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How to Get a Breastfed Baby to Sleep Through the Night

About 4 weeks into the newborn phase, I shared my nighttime woes with pediatricians, lactation consultants, and other breastfeeding mamas. I expected to hear wise advice on how to extend my daughter’s nighttime hours (by 6 weeks, she was sleeping 4 hours at a time). The only “advice” I received was to “go with the flow” and “not worry about it.”

Have you been told the same thing? What about these?

How You Can Have Amazing Sleep with a Breastfed Baby
  • It isn’t normal for a breastfed baby to sleep through the night.
  • These baby days will go by so fast. You won’t miss the sleep.

I believe you can treasure every second of babyhood without being exhausted. You can maintain your supply without sacrificing your baby’s independence. 

If you are desperate for some sleep, you’ve come to the right place.

I want to combat the myth that you’ll never get a breastfed baby to sleep through the night. Breastfeeding your baby should not and does not condemn you to months of awful, infrequent sleep.

I truly believe that these tips can boost your success with your baby’s sleep and improve your daily routines.

Baby Sleep Series

If you’re just tuning in, this is the fifth post in my new baby sleep series, From Sleepless to Slumber. Baby sleep is one of the most important (and scary) aspects of motherhood. If you’re preparing for your baby or in the mix of exhausted, sleepless nights, then this is for you! Make sure you download your baby sleep printables as well!

Before we begin, here are the other posts:

When Do Babies Sleep Through the Night Breastfeeding?

How to Get a Breastfed Baby to Sleep Through the Night Faster (1)

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of the links I will make a small commission at no charge to you. I only recommend what I trust. Blunders in Babyland does not diagnose, treat, or give out any professional advice for any medical conditions.

Okay, before we get into the meat of how to get a breastfed baby to sleep through the night, I really want to make sure that we are on the same page with your expectations of newborn sleep.

You’ve probably already heard the main reason why breastfed babies struggle with sleeping through the night: their little bodies metabolize breast milk more quickly, so they require more feedings.

I’m not going to argue with that fact. It’s totally true. But, believe it or not, many breastfed babies are physically capable of sleeping through the night by 3, even 2, months.

Now, if you’re 4 months in and you’re finding it pretty hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, do not worry.

The goal of this post isn’t to make you feel bad that your baby isn’t sleeping for more than 3-4, even 2 hours at night. I want to encourage you and let you know that more sleep IS possible. 

How Long Should Breastfed Babies Sleep

So, to clear things up, what does sleeping through the night mean for breastfed babies?

The definition of sleeping through the night ranges a lot. In the early weeks, sleeping through the night is only about 5-6 hours of continuous sleep (from midnight to about 5AM).

By 3 months, that number extends to 8 hours of continuous sleep.  Research indicates that most babies can sleep through the night at this age. At about 4-6 months, your baby will consolidate his sleep and begin sleeping anywhere from 10-12 hours a night.  

Once again, stating these facts is not meant to discourage you. My baby slept from 8pm to 4am, with a dreamfeed no later than 11pm by 8 weeks. It was a natural transition because we used the methods I list below. My experience is vastly different than my peers, just like yours will be too. If your BFF brags that HER baby slept 10 hours every night by the time she was 8 weeks and YOUR baby only sleeps until 5AM, don’t feel bad.

However, if your baby is waking 2.5 hours every night, I’ve got great news: your baby can sleep more. We just need to figure out how.

So, What’s the Deal? Why Isn’t My Breastfed Baby Sleeping Through the Night?

I actually go over several reasons why any baby may have trouble sleeping in this post, but I do believe there are several factors that can make it more difficult to get a breastfed baby to sleep through the night.

  • She’s not getting enough calories during the day. Just when my daughter started sleeping through the night, she began waking up again. That was the first clue that my milk supply had plummeted. Or, even without a supply dip, your baby could be going through a growth spurt. Another huge contributor to not getting enough calories during the day is letting your baby nurse to sleep. This also increases the likelihood of snack feedings. 
  • Room sharing.  Many breastfeeding mommies loooove to room share. Studies show that room sharing can reduce the risk of SIDS and increase your supply. I room shared for the first 6 months of my daughter’s life.  Having said all that, room sharing can increase night time wakings.
  • Co-sleeping. Excellent for keeping your milk supply. Not so much for cohesive newborn sleep. When you co-sleep, Dr. Sears theorizes that your baby develops “protective arousal.” While protective arousal can be great for SIDS, it’s not so great for sleeping through the night.
  • Other factors:  tongue tie (tends to affect breastfed babies more), reflux, and hindmilk/foremilk imbalance.

This is what you’re up against, Mama. So, don’t feel bad if your baby isn’t sleeping through the night as quickly as other babies.

But don’t give up!

We’re about to talk about effective tips that actively combat these hindrances and gently train your baby to sleep longer and better. The best part is, these tips are subtle, quick wins that can produce immediate results.

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    5 Ways to Get a Breastfed Baby to Sleep Through the Night

    1. Full Feedings

    Breastfed babies, especially newborn breastfed babies, have the tendency to snack. That is, they’ll suckle on your breast for a few minutes and once the oxytocin hits them, they doze off to sleep. Meanwhile, you believe that they are happy, content, and full.

    Until they wake up a half hour later, howling for more milk.

    If you ever want to sleep more than two hours at a time, it is absolutely paramount that your baby gets a full feeding.

    Not only do babies with a nice, full tummy sleep much longer, but a full feeding also ensures that your baby is getting his calories during the day, instead of frequent snacks at nights.

    What’s a Full Feeding?

    Honestly, that depends on the baby. On Becoming Babywise first introduced me to this concept. Their definition of a full feeding (in the early days) is 20 minutes on each side. We were usually 20-30 minutes for both breasts.

    The speed of your letdown and your baby’s own suckling habits can definitely vary the length of a full feeding.

    The most important takeaway is to make sure she doesn’t fall asleep while nursing. Tickle her feet, use a cold towel, change her diaper. Anything you can to make sure that it’s a nice, full feeding.  

    2. Consistent Feedings

    If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that I’m a pretty firm believer in a consistent routine.

    Your baby depends on you to set the scope for her day, especially in the beginning when she doesn’t even know the difference between night and day. Babies that eat whenever they feel the urge (or don’t) during the day can’t be expected to act any differently during the night.

    This is where you come in.

    During the day, make sure that you establish consistent feeding patterns. For some babies, that’s being fed every 2 hours. For others, that’s 2.5-3. It depends on your baby: her age, weight, and development.

    When you maintain a consistent schedule with a breastfed baby, something remarkable happens: her metabolism adjusts.

    Just to give you a real life example, by the time my daughter was a month old, she had learned to expect her feedings every two hours. So, it was also easy for her to go longer stretches of time during the night, because her little body had naturally progressed into a daytime/nighttime rhythm.

    Just to clarify, I did not force my daughter to wait between feedings and she didn’t cry for hours while I ignored her hunger. This was all a natural progression because of the simple Eat-Play-Sleep routine we practiced.

    A routine is seriously not as scary as it sounds. When you’re giving your baby full feedings, it almost comes naturally.  I go into much more detail about routines below and in my next article. 

    Note: if you’re TRYING to get your baby established on a routine and it’s just NOT WORKING, you’re not alone. I really struggled with this with Baby #2. If you’re struggling too, I recommend checking out the Baby Sleep Answers newborn sleep course! This course is a WEALTH of information…and it contains handy tutorials on how to calm your little one and gently lead to independent sleep.

    RELATED POST: How to Start the Perfect Baby Sleep Schedule

    3. The Bottle Feed at Night Trick

    This trick is so easy to implement and it can really benefit your baby as well. In the beginning, training your baby to take a bottle can be difficult. I combined this trick with the dream feed to help smooth out the training process.

    Here’s how to do it:

    Pump in the morning and feed that bottle to your baby at night, preferably during the dream feed (more on that in a minute). Your morning milk contains more proteins and can be the extra push your baby needs to sleep through the night.

    (If you’re struggling with getting your breastfed baby to take a bottle, Brenda from Paper Heart Family also wrote a great article on which bottles are best for breastfed babies!)

    4.  Dream Feed

    Have you heard about the dream feed? It’s truly amazing. Basically, between 10-11PM, you feed your baby IN HER SLEEP. If done correctly, this feed will not disrupt your baby’s sleep schedule, and it eliminates the dreaded 12-2AM feed.

    This technique can take a while to perfect, especially if you’re breastfeeding.

    My biggest tip for success is to start with a bottle of expressed milk. The nipple on a bottle is much bigger and firmer, and easier to reach the roof of her mouth to stimulate her suckling reflex. After about a week or so with a bottle nipple, you can try your breast.

    The miraculous thing about the dream feed is that your baby learns how to take the feeding while she’s asleep. It’s a great skill to have.

    Once again, consistency is your friend here. I wasn’t consistent with the dream feed until about 8ish weeks. Once I offered the bottle to her every night, I began to notice amazing results.

    If you’d like to learn more about the dream feed, I would definitely purchase the Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. It’s such a cheap book and it has a ton of practical information that you’ll use even through toddlerhood. I also wrote a post about it below!

    RELATED POST: How to Use the Dream Feed to Improve Your Baby’s Nighttime Sleep

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    How to Get a Breastfed Baby to Sleep Through the Night

    5.  Eat – Play – Sleep

    And we’ve circled back to the eat-play-sleep routine! Let’s dig into this, because it truly is going to be THE trick that will get your breastfed baby to sleep through the night.

    Imagine a world where you no longer have to constantly wonder why your baby is crying.

    At 2PM, your baby begins to fuss. Instead of popping out a breast (which he rejects), changing his diaper again (and now he’s screaming louder), or trying to distract him with a rattle (full out meltdown), you know that he’s tired and it’s time for a nap.

    Doesn’t that kind of predictability sound amazing??

    Even if you’re not down with schedules, following this simple pattern will uncomplicate your life. Following this routine is so, so wasy.

    Here’s how to do it:

    When your baby wakes up, nurse him with a nice, full feeding. After that, begin play time. At the first sign of tiredness, you put your baby down for a nap.

    Repeat.

    That, simply put, is the Eat – Play – Sleep routine.  (The only exception to the Eat – Play- Sleep rule is at night when you feed your baby and directly put him to sleep.)

    Just think of the benefits this pattern will provide:

    • It’ll eliminate much of the confusion with reading your baby’s cues
    • It establishes an easy, predictable routine your baby can easily keep up with.
    • You’ll ensure that your baby is getting enough milk
    • The Eat- Play – Sleep cycle helps your baby differentiate between night and day much faster

    Are you thinking that there is no way life is that simple? But it is! I’ll go over how to establish a flexible routine in my next post.

    Until then, promise me you’ll at least let this concept marinate for a while.

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      Bonus: What You Shouldn’t Do to Get a Breastfed Baby to Sleep Through the Night

      I’ve been talking to a lot of mamas and I’ve discovered that there are a ton of misconceptions (*cough* old wives’ tales*cough*) about how to get a breastfed baby to sleep through the night.

      So here’s a list of what NOT to do to get a breastfed baby to sleep through the night.

      ( If you’ve tried any of these techniques, please don’t feed bad. On the surface, these look like great ideas. Unfortunately, many times it only ends up hurting your baby’s nighttime sleep.)

      1. Supplement with formula- If you decide that supplementing with formula is best for your baby, great! Lots of moms see success with breastfeeding and formula. However, randomly supplementing for the sole purpose of extending nighttime sleep can have undesirable side-effects, such as, reflux, colic, symptoms, and stomach cramps.
      1. Thicken your breastmilk with infant cereal- Studies have found that there is no link between feeding your baby infant cereal and more nighttime sleep. If your baby is not ready for infant cereal, it can wreak havoc on his digestive system. Also, if done incorrectly, it can be an asphyxiation hazard.
      1. Cry-It-Out Inappropriately– Even Dr. Ferber admits that sleep training is worthless without knowing the foundations of great newborn sleep. If you try to Ferberize when you’re not meeting his real needs, you’re just letting your baby cry alone.
      1. Introduce solids too early-Once again, can cause digestive issues and in some cases, increased risk of developing food allergies.

      Related Post: 5 Newborn Sleep Basics that Can Dramatically Improve Your Baby’s Sleep

      Should I Pump if My Baby Sleeps Through the Night?

      When your baby first starts sleeping through the night, you may want to pump at 2 AM. Over time, your body should realize that it needs to consolidate your production. This will protect your supply until you hit 6 weeks postpartum.

      If you’re like me and naturally struggle with supply intermittently, then you may need to protect your supply even after 6 weeks.

      If you do find that your milk supply is low, check out my post on how I doubled my milk production in 2 days to quickly improve it.

      RELATED POST: How I Naturally Doubled My Milk Supply in 2 Days

      You Can Get a Breastfed Baby to Sleep Through the Night

      You’re not a bad mom for wanting to get more sleep at night.

      You’re sensible because you realize that getting more sleep helps your baby’s physical and mental development, and allows you to be the best mom you can be.

      I hope this article encourages you and helps you realize that it absolutely is possible to get a breastfed baby to sleep through the night quickly. Don’t let other people’s misconceptions discourage you from doing what you know is best for you and your baby.

      You Know My Tricks…So, What Now?

      If you try the tips above and are still having problems getting your baby to sleep through the night, check out a few of my sleep troubleshooting posts below. They might illuminate some issues that you may not have thought of yet!

      Once again, if you are completely, absolutely new and don’t have a firm grasp on the foundations of newborn sleep, seriously check out the newborn sleep course from Baby Sleep Answers! Aside from reading a few good baby sleep books, this class is one of the best ways you can learn what you need to know.

      Most of all, I’m here for you. Don’t ever hesitate to email me or ask a question in the comments. I’m just another mama that has been exactly where you are 🙂

       

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      11 Comments

      1. Let me start off by saying that I love your blog name and title sentence. Very witty. I also enjoyed this post. I read all of it just to see how many similarities we had in our breastfeeding adventures. I literally have done every single one of these things. I just wish I read this before going through it. I had to learn the hard way. Im actually shocked and excited that we went through the same things and we just came to the same conclusions. I never heard of the term dream feed, but I did it, and later found out what it was. Same thing with eat, play, sleep. I just did it. I also especially love how you were not okay with just loosing sleep when everyone was telling you to go with the flow. I felt the same way!!!! I wanted my son to be well rested and I wanted to be attentive during the day. I got so much criticism for this!

        Moving on…

        Loved the post! Keep them coming!

        1. Hey Karima!
          Thank you so, so much for sharing your experience! I’m glad I’m not the only one that kind of learned on the fly haha. It’s crazy the kind of push back you get for focusing on sleep AND breastfeeding. It’s like the two can’t exist together or something… When you and other moms speak up, it’s just living proof that it IS possible for a breastfed baby to sleep through the night.
          *steps off soapbox**
          I’m glad you enjoyed the post! 🙂

          1. There’s nothing wrong with supplementing with formula… if that’s what a mother decides is best for her and her child then good for her. I exclusively breast fed for a year, and looking back now I wish I had supplemented with formula at least some of the time. I really struggled with my mental health and wanted to be done with breast feeding at the nine month mark, but felt like it would have been some kind of failure if I stopped. So instead I continued and I felt trapped in my life continuing to do something I didn’t want to do. I think it’s more supportive for mothers to do whatever causes them the least stress during arguably the most challenging time in their lives, whether that’s exclusive breast feeding, supplementing with formula, or strictly formula feeding.

            1. Hi Abby,
              Thanks for posting your insight and experience with your breastfeeding journey. I’m sorry you felt pressured to exclusively breastfeed. I know how that feels and it’s no fun at all. It’s important to note that whatever moms choose to do–breastfeeding, formula, pumping–whatever, they’re rock stars.
              To address your comment, I’m not saying that there’s something “wrong” with supplementing with formula. There’s a rumor that giving your baby formula at night can extend sleep. Sometimes, unfortunately, this can have the opposite effect.
              I appreciate your insight and updated that section for clarity. Other moms reading this, if you’re still considering supplementing, I linked an in-depth article from Healthline.com that tells you about the benefits, side-effects, and other things you might want to consider before deciding what’s best for your situation!

        2. Great article. Im pregnant on my second and I’m looking for all kinds of sleep tips for #2 as I struggled a lot with my first, not only with sleeping through the night but also naps times, which brings me to my question… How would you recommend getting them to sleep at nap times? With my first it really depended on his mood, sometimes only the breast would get him to go down, sometimes only vigorous movement like rocking or a car ride, and most of the time I couldn’t lay him down in a crib or bed once he did fall asleep as he’d just wake up immediately… It was so stressful and I do not want to go through that with baby number two!

          1. Hey there! Congratulations on Baby #2! That’s so exciting. I love that you’re preparing for your baby’s sleep now. You’re already ahead of the game!
            I believe that newborns are like a fresh slate. While you can’t force them to do anything (ha!) there are definitely things you can do that encourage great sleep that will gently discourage the issues that you described with your firstborn. My daughter and I used a “sleep ritual” for our nap times. From a very young age, I’d tell her it was time to sleep. I’d sing a little lullaby, rock her, and then when she was ALMOST asleep, I would put her down in her crib. I tried not to nurse her to sleep because I didn’t want to her to associate nursing or me with sleeping. If you’re interested in a class, there’s a fantastic newborn sleep class by Mommy Labor Nurse that teaches all of these techniques. Baby We’re Home! Now Let’s Sleep Also, this article I wrote my help too!
            Hopefully that gives you some ideas? Good luck!

      2. Dreamfeeding is a secret weapon! I use it with my sleep-trained baby and she is sleeping through the night for two weeks now! I’ve decide to sleep-train but not quit feeding yet, since I’m worried about my supply. I sleep-trained my baby with this very gentle Hold With Love method by Susan Urban. She wrote this guide „How to teach your baby to fall asleep alone” (https://www.parental-love.com/shop/baby-sleep-training-pdf). It’s very short so you can read this during one or two breastfeedings and it is totally enough. Just few tips, step-by-step and it is worked for us in less than a week, amazing! And it is without Ferbering so even better.

        1. My LO just started this 10-hours sleep phase and I am so excited for him and… myself! He was always a good sleeper, while he felt asleep but the bedtime routine and rocking – that was a hassle. Fortunately I’ve also used this guide with Hold With Love method and he is falling asleep on his own finally!

          1. Wow, 10 hours? That’s great! Getting a baby to sleep is one thing…getting them to sleep independently? It can be really difficult. I’m so glad you’ve found something that works for you!!

        2. Hi everyone! After two days of sleep training method from S. Urban’s ebook, my son became a sleep champion. Pretty fast, huh? I’m very pleased with the results. Thank you, girls!

        3. This method is amazing! I’ve never thought that sleep training is such a relief for a baby and for parents. Thank you Lily for your recommendation.

          P.S. Love your work Erin 🙂 keep it up!