Ask any breastfeeding mother what her favourite part of a newborn feed is, and many will answer with the gorgeous “milk drunk” face that happens at the end of a great feed. This satiated and sleepy baby hasn’t just been caused by a full tummy; there is something else fabulous going on!

Breastmilk contains a hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK). This wonderful little ingredient induces sleepiness not only in the baby but also in the breastfeeding mother. When the baby suckles at the breast, CCK is released within the mother in response. This helps her to feel relaxed and sleepy and also passes into the milk, having the same impact on her baby.

Feeding your baby to sleep is not only normal, but your body is literally biologically programmed for this to happen! It is the breastfeeding parent’s "superpower"—taking a fractious and highly alert baby into a blissful sleep in far less time than it would take to rock or soothe to sleep another way.

This superpower works two ways: so although breastfeeding mums are woken up in the night to feed their babies, they are also helped back to sleep quickly by the act of breastfeeding. In fact, sleep studies have shown that (despite perceptions to the contrary), breastfeeding mothers actually get more sleep than formula-feeding mothers, as they find it easier to drift back to sleep after the feed and rarely report difficulties with this.

Sleep and breastfeeding are intricately intertwined. Newborn babies can sleep for up to 18 hours per day. They can also frequently feed for up to 10 hours (or more!) per day. The data-driven among you will have already spotted an issue here; this adds up to more than 24 hours! This is because babies are brilliant multi-taskers, managing to combine breastfeeding and sleeping into one glorious activity! Trying to separate these acts in the early months can lead to frustration for both the baby and the mother, along with poor weight gain, as access to the breast may be restricted when parents perceive the baby to be tired rather than hungry.

After the first few months, feeds tend to get more efficient, and while feeding to sleep may still be a valuable tool in your parenting toolbox, you will see the combo ‘breastsleeping’ less frequently than before.

Should I breastfeed to sleep with an older baby?

Breastfeeding to sleep is never wrong, and if it continues to work for an individual family, then it can be a useful parenting tool well into the toddler years. What’s important to remember is this:

You don’t have a sleep problem if you don’t have a problem with how sleep works in your family.

So, if everything feels good and everyone in the family gets enough sleep one way or another, then there is no reason to change a thing.

However, for some families, there comes a point where feeding to sleep stops feeling like a superpower and starts to feel like a burden. This may be for a variety of reasons: mum may feel like only she can do bedtime, or feeding to sleep may simply be taking longer and longer each night and feeling less effective. If this is the case for your family, then making gentle tweaks to how you support your child's sleep can be a positive move for everyone.

One important caution though: separating out feeding and sleep may not'solve' your sleep challenges and can leave you in a situation where you still have a baby or child waking several times per night, and you’ve now lost your quickest and most reliable way of getting them back to sleep. Sleep is a milestone (like walking and talking) and will happen for every child with time.

Should I breastfeed my baby to sleep?

Should you breastfeed your baby to sleep? Unii expert Wendy Lever has the answer in full.