding your baby to sleep, and feed him back to sleep during the night, for as long as you're happy to. Many mums find that breastfeeding to sleep, especially at night, is a lovely way to get close to their baby and have some uninterrupted time together (Health Talk 2018).

As your baby gets older and feeds less often, you may decide to stop feeding him to sleep so he can get used to settling himself (NHS 2018). Some parents find that if their baby feeds until he sleeps, he starts to link the two (NHS 2018). That can make things more difficult if you start trying to cut down on night feeds or if you’re getting him into a bedtime routine (NHS 2018).

If you want to encourage your baby to fall asleep without needing to feed, wait until he's at least three months old. By then, he may be ready for you to start easing him into a bedtime routine (NHS 2018).

How can I make breastfeeding at night easier?

Young babies get a lot of the food and fluids they need from night feeds (Unicef 2017). Many will wake up to three times each night (or more) until they’re around six months old, so it’s a good idea to do what you can to make night feeds safe, easy and comfortable for both of you (Unicef 2017).

Your baby should sleep in the same room as you for his first six months, for both day and night-time sleeps (Unicef 2017). Coping with night-time waking may be easier if your baby's right next to you, in a cot, Moses basket or bedside cot (BASIS nda). This is a three-sided cot which sits right next to your bed, with the open side level with your mattress.

Having your baby next to you makes it easier to reach across to him. You won’t need to get out of bed to feed him, and you may be able to stay half asleep yourself. If you do use a bedside cot, make sure it’s securely fastened to the side of your bed and that there are no gaps where your baby could become stuck (BASIS nda).

Keeping your baby close to you at night also helps you pick up on his early feeding cues, such as restlessness and sucking his fingers. That means you can respond to him and start a feed, before he wakes fully and starts to cry (Unicef 2017).

During a feed, keep noises low and the lights dim (Unicef 2017). This will help you both get back to sleep more easily after a feed (Unicef 2017). It will also help your baby get used to the difference between day and night (Unicef 2017).

If you want to breastfeed your baby in bed with you, lie in the ‘C’ position to help keep your baby safe. The ‘C’ position is when you lie on your side, facing your baby, with your body curled around him in a protective C-shape (BASIS ndb).

Place your lower arm above your baby's head and draw your knees up under his feet (Unicef 2017). You'll probably lie in this position instinctively, as it helps to have your baby lying level with your breasts so he can feed (Unicef 2017).

Many parents co-sleep with their baby, even when they never intended to (BASIS ndb). It’s one of the ways of coping with disturbed nights and the demands of feeding (BASIS ndc).

Co-sleeping with your baby gives him the opportunity to feed whenever he likes, without disturbing you too much. This usually leads to more feeds, which increases your breast milk supply. Breastfeeding also releases hormones that help you and your baby feel sleepy and relaxed. You may hear co-sleeping and breastfeeding being called "breastsleeping".

Make sure you know how to co-sleep safely. Never sleep with your baby in an armchair or on the sofa (Lullaby Trust 2019). These are two of the most dangerous places for you to sleep with your baby, as he may become wedged in the cushions if you fall asleep while holding him.

Bear in mind that, although sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is rare, co-sleeping can increase the risk of it happening, if:

• You, or your partner, have been drinking alcohol, or have taken medication that makes you feel drowsy.
• You or your partner smokes, or uses e-cigarettes, even if you never smoke in bed.
• Your baby is under three months old, was premature (born before 37 weeks) or had a low birth weight (less than 2.5kg or 5.5lbs).
  (Lullaby Trust 2019)

Some experts also recommend avoiding co-sleeping if you’re feeling particularly tired (Lullaby Trust 2019).

Read our article about co-sleeping safely to find out more.

Would my baby sleep better on formula?

Research shows that there’s little difference between the total amount of sleep that breast-fed and formula-fed babies have (BASIS ndd). It's unlikely your baby would sleep better with formula milk, though there are some differences between breast-fed and formula-fed babies when it comes to sleep. Breast-fed babies are more likely to sleep in shorter bursts, sleep less deeply and take longer to sleep through the night (BASIS ndd). But they do benefit from the melatonin in your breastmilk, which helps them get to sleep (BASIS ndd).

Getting up to prepare a bottle and putting on lights to see what you're doing will wake you up more. It's may be harder for you to get back to sleep, without the sleep hormone from breast milk helping you and your baby to drift off. So if you do all the formula-feeding at night, it may mean you end up getting less sleep than if you breastfeed (Doan et al 2014).

You could try these ideas to help your baby to sleep longer.

• Cluster feed: In your baby’s first few months he’ll sometimes want to cluster feed. This means having lots of short feeds close together. It’s perfectly normal and it often coincides with a growth spurt (NHS Start4life nd). Go with the flow and feed him on demand if you can (NHS Start4life nd). Once your milk supply catches up, things should settle back down (NHS Start4life nd).
• Dream feed or focal feed: This is when you partly wake your baby for a breastfeed before you go to bed, usually between 10pm and midnight (Paul et al 2016) . Dream-feeding may help your baby to sleep longer if you do it regularly (Paul et al 2016). If you decide to try dream feeding, allow plenty of time after your baby’s last feed of the day. Otherwise, you could find you’re waking your baby for a feed when he already has milk in his tummy.

You can read our article on helping your baby to sleep through the night for more ideas.

How can I help my baby fall asleep without feeds?

In the first couple of months, your newborn will sleep and wake throughout the day and night. As he gets older, your baby may start to drop off at a regular time in the evening. He's starting to understand that night-time is sleep-time.

You can help your baby to learn the difference between day and night (NHS 2018). During the day, keep things bright and noisy, and get out and about when you can (NHS 2018).

In the evenings before bedtime, and during night feed, keep lights low and try not to over-excite your little one. Keep nappy changes at night to a minimum too, if you can (NHS 2018).

By about three months, many babies are starting to self-soothe and settle themselves to sleep (though not all!) (St James-Roberts et al 2015). Around this age, you can try easing your baby into a bedtime routine. Whatever you choose to include in your routine, make sure you do the same things in the same order every night. This will help your baby understand what’s coming next. It won’t be long before he’ll start to associate those activities, such as a warm bath or a bedtime story, with sleep (NHS 2018).

Try putting your baby down to sleep when he’s drowsy, but still awake, such as after a feed (NHS 2018). You could give your baby his last feed before his bedtime story or lullaby. This will help him separate feeding from falling asleep (NHS 2018).

To begin with, your baby may cry if he’s awake when you put him down. You can help him learn to self-settle by comforting him when he cries at first (Blunden 2013). But over a period of days and weeks, the idea is to slowly get him used to going to sleep without you. You can do this by gradually reducing the time you spend with him, and changing the things you do to settle him to sleep (Blunden 2013).

For example, you could start by cuddling your baby until he goes to sleep, then move on to patting him gently while he drifts off in his cot. The idea is that eventually your baby will be able to fall asleep without you in the room at all (Blunden 2013). Once your baby can fall asleep on his own at bedtime, he may find it easier to settle himself when he wakes during the night.

As your baby approaches six months, he'll be much more efficient at breastfeeding, and he'll be sampling his first foods. He'll be more physically active too, as he learns exciting new skills, such as rolling over and sitting up.

All this means that your baby is ready to sleep for longer stretches at night (St James-Roberts et al 2015) and can go for longer between feeds. As your baby grows and starts solid foods, he’ll probably start to manage without night feeds too (NHS 2017).

There will be times when your baby’s sleep pattern will change though. Just when you thought your little one was sleeping regularly through the night, he’ll suddenly start waking every few hours! This doesn’t necessarily mean he’s hungry. Many factors can cause a previously good sleeper to start waking again, from teething to growth spurts or illness (NHS 2018). Be patient, and wait for it to pass. He’ll soon get back to sleeping through the night.

My baby still wakes for a feed at night. What can I do?

To help everyone get some rest, you could share some of the night-time care with your partner or a relative (NHS 2018). Here are some things that don't have to be done by a breastfeeding mum (NHS 2018).

• Giving a bottle of expressed milk (NHS 2018). You could try this after the first six weeks, once your baby has learned how to breastfeed.
• Winding and settling after a night feed.
• Getting your baby up and dressed after the first morning feed so that you can go back to sleep, particularly at weekends (NHS 2018).

If you’re still struggling to get enough sleep, take a look at our article on coping with sleep deprivation, or find a different sleep training method that suits you and your baby.