Why does my child constantly wake up at night and cry? If the baby wakes up frequently at night The baby eats more often at night than during the day

Lyudmila Sergeevna Sokolova

Reading time: 5 minutes

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Article last updated: 05/11/2019

Some parents believe that if a newborn baby wakes up several times during the night, then this is normal. However, pediatricians have a different opinion on this matter. If certain rules are followed, the baby's sleep will normalize within two to three months of life.

Causes of poor sleep in children

The reasons for constant awakenings are divided into physiological and psychological. In children under one year old, both phases of sleep, superficial and deep, replace each other every hour. Even if the child wakes up and nothing bothers him, he will fall asleep again in a short period of time.

Physiological reasons include several factors:

1. The room is very bright or noisy.
2. The child is hungry or thirsty.
3. Intestinal colic, pain from teething, high body temperature, runny nose.
4. Uncomfortable clothes.
5. A poorly made bed prevents a baby from sleeping.
6. Wet diaper or diaper.
7. The temperature in the room where the baby sleeps is uncomfortable. The optimal temperature is 18-23 degrees.

Correcting the situation is extremely simple; the main thing is to learn to accurately determine the circumstances that caused the unpleasant sensations. Consult a specialist about what medications to take and what to do for colic, fever, runny nose and teething.

Psychological reasons are considered:

1. Lack of communication, physical contact with mother, physical activity.
2. Uneasy atmosphere in the family. The baby very subtly senses the mood of mom and dad. Quarrels and screaming have a very negative impact on the baby’s well-being.
3. The child received negative emotions during the day. Even a broken favorite toy can cause a restless night.
4. Many new experiences can also cause overwork and, as a result, poor sleep.
5. Various fears.
6. Children under one year old also sometimes have bad dreams, which cause them to wake up and cry.

Parents should approach this problem with patience and calm. If restless sleep becomes a frequent occurrence, contact your pediatrician. Perhaps your doctor will refer you to a neurologist for examination. He will conduct an examination and tell you what to do in this situation.

Norms of daytime and night sleep

A newborn baby should sleep about nine hours at night and four to six during the day. Daytime sleep is divided into two times. It is considered normal if the baby wakes up every hour at night until the age of three months. During this period, the baby's sleep is the most sensitive - any rustle can cause awakening. Parents can only be patient a little and try to prevent the above factors from occurring in order to protect the little one’s sleep.

From six months the baby wakes up much less often. As the year approaches, the number of awakenings decreases to one or two. If the child continues to get up frequently at night, then only an experienced specialist can answer questions about why and what to do.

At the age of about a year, it is worth teaching your little one to fall asleep on his own. If the child wakes up at night, he can go back to sleep without the help of adults. Read a fairy tale, sing a lullaby and let your child fall asleep with his favorite toy. This way, the lesson of independence will be learned painlessly.

Breastfeeding and sleep

It has long been proven that mothers who breastfeed and practice co-sleeping produce better milk and do not waste much longer. It's all about frequent breastfeeding throughout the night. If the baby began to sleep with his mother from birth, then one can only envy his sleep. I woke up, was immediately fed, and went back to my dreams. The situation is different when the child sleeps in his crib. Both mother and baby need more time to re-immerse themselves in dreams.

Despite all the positive aspects, co-sleeping does have some consequences. Getting used to receiving milk at the first call, the baby cannot do without the breast at bedtime and throughout the night.

Starting from the age of six months, the child stops looking for a sense of security at the breast, he learns new world at the speed of light. It is at this moment that it is best to wean the little one from sleeping with his mother. As they grow older, sleep will gradually normalize and the number of feedings will decrease.

What to do if your child has bad sleep associations

Often a newborn baby gets used to sleeping in a carrier or car seat. In this case, it can be difficult to adjust to the crib. But sleep in a car seat or portable cradle cannot be called complete and deep. Subsequently, parents do not understand why the baby begins to sleep in fits and starts during the day, constantly wakes up and is capricious. Such babies may skip feeding before going to bed and immediately fall asleep. At night, the child often wakes up from hunger, and in the morning the mother feels tired. And this situation will repeat itself every day, getting worse.

What to do with such a routine? Try to create the most comfortable environment in the room. It needs to be ventilated, the curtains closed and the lights turned off. The main point is silence. After ten days, you will notice that the baby began to sleep more soundly day and night.

If you have bad sleep associations, you need to help the baby sleep. Place it next to you in bed, go for walks in a stroller - a newborn should sleep according to his age. It’s worth remembering that you don’t need to make a problem out of this and panic. The baby is very sensitive to the mother's mood, and you will notice that he has become more capricious. This situation will only worsen the situation.

How to improve your newborn's sleep

• The first step is to determine what time it is convenient for your baby to fall asleep. If your baby starts going to bed late and waking up early, then it becomes clear why he is capricious. The cause of tears is lack of sleep. This means you need to move your bedtime a few hours earlier. The optimal time is 9-10 hours.
• The bedtime ritual plays an important role. You can go to the bathroom, do a light massage, give a kind song from your mother. Each parent has the right to independently choose the stages of the ritual.

Absorption of breast milk is one of the main “tasks” of a newborn. Until about six months, the baby needs constant food intake, since his body requires a huge amount of energy.

But if the “daytime” appetite of a baby brings only joy to a nursing woman, then night feedings are not always associated with something pleasant. A mother who has managed to care for the baby during the day and perform household chores often feels irritated and annoyed when she hears a hungry cry at night.

Expert advice will help you learn how and when to stop feeding your baby at night.

Feeding at night becomes a big problem for some young mothers. For the sake of sound sleep, women even switch to a feeding schedule that is convenient for them, but such a step does not cause delight among infants. So should you stop eating at night?

For a naturalist, night feeding is a necessary element of normal growth. For a child under one year old (and especially a newborn), it is extremely important to have constant contact with the mother, both day and night.

Infants under 6 months of age cannot withstand long pauses between feedings. Waking up and crying at night in order to eat is not a whim, but a natural need of little children.

In addition, night feeding is important for both the baby and the new parent. The hormone prolactin, which regulates the secretion of milk secretions, is produced precisely in the pre-dawn hours. If the baby does not eat at night, very soon the amount of breast milk will decrease.

Breastfeeding experts warn that stopping nighttime snacks too early will disrupt the optimal secretion of milk secretions, as a result of which the baby will remain on a “starvation ration” and switch to formula, and the mother may experience breast problems.

A baby whose diet is dominated by formula milk is most often fed by the hour. It’s a little easier for mothers to set at least approximate meal times. However, up to 6 months, bottle-fed babies should eat at night, just like breastfed babies.

Some parents, especially experienced ones, easily tolerate feeding their newborn at night. Others try to stop late-night snacking as soon as possible for various reasons. It is the latter who are actively interested in at what age it is better to wean a child from feeding in the dark.

There is still no consensus on this issue among breastfeeding experts, pediatricians, psychologists and breastfeeding women.

If a nursing woman is ok with night feeding, this process can last until the fourth year of life. However, usually new parents get tired of lack of sleep within a year, so advice from experts on breastfeeding will come in handy.

How do you know when your child is ready?

The choice of weaning methods is best made after women determine whether babies are ready to give up breast milk or formula. Quite often, after 6-7 months, when additional products are introduced, the child stops waking up at night, allowing the mother to get enough sleep.

The main symptoms of a baby’s readiness to give up nighttime snacking appear at about 11 months or a year and look like this:

• infants receive the most varied feeding;
• the number of breastfeedings or formula preparations during the day is significantly reduced;
• infants experience good weight gain;
• the child is absolutely healthy;
• at night the children get up at a certain time;
• The child cannot be forced to eat the entire last portion; he can often be distracted.

If such symptoms are present, we can assume that eating at night for a child is not a vital need, but an established habit. In this case, it will most likely be possible to wean the baby without any problems.

Slowly or instantly?

Stopping snacking at night can be gradual or immediate. Each of these methods has positive and negative features. This is why a woman who is breastfeeding or using formula should make her own decision about the preferred technique.

The essence of the technique is to stop breastfeeding at night gradually due to heavier meals during the day. For example, before going to bed, the baby is additionally fed with porridge or vegetable puree so that he does not wake up in the middle of the night.

Simultaneously with the introduction of more complementary foods, the total amount of breastfeeding should be reduced. In this case, the woman’s milk secretion will also decrease.

The main advantage of this method is that babies fall asleep full and happy, and the mother will not need to, which reduces the likelihood of cracked nipples and lactostasis.

This technique also has disadvantages:

When the mother begins to stop snacking at night, breastfeeding experts recommend that she demonstrate her love to the child in every possible way - caressing, talking and kissing. Similar attention in infancy vital!

This method is usually used when weaning a child under one year old, but it is also useful for older children. From 6-7 months, infants can already receive complementary foods. For children under six months old, even such a “gentle” method is still not suitable.

2. Instant way

This technique is acceptable if a new parent needs to wean her child as quickly as possible. Of course, there must be significant reasons, for example, chronic lack of sleep, going to work or forced separation with the baby.

The main advantage of this method is that the woman saves the time that would be needed to gradually eliminate night feedings. The disadvantage is very significant - such a sharp refusal of milk and formula can cause stress in the baby early age.

Of course, situations are different, but most breastfeeding experts do not advise immediately weaning infants under one year old. A child at 2 months, and at 11 months, and even at a year old reacts extremely painfully to the deprivation of his mother’s breast.

When asked at what age a baby should be weaned from night feeding, a popular pediatrician answers – after 6 months. Komarovsky assures new mothers that a baby in the seventh month of life no longer needs to eat at night.

Night breastfeeding of a child older than this age is a common habit formed due to the indulgence of the mother. Children's tears at night are not necessarily caused by hunger. If you feed a baby every time it squeaks, its digestion may be disrupted.

The pediatrician advises to follow following rules, which will help you finish your nightly meals.

1. You should not give your child too many foods at the penultimate meal. But before falling asleep, the baby needs to be well fed so that he does not wake up from hunger.
2. When breastfeeding (and even when using formula), late bathing has a positive effect on fast and sound sleep. Any additional procedures (bath or massage) must be carried out before feeding so that the baby is hungry.
3. At an early age, the microclimate in the room is especially important. Cool and humidified air (up to 20 °C) promotes sound sleep. It is better to put warm pajamas on your child than to put him in a stuffy room.
4. You can try, if not eliminate it, then reduce daytime sleep. Babies in their third month of life sleep approximately 16-20 hours a day. After the sixth month, sleep duration decreases to 14.5 hours. A child spends an hour less in a crib per year. A woman can try to wean her baby from sleeping too much during the day.
5. It is extremely important to establish a routine almost from the first month. If the new parent follows the daily routine, then the child at 11 months, and at one year, and at preschool age will firmly understand when to eat and when not.

A well-known pediatrician is confident that if these rules are followed, a child at the age of one will begin to eat only during the day, and at night he will doze sweetly and soundly, without forcing the mother to wake up and put him to the breast.

The older generation of the family, who raised seven babies, argues that in the absence of any problems, night feedings should be preserved. The child himself will decide at what age to give up such snacks.

If babies still demand breast milk or formula even after a year, a nursing mother can use the following recommendations.

In case of excessive tantrums or decreased weight gain, it is better to adjust the refusal method. You can wean yourself off late-night snacking in a more gentle way.

What not to do?

Stopping doing something is a very difficult task, especially for a young child. In what cases do parents fail to wean their children from late-night snacking? If the mother does not take into account the main mistakes that are possible in the process of refusing to feed at night.

There is also no need to deceive the child by explaining the change in habit by saying that the mother’s “milk is sour” or “breast pain.” Why lie to the baby even about such trifles?

Many new parents doubt at what age to stop night feedings of the child. Maybe in six months? Or is it better at 11 months? Experts recommend focusing on the baby’s well-being and your own intuition.

If you are sure that your baby is ready to change his eating habits, proceed with the refusal. If you have any doubts, continue to feed the baby at night, not forgetting that the benefits to the baby from milk compensate for all the mother’s inconvenience and fatigue.

Hello, I am Nadezhda Plotnikova. Having successfully completed her studies at SUSU as a specialized psychologist, she devoted several years to working with children with developmental problems and consulting parents on issues of raising children. I use the experience gained, among other things, in creating articles of a psychological nature. Of course, I in no way claim to be the ultimate truth, but I hope that my articles will help dear readers deal with any difficulties.

Instructions

It is stupid to demand to wait until the morning with the next feeding, but a two-year-old who sometimes wakes up more than once to refresh himself with kefir, cookies, an apple or something even more serious breaks not only his daily routine, but also becomes a serious test for his parents. A child who is full at night eats poorly during the day, refuses lunches and dinners, and goes to bed hungry. Desperate parents are unsuccessfully looking for a way out of the vicious circle.

Such disordered eating also harms children's teeth. It’s unlikely that anyone bothers with cleaning at night, and with kefir it can become a direct path to caries.
Obviously, there is no benefit from eating at night. But even attempts by parents to wean their child from eating at night are usually crowned with a violent protest from the child. In such a difficult situation, it is worth showing a certain strength of character and streamlining the children's diet.

Set aside specific times for meals throughout the day. Try to give all the goodies during the day. If your child drinks sweet kefir at night, stop sweetening it. But the morning or evening portion can be sweetened. Feed your child a nutritious dinner in the evening, such as milk porridge. For late-night snacks, prepare foods that will satisfy your hunger but are not treats. Bread or crackers instead of cookies, regular kefir instead of sweet yogurt, and always water. When your awakened child demands food from you, offer him pre-prepared foods. If a child is really hungry, he will eat everything, and if he is simply indulging in a habit, he will demand the usual treat.

Remain steadfast. Offer your child water. Try to hold out for at least an hour. Remember, it is better to sacrifice a couple of nights now than not sleep for the next months and years. If the child is very persistent, give him the usual food, but not in full. Reduce the usual serving by about a third. Continue to offer him balanced meals at the same time during the day, but at night repeat the same scenario, moving the time of night food closer and closer to the morning, reducing portions over and over again.

Gradually, the child’s stomach will get used to the fact that it has to work at full strength at night and will stop waking the child up. His sleep will become long and restful, and you will be able to sleep without waking up for, in general, unnecessary feedings.

Video on the topic

The problem of night feeding worries many parents simply because most of them dream of getting a good night's sleep, and not getting up several times during the night. However, the attempts of many mothers to cope with it end in failure: the baby still persistently demands the breast, formula or juice.

Instructions

The body is designed in such a way that it needs food, so there is no point in trying to wean a child from a baby to a year. The baby will be demanding and if he falls asleep, it will only be from his own fatigue. In most cases, parents have no choice but to give their crying baby a breast? or a bottle.

Older children no longer feel the need for food at night. Babies over one year old can sleep all night long, but in reality this is not often seen. Sometimes a child calling for his mother may not be hungry at all. This is how children compensate for the lack of attention and affection during the day. At a subconscious level, the child develops the attitude that when he eats, his mother is nearby.

When weaning your baby off night feedings, remember not to replace or breast milk sweet juice, compote or kefir. Kids tend to like their taste, so don’t be surprised if your little one drinks 2-3 glasses of liquid per night. It is best to use plain water in this case.

If you have already decided to wean your baby from night feedings, act persistently. The main thing is to tune in yourself. Before bedtime, you can feed your baby a little more tightly than before. But don't overdo it: meat soup or meatballs are not conducive to healthy sleep. It is better to give your child milk porridge or cottage cheese.

At night, as soon as the baby wakes up, offer him something to drink boiled water. At first, you can sweeten it a little, gradually add less and less sugar. Talk to your baby in a calm and even tone, the main thing is not to show your own excitement. Don't turn on the lights if you sleep in the dark, keep a bottle of water at the ready. Immediately explain to the baby that he will eat in the morning, and now he will drink a little and sleep. In this case, co-sleeping helps out well, since the child feels the warmth and calmness of the mother.

Of course, you are unlikely to be able to wean your baby off feedings overnight. If your baby wakes up to eat several times, reduce the number of feedings gradually. Pediatricians believe that there is nothing wrong with a child under three years old eating at night. So don't panic if your baby's peers sleep through the night. The time will come, and your little one will also stop waking up the household.

Infants are fed within a few hours. And until the baby is several months old, parents do not have any thoughts about how to wean their child from eating at night. But months pass, and restful sleep still does not come, and then the problem of night feeding becomes urgent. Changing your baby's diet is difficult, but possible.

Instructions

If your baby eats every few hours, first try to space out the intervals between feedings. Thus their number will be reduced.

Often children manage to eat without even waking up. Therefore, to break the cycle of night feedings, it is necessary to wake the baby every time he asks for milk. A scandal in this case is almost inevitable and you need to be prepared to cry, but the likelihood that next time the child simply will not wake up is quite high.

For children who have crossed the threshold of the first year of life and have not given up the habit of eating at night, you can offer the mixture not from a bottle, but from a mug. Drinking like this also requires awakening and concentration. In the case when the baby does not need food, but calm from the sucking reflex, this method can be quite effective.

Another option is to reduce the amount of night feedings. Gradually reduce the amount of the mixture, reducing it to a minimum, which is subsequently replaced with plain water. The child gets used to the fact that there is no more tasty milk and stops waking up.

note

Don't count on your child to show conscientiousness and courageously endure restrictions. Parents will have to endure crying and whims for some time or abandon their idea. Each baby needs an individual approach, and no pediatrician can give a complete guarantee of the effectiveness of one or another method of weaning from night feedings.

Helpful advice

Do not try to replace milk with sweet juices and compotes. Their child will drink with no less pleasure than milk, while the load on the digestive tract will be almost greater. Therefore, such a replacement does not lead to the abandonment of night feedings and does not make much sense.

A newborn's sleep is one of the important indicators of his well-being and health. Many mothers dream that their baby will always fall asleep quickly and without problems, sleep peacefully throughout the night, and wake up in the morning cheerful and cheerful. However, this does not always happen.

Normal night sleep for an infant

By nine months, the baby will sleep much less during the day than at night. On average, a night's sleep will last 9 hours. During this period, parents face another test that can affect the duration of sleep - the eruption of the first teeth. By the age of one year, nightly sleep will be more than 10 hours, with one break for feeding. At this age, you can gradually begin to wean your baby off night meals, especially if you want to sleep until the morning without waking up.

In the period from 3 to 6 months, establish a clear nighttime and daytime sleep schedule for your baby, and try to stick to it, no matter the circumstances.

How to help your baby sleep better

Infants experience pain, as a rule, due to intestinal colic or teething. A decoction of fennel or dill will help with the former, as well as medications. Before using them, you should definitely consult with your pediatrician. Pain can be relieved with medications such as Kalgel and Desitin. However, you should not abuse painkillers. Leave them for nighttime sleep; during the day you can get by with a banal teether with a cooling effect.

Unnecessary associations should be avoided - the baby's sleep should not depend on rocking or feeding. Put your child in bed before he falls asleep and let him indulge in Morpheus on his own.

During weaning, the baby subconsciously feels how his mother is moving away from him. Because of this, he will wake up more often at night, require feeding and rocking. Try to spend time with your child more often during the day: hug him, kiss him, play. In this case, he will feel your concern and bother you less at night. To feel your mother's presence nearby, you can put her clothes in the crib. The smell of the mother will soothe the baby while sleeping.

Video on the topic

You need to feed your baby at night, especially if he is still very small. If the baby is sleeping, there is no need to wake him up specifically. It is extremely important to do everything calmly, carefully and gently.

Instructions

Are night feedings necessary? Some people believe that if the baby wakes up, then he needs to be fed. Others are sure that they need to get rid of such a habit. In fact, the physiological need for night snacks in a child lasts up to 6 months. After reaching this age, the baby can easily sleep from evening until morning, provided that the feeding regime is properly organized and the baby is in good health. So before six months you will have to get up at night and offer your baby milk, but after six months you need to try to gradually wean your baby off night feedings. First reduce their frequency, then try to calm the baby without food. But at first, feeding your baby at night is simply necessary! In the period from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., when exposed to nipples, the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for lactation, is produced. If there is a shortage, the amount of breast milk may decrease.

Second important point– frequency of feedings. If some mothers have to feed their baby 4-6 times at night, others do it only once or twice. The needs of different babies may be different, so the exact number of feedings cannot be determined. But what younger child, the more often he will wake up. Breastfed babies tend to wake more often. Firstly, they may not eat as much at a time as is required to satiate. Secondly, the baby may simply need to feel her mother’s warmth through her chest.

If your baby wakes up, gently pick him up and offer him your breast. If the baby is hungry, he will open his mouth and will certainly find the nipple even with his eyes closed in the dark. Sit more comfortably and hold the baby so that his head is on your hand and his body is slightly turned towards you. Make sure that the head and torso are at the same level, and that your chest does not interfere with the baby’s breathing. When the baby is full, take him vertically, placing him on your shoulder. When the baby burps the air that got into the stomach during feeding, you can put him back in the crib. Do everything gently and carefully. If you are feeding your baby with formula, then do everything in much the same way, but offer a bottle instead of breastfeeding. For your convenience, prepare the water in advance and add required amount mixture into a bottle. As soon as you hear the baby tossing and groaning, heat the water and dilute the mixture.

Human sleep has a phase of deep and shallow sleep. During light sleep, the likelihood of awakening is much greater, since brain activity is still quite high. In small children, most of the total sleep is occupied by the fast phase.

Physiology - a hint for solving the problem

The presence of shallow sleep directly affects the proper growth and full development of the child. Newborns, for example, can only sleep for up to 40 minutes.

But what causes virtually no inconvenience during the day turns into torture at night. We are talking about restless sleep and awakening of the child. Just 15 minutes of sleep in the crib - and the baby is there, foretelling a full-fledged “serenade” for the parents.

At such moments, there is no need to fall into despair; the irritation will be passed on to your baby. All he needs is timely feeding.

Night feeding as the basis for healthy baby sleep

What is the relationship between breastfeeding and successful overcoming of the shallow sleep phase by a child? The bottom line is that breast milk contains many substances that help the baby fall asleep because they have an effect on the inhibition of the nervous system. The baby calms down and quickly falls asleep right during the feeding process.

The secret of long, restful sleep for the child and mother depends on establishing a feeding system at the baby’s first request. The process of sucking milk during sleep helps him sleep continuously for a long time. It is important for the mother to ensure that she feeds on time, at the first “call” of the child.

There is no need to bring the baby until he completely wakes up. As soon as he starts tossing around, which usually happens an hour or two after falling asleep in the evening, his mother needs to offer him a portion of milk.

This action will allow the baby to calmly move into the next phase of sleep. Of course, the baby will ask for the breast several more times during the night, but feeding will not take much time and will not cause trouble.

In addition to a calm and quiet night in the house, breastfeeding during sleep has many other benefits. The main ones are:

Maintaining a sufficient level of milk in the mother;
- promoting the functioning of the baby’s gastrointestinal tract;
- reducing the influence of external factors (wet diaper, for example) on the child waking up.

In addition to all the above positive aspects of a child’s nightly “snacks,” there is one more. It's about communication. Tactile contact between the child and mother is very important, because from the first days it signals to the little person that he is loved.

Babies in the first year of life often wake up at night, but it is up to the mother to make the process of night feedings as easy as possible.

How many times does a baby usually wake up?

If for several decades it was believed that a 3-4 month old baby should wake up only once at night, and after 5 months he should sleep all night, now the attitude towards night feedings has changed. Nowadays, free feeding is considered the most natural and optimal, when breastfeeding is given at the baby’s request.

With this approach to feeding up to six months, the baby will wake up at night as often as during the day - at intervals of about 1.5-2 hours. This is due to the predominance of the active sleep phase in newborns, the small volume of the newborn’s stomach, and the rapid absorption of human milk. Occasionally, mothers of breastfed babies are lucky and their babies sleep 5-6 hours at night without waking up from hunger. But this is rather an exception. Read about whether you need to wake your baby for night feedings in another article.

Does the baby always wake up for feeding?

A baby sleeping next to its mother almost never fully wakes up at night. He finds the breast during shallow sleep, attaches himself to it and sucks on it in his sleep. At the same time, the mother rests, since she does not need to get up, feed the baby and put her in a separate crib.

It should also be noted that waking up at night is not always associated with hunger:

• in the first months, the baby may suffer from colic or discomfort from a wet diaper at night;
• restless sleep with frequent waking up is also typical during the teething period.

The child may also wake up due to stuffiness in the room, so the room should always be ventilated before going to bed.

What determines the number of night feedings?

The frequency of feedings at night is influenced by the individual characteristics of the baby. In the first months after birth, infants' sleep, nutrition, and wakefulness patterns have not yet been established. The baby doesn’t know whether he wants his mother’s milk during the day or at night; he only feels hunger at approximately equal intervals. In addition, in young children the active phase of sleep predominates, which is why the baby sleeps very lightly. And due to the fact that breast milk is absorbed quite quickly, hunger appears approximately every 2 hours, regardless of the time of day.

By the age of 6 months, most toddlers have already slept for a relatively long time at night without feeding, latching on to the breast in the second half of the night.

Babies for whom breastfeeding will soon end no longer ask for breastfeeding at night. At the same time, the number of attachments at night may increase when the baby is teething, there is psychological discomfort, or an illness has begun. Also, the baby is more often applied at night if the mother produces less milk than she needs (during the period of “growth spurts”).

When breastfeeding

Note that night feedings are important for successful and long-term lactation, since prolactin production is stimulated during the night period. This hormone is responsible for the production of human milk. Avoiding night breastfeeding can not only reduce lactation, but also cause lactostasis.

With artificial feeding

Babies receiving formula also need feedings at night. In this case, it is better to prepare the mixture for the baby in advance, so as not to waste time on this at night, when the baby has already woken up. In addition, a half-asleep mother may confuse something, for example, the amount of formula. However, resist the urge to leave the prepared mixture in the room where the baby sleeps. Place the bottles in the refrigerator, and all you have to do at night is warm them up.

Appetite

The food that a baby needs at different feedings may have different volumes. It is impossible to say exactly how much milk a baby will need. Even if your little one was born quite large, this does not mean that his appetite will be increased. On the contrary, there are large babies whose appetite can be called modest. In addition, the amount of milk at each feeding, as well as the calorie content of milk, can vary greatly for each mother. Premature babies and small babies experience hunger more often, so they are often fed at least 2-4 times at night.

Husband's help

Even before the baby is born, discuss with your husband where the baby will sleep. Do you want the baby to sleep in your bed or next to it (in an attached crib), or decide to immediately put the baby to bed in a separate room prepared for him.

A husband can help a tired nursing mother with feedings at night if he gives the baby milk that has been expressed in advance instead. If the baby receives formula, parents can replace each other and give the baby food in turn.

You can often hear a recommendation to feed a baby who is receiving complementary foods more dense food at night, supposedly this will provide the child with better sleep. In fact, doctors recommend giving your child foods that are harder to digest in the first half of the day. If you feed the baby very tightly before going to bed, this will only worsen the baby’s sleep and well-being.

• If you wake up at night, you should immediately take your baby in your arms. If the baby cries and you wait for him to calm down on his own, the baby will eventually become very excited. You will have to calm him down first, and then feed him.
• At night, the baby’s room should be calm and quiet. If you need light, turn on a weak night light that won't disturb your baby.
• Place a clean diaper and wipes near the bed so you can quickly change the diaper at night if necessary.
• To make sure your baby wakes up less often not because of hunger, but because of extraneous sounds, gradually accustom the child to different noises, for example, a ringing phone or a running washing machine.
• Get ready for the fact that your sleep habits may change dramatically during the first time of life with your baby. Perhaps you will start going to bed earlier, postponing all non-urgent matters.
• You shouldn't worry that you won't hear your baby waking up at night if he's sleeping next to you. It’s rare that a mother sleeps while her baby cries. If the baby is in a separate room, take care of purchasing a radio nanny.

I read my favorites, but only got more confused = (The situation is this: my daughter is 2.5 months old, full guard on demand, a little over 2 weeks ago she was in the hospital, so I taught the baby to use a pacifier (without this there was simply no way there - very noisy during the day + doctor’s examinations + mom was leaving …

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Hello! Tell me, how quickly did your child learn to latch onto the nipple correctly? We are only 4 days old, breasts are like 2 hot air balloon and any touch to her is painful, so for now we endure it with our eyes closed. Maybe there are some ways to help me and the child,…

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I want to talk about this, see the subject. After reading various communities and magazines, I got the feeling that this is a problematic topic. More and more more moms understand the benefits of feeding on demand and do not limit the period of feeding by chiming in …

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Moms, please share your thoughts. My daughter is 1 month old, she lost a lot of weight (450 grams) due to the fact that there was little milk (there is still little of it despite the liters of special teas we drink, constant pumping and breastfeeding) + the milk comes out very slowly (the child gets tired …

Breastfeeding after CS

Dear ladies! Please tell me who had positive examples of how to establish breastfeeding after a CS. Share your tips, how did it work out for you, did you put the baby to the breast after the operation? Maybe there are some practical recommendations, for example, trying to express,…