Let’s Settle This: Does Butter Really Help Babies Sleep Better?

Parents are sharing videos on social media of how butter appeared to help their babies sleep better.

Parents on TikTok have been sharing how feeding their babies a bit of real butter before bed has supposedly helped their little ones sleep through the night.

A quick search on the social media site shows dozens of videos where mums are touting it as the next best thing for getting young kids to sleep for longer.

In one video, Bridgette Gray (@bridgette_.gray) described how her toddler used to wake up every two hours until she started giving her grass-fed butter before bed. Since then, she’s witnessed “a week straight of [my child] sleeping almost 8 hours every night”.

Meanwhile TikTok user @abbyexplainsitall told her 1.3m followers that butter is the “best sleep hack for kids” and she lets hers eat “as much as they want”.

“The fats help keep them satiated and that helps with sleeping! My kids sleep from 6:30pm – 6:30am and still take amazing naps throughout the day,” she said.

The TikToker also gives her kids avocados, adding that “healthy fats are great for brain development and cognitive function”.

I can see the appeal, especially as babies and toddlers are notoriously terrible sleepers. I can’t actually remember the last time my one-year-old slept through the night (in fact, I don’t think she’s ever done that – love that for me).

So, what do experts think?

Before you whip out the Kerrygold, we spoke to experts about what they make of the hack – and let’s just say there were some major reservations.

Registered nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed, who has published multiple books about weaning, told HuffPost UK she wouldn’t recommend doing this as butter, “although ok in moderation”, can be high in saturated fat and salt.

“It’s also not very palatable on its own and can be a bit of a choking risk for babies,” she added.

Because of this, Dr Chandani DeZure, paediatrician and member of BabyCenter’s Medical Advisory Board, said you shouldn’t give butter to babies under six months old.

For babies under 12 months, avoid serving it in cold, hard chunks, she added. It might be helpful to cut it up or melt it over another food instead.

Another thing to bear in mind is that butter is a dairy product, which is a common allergen – in the UK, 2-3% of kids are allergic to it. So don’t have their first exposure to dairy right before bed.

In a video shared on Instagram,sleep consultant Rosey Davidson said “there is ZERO evidence that butter (grass-fed or otherwise) has any magical sleep-inducing properties for babies”.

“Sleep is influenced by a combination of factors, including sleep environment, routine, and development,” she later told HuffPost UK.

“Parenting advice should always come from qualified professionals and be based on scientific evidence, not viral trends. There are no quick fixes when it comes to baby sleep, and misinformation can be harmful.”

Stirling-Reed agreed: “There is no scientific reason or rationale to give babies a lump of butter.”

And paediatric consultant Dr Niamh Lynch also took to social media to share her two cents on the topic.

“Unfortunately butter is not going to make babies sleep better,” she said.

“It might upset their tummy. It might cause diarrhoea. It’s a choking hazard obviously to give them a big chunk of butter. So, park the butter idea.”

What to offer instead

If you’ve tried the butter hack and it did seem to help your baby stay settled, it might be because they were previously waking up hungry, in which case Davidson advises feeding your little one responsively.

“Ensuring babies get enough milk/formula during the day and allowing them to eat according to their natural hunger cues supports both nutrition and sleep without unnecessary interventions,” she said.

“While fat is important in a baby’s diet, butter is primarily saturated fat with minimal protein, vitamins, or minerals compared to breastmilk or formula.”

Rather than butter, Stirling-Reed recommended feeding little ones nut butters, ground seeds, olive oil (in cooking) and avocado which are all “really healthy sources of fat”.

Dr Lynch advised trying kiwi, cherries, milk, fatty fish, nuts and rice which “help babies and toddlers and children to sleep better”.

Although she did warn to be aware of allergies – so it’s always best to safely expose kids to these in small amounts, earlier in the day.