Short answer
Yes.
Please use your superpower.
Breastfeeding is food, hydration, comfort, regulation and, very often, an extremely effective off-switch.
ABA explicitly describes feeding to sleep as normal and says it does not create a bad habit. Babies can still learn other ways of settling with other people as they grow.
Breastfeeding to sleep: if boob works, lean into its magic
There is a strange amount of parenting advice built around deliberately avoiding the easiest available solution in case the baby likes it too much.
I am not particularly interested in that.
If breastfeeding gets your newborn asleep in six minutes and patting them in a dark room takes forty, use the boob.
There are no bonus points for choosing the harder method.
Breastfeeding also has biology on its side. Sucking triggers the release of cholecystokinin (CCK) in your baby, which makes them sleepy, and night-time breastmilk contains higher levels of melatonin, one of the signals involved in regulating sleep and circadian rhythm.
Is feeding to sleep a bad habit?
Maybe your baby will continue to enjoy feeding to sleep for quite a while.
That is not the same thing as having damaged their ability to sleep.
Young babies naturally fall asleep while feeding. ABA says feeding to sleep will not stop them learning other ways to settle later.
And later is allowed to be later.
You do not need to spend the newborn period pre-solving a hypothetical sleep problem you may or may not have in six months.
If feeding to sleep eventually stops working for you, you can change it then. You may even find that a future version of yourself wishes you still had boob to settle to sleep. Speaking from experience here: when our eldest weaned at 4.5 years old, only because my milk had dried up while I was pregnant with our second daughter, we suddenly no longer had this incredibly effective settling tool that had saved us hours of rocking and other soothing methods.
The bit that actually matters is safe sleep
Once the feed is finished, the safest place for baby to sleep is on their back, in their own safe sleep space, on a firm flat surface, in the same room as their parent or caregiver for at least the first six months.
The situation I would think ahead about is feeding when you are so tired you might fall asleep too.
Sofas and armchairs are particularly hazardous places to accidentally fall asleep with a baby. If there is a realistic chance you will drift off, know the safe-sleep information before 3am rather than trying to Google it while half unconscious.
My rule
Use what works until it stops working for your family.
Breastfeeding is a freaking superpower! You are allowed to use it. Please do.
The 3AM Newborn Guide is coming soon.
The free articles are here for you now. The guide, with feeding, sleep, safe sleep and red flags organised in one place, is still being finished.