Baby milk night time feeding

Breastfeeding at night - La Leche League GB

Breastfeeding at night is one of the most discussed topics at La Leche League meetings, both in person and online. This is often because breastfeeding at night, especially in the early days, can be so important to establishing a successful breastfeeding relationship. It is also because of its inextricable link with the topic of sleep, which can be one of the biggest changes many mothers and families experience when they have a new child.

There is no doubt that caring for a new baby can be exhausting, especially if you feel you are not getting enough sleep. Understanding why breastfeeding at night is so important can help. There is a huge amount of both reliable and rather less reliable information on the internet and in countless parenting books about what infant sleep ‘ought’ to be like, and therefore what infant night-time feeding ‘ought’ to be like. This article is designed to give mothers and parents the information and reassurance they need to inform their own night-time breastfeeding approach, including some helpful tips on how to get more rest when you can.

Breastfeeding at night in the early weeks and months is normal and important

Babies wake to feed at night in the early weeks and months (and often beyond) for a number of important reasons. Breastfeeding at night is a vital part of establishing and maintaining a good milk supply and ensuring that newborn babies get all the milk they need to grow and thrive. Breastmilk works on a supply and demand basis: the more milk that is removed, the more milk your breasts make. For the majority of mothers, this means milk needs to be removed roughly every 2-3 hours in the early weeks. Although some babies may sleep for slightly longer periods overnight, perhaps 3-4 hour stretches, newborn babies will typically wake several times a night to feed. This also helps to ensure that you don’t get engorged breasts, which may lead to blocked ducts or mastitis.

Newborn babies often wake to feed because their bodies have signalled that they are hungry. However, newborns (and babies and children of all ages) also wake at night for many other reasons, including being scared or uncomfortable, being hot or cold, feeling the need for comfort and connection, and so on. As adults, we have developed ways of meeting these needs ourselves – adjusting a pillow, having a sip of water, cuddling our partner. As babies have no way of independently meeting these needs, they rely on their mother or parent to meet them. Breastfeeding at night offers mothers a way of easily and conveniently meeting the vast majority of these needs in one go.

Lots of research shows that night waking is the biological norm for babies.ⁱ You can read more about it here as well as in Sweet Sleep, La Leche League International’s exhaustive publication on nights and naps for breastfeeding families. Research also shows that, overall, breastfeeding mothers get more sleep than mixed- and formula-feeding mothers. This is for a number of reasons, including the impact of natural hormones and chemicals released for baby and mother when breastfeeding at night. There is also a perception that babies who have formula milk sleep longer than breastfed babies. Evidence shows this is not the case. ⁱⁱ “Despite the common perception that supplementing an infant’s diet with formula milk or solid food will promote sleep, a recent study found that there was no difference in the frequency of night waking between breastfeeding and formula feeding infants aged 6-12 months old. Infants who received more milk or solid feeds during the day were less likely to feed at night but not less likely to wake.”ⁱⁱⁱ

Breastmilk at night

Research shows that breastmilk changes all the time, in response to all sorts of things, like the needs and health of your baby, temperature, and the time of day. For most mothers, breastmilk will gradually increase in fat content throughout the day. During the evening, young babies often cluster feed, taking in frequent feeds of this fattier milk, which tends to satisfy them enough to have their longest stretch of sleep. This cluster feeding in the early months may go on late into the evening when you were hoping you would be asleep, which can naturally feel exhausting.

Overnight, your prolactin levels – the hormone designed to support milk production – are at their highest. So, when your baby feeds frequently at night, the message to your body to boost milk supply is even stronger. Breastmilk at night is also high in the amino acid tryptophan, which in turn helps your baby to make melatonin, which is used by the body to develop its circadian rhythm (our internal system for recognising the difference between day and night) and to sleep better. Hormones produced while breastfeeding also help you to relax and fall more quickly back to sleep, which may be why you find yourself nodding off so easily while breastfeeding.

Given the fact that the hormones in night-time breastmilk help you and your baby to get back to sleep quickly, feeding babies to sleep is completely natural. A mother and baby’s bodies are designed to work in tandem this way. Breastfeeding your baby to sleep helps baby feel calm, safe and secure. Over time, babies stop falling asleep at the breast so easily, and eventually all babies or children stop needing the breast to fall asleep. Sleep is not a taught development, and all children get there in their own time. So, while breastfeeding to sleep continues to work, many mothers find it a wonderful, loving and responsive way to help their children doze off.

Breast-sleeping / Co-sleeping

Safely sharing a bed with your baby, or having your baby sleep very close to you in a sidecar cot or similar, is one way of getting more sleep and rest. The majority of other mammals sleep with their young, and our own infants are hard-wired to expect this too. For many breastfeeding mothers, learning to feed lying down and being able to fall back asleep safely with baby is when things start to feel a lot more manageable at night. Some mothers may start out nursing their babies at night sat up in bed, but many soon find that mastering breastfeeding lying on their side can really help everyone to get more sleep, especially as baby gets a bit older and can latch on by themselves. Mums can feed from both breasts when lying on one side by simply tilting their body forwards more. The same principles for getting a comfortable, deep latch apply when side-lying as when feeding upright. It may take a little practice, but overall it’s easier and less disruptive for both mother and baby at night. Research shows that breastfeeding tends to be more successful overall for mothers that co-sleep than those that keep their baby separated from them at night. You can read more about how to co-sleep or breast-sleep safely with your baby here

Breastfeeding at night after the early months

Many mothers go through patches where their baby may wish to breastfeed more or less at night, especially within the first year. This will be related to a whole host of reasons, including growth spurts, teething, illness, and learning new skills such as sitting, crawling and walking. Like so much else with babies and children, the frequency of breastfeeds at night is not a linear progression. Phases of increased night feedings are usually relatively short-lived and you may find that co-sleeping is a really valuable tool for managing those phases. Increased periods of waking and breastfeeding around four-six months are very common and are not a sign that your baby is hungry and needs formula and/or solids. You can read more about this in our article ‘What happens at four months’

As your baby gets older and bigger, you may find that night feeding becomes much easier. While in the early days you may feel the need to switch on a light or sit up in bed in order to latch your baby comfortably onto your breast, as your baby gets stronger and learns to self-latch, feeding at night can be a simple matter of rolling over and putting the breast near your baby, who will manage the rest. Night feeds often become quicker too. Some mothers use breast compressions as a way of speeding up feeds. Being able to help their older baby back to sleep quickly with a breastfeed helps many mothers get the most sleep.

Coping with the challenges

Knowing that waking at night to breastfeed is positive for our supply and our baby, and that it is the biological norm, can often be reassuring for mothers and parents. Nevertheless, sleep deprivation can be really challenging for many families. It can feel especially hard if your baby is waking more than your friends’ babies, or if they are an older baby still waking up more than you had expected.

New parents often get asked about their babies’ sleep and their approach to feeding at night. These conversations can sometimes lead to (unwanted) comments about what is normal, what you ‘should’ be doing, and how to ‘fix’ things. And if you are feeling really tired or at a low point, you may be thinking that you do need to find a ‘solution’ and try some of those suggestions. The many unhelpful sources out there setting unrealistic expectations may be undermining your self-confidence as a mother. Perhaps you’re wondering what a loving and respectful approach that suits both you and your baby would be?

First, it’s important to say that you are not alone. At any point in time there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of mothers up and breastfeeding their babies – of varying ages – at night. A turning point for some of them is when they are able to relax their expectations of themselves and their babies a little. Some mothers also find that being constantly reminded of when they have been woken up is actually part of the problem, and they decide to ignore the clock and not to use their phones at night.

Being responsible for all the night-feeds can feel exhausting, or even unfair. Sometimes well-intentioned comments may suggest that a partner or other care-giver could feed the baby at night with a bottle. It can be useful to remember that the hormones in night-time milk make it easier for both you and your baby to get back to sleep quickly. And since the hormones in night-time milk are made at night-time, there is some evidence that giving your baby breastmilk expressed at other times does not always have quite the same effect. It is also sometimes easy to overlook the practicalities of another care-giver taking care of night-feeds. Mothers will often wake up when their baby does anyway, and may struggle to get back to sleep if they can hear their baby being upset while waiting for a bottle to be warmed up. Most mothers will also need to pump or hand express milk during the night to protect their supply and avoid engorgement, so they are often awake anyway during the time their baby is being fed by their partner.

Even though breastfeeding at night may be the responsibility of the mother alone, there are lots of ways to get supported so that things feel easier. For example, sometimes dads and partners get up with the baby first thing in the morning to give mums some extra time in bed, which can make a big difference to how tired they feel. Good communication is really helpful – ask for help with other things where you can and be clear about the kind of support you need. It’s OK not to enjoy breastfeeding every second, and it’s OK to complain about being tired: that doesn’t mean you don’t want to do it, so you can explain that asking ‘Why don’t you just stop?’ is not helpful and that you’d rather be asked ‘How can I help you find time to rest today?’

If you are really struggling with tiredness, you may want to think of ways to adapt your own routines for a short while to help you get more rest – perhaps sleeping more during the day, or going to bed earlier when your baby has her first ‘longer’ stretch of sleep. It can also be a great time to join an LLL group meeting with other breastfeeding mothers, as hearing that they are experiencing the same challenges can be really reassuring. Mothers often get bombarded with unrealistic expectations of infant sleep, and it’s precisely this misalignment of expectation and reality that can cause stress.

Another challenge that mothers may experience (usually once their baby is a bit older) is a feeling of nursing aversion or irritability, particularly during night-time feeds. These feelings can be very normal and are often linked to tiredness or feeling ‘touched out’. You may experience them more when your baby is waking or feeding a lot more frequently, for example when teething or feeling ill. You may also experience these feelings when there is a change in your own hormones, for example, during ovulation or your period. There is some anecdotal evidence that taking magnesium supplements can be helpful. Many mothers describe these feelings as irrational and usually short-lived; they can be a sign that you need to give yourself a little ‘self-care’ – perhaps asking for some more help during the day so that you can rest or focus on yourself.

Nursing aversion can sometimes lead to feelings of guilt about not enjoying breastfeeding, and make you wonder whether it is a sign you need to stop. There are some helpful information groups on social media where mothers share their nursing aversion experiences, as well as tips and tricks that helped them overcome those feelings. Like anything in life, you may not enjoy breastfeeding every moment of every day; that’s OK. Take things one day at a time, listen to your body and your baby.

Stopping breastfeeding at night

Breastfeeding at night meets a baby’s needs in a variety of ways. For many mothers, it’s the easiest way to settle their baby back to sleep when they wake at night, and they continue to use it for as long as it continues to work. It is not a bad habit and all babies eventually fall asleep and stay asleep without the breast. You may decide that you are happy with breastfeeding back to sleep, but you are feeling pressured by others’ expectations about what your baby ‘should’ be doing.

Some books suggest that after six months babies no longer need night feeds. Not only is this an arbitrary figure, taking little account of the different circumstances of different babies and families, but it also has no evidence to back it up. Sometimes, mothers worry that breastfeeding at night is what is causing their baby to wake up several times. This is not the case. Babies wake for lots of reasons and it is better to think of breastfeeding as a tool that meets the vast majority of those needs. Some sources claim that babies after a certain age don’t ‘need’ breastmilk at night any longer, but breastfeeding goes on meeting a baby’s needs for a long time. Many babies will continue to need the calories from night-time breastmilk, as well as all the other comforts that it brings, for some time after six months, and sometimes well beyond.

Some families may feel that their baby is ready to cut some breastfeeds at night or stop breastfeeding at night altogether. Generally speaking, the evidence seems to suggest that night-weaning is best left until after around 18 months. Many mothers find that gently cutting down feeds at this point is much easier, as the baby is learning to talk and the mother can help to explain any changes. There is helpful information about approaches to cutting down night feeds here. Any changes are best approached gradually and respectfully, so that you can preserve the important close connection to the baby at night-time. As your baby gets older, you will discover ways of being responsive to their needs at night that might not include offering your breast every time. For example, you may find that you are able to try other things like rocking, patting and shushing before offering the breast. These may not work initially, but over time, as your baby develops, you may find that in some cases these soothe him back to sleep. As always, you are the expert on your baby and you’ll be able to assess whether your child is ready to stop breastfeeding at night, or whether it would be easier to try night weaning later on.

Conclusion

Having a baby, and eventually a toddler, can of course be exhausting. Since responding to your baby’s intense needs at night can feel overwhelming, being able to access reliable information about infant sleep and night-time feeding behaviour can help you adjust your expectations. You may be happy breastfeeding your baby back to sleep as often as needed, yet you may feel pressured by well-meaning comments from friends and family about what your baby’s sleep ‘should’ be like. Sometimes spending time with others who understand what you’re going through, and who are supportive or your choices, can help you feel confident to make the decisions that work for you. Chatting with other mothers at a La Leche League meeting, in person or online, about what they found helpful, and exchanging ideas for getting more sleep may help you decide what’s right for you and your baby. Never forget that you know your baby best!

Written by Rhiannon Butterfield, LLL Cambridge. February 2021

Endnotes:

i Baby Sleep Info Source (BASIS) – Durham University

ii Brown A, Harries V. Infant Sleep and Night Feeding Patterns During Later Infancy: Association with Breastfeeding Frequency, Daytime Complementary Food Intake, and Infant Weight. Breastfeeding Medicine. 2015;10(5):246-252.

iii https://gpifn.org.uk/sleep-and-safe-sleeping/

Further reading:
Safer Sleep and the Breastfed Baby
I need some sleep!
LLLI: Safe Sleep Seven
The reasons why nightwaking is the biological norm
Letting babies cry: the science behind the studies
Sweet Sleep available in our LLLGB Shop

How to Stop Night Feeds in Your Child and Sleep Better

Before you starting thinking about sleep training, you need to look at your child’s eating habits at night. I would strongly recommend that you stop any caloric intake as one of your first steps in getting your child to sleep through the night. Sometimes, stopping nocturnal feeds is all you need to do to get your child to sleep through the night. Here’s my guide on how to stop night feeds and get better sleep at night.

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick 4 page PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

Years ago, I ordered a sleep test on an obese four year old who was waking up multiple times during the night. Since he snored, I thought it was possible that he might have obstructive sleep apnea. As it turns out, he had a different problem. The tech noted that the child was waking up every two to three hours as the mother had told me. What she had not told me was that she was giving him an 8 oz bottle of milk every time he woke up. Thus, we solved two mysteries– why he was waking up, and why he was obese.

The fact is, unless your child is an infant, he does not need to eat between bedtime and wake time. Addressing this issue can help him (and you) sleep better at night.

Why does feeding at night result in sleep disruption?

Imagine I woke you up every night at 2 AM and gave you an ice cream sundae. One week later, I stop feeding at night. But you still would wake up hungry. This is what happens to some kids. It is unclear why this is the case. I suspect that some parents get in the habit of responding to any nocturnal awakenings with feeding. Just like you might feel sleepy after having that ice cream sundae, they go back to sleep. Over time, the pattern gets reinforced. I call this pattern learned hunger.

When can I stop feeding at night?

There are a couple of questions to consider.

Is your child growing well? If the answer is no, your child may need those calories at night. If you are not sure how your child is growing, please talk to your pediatrician.
How old is your child? Bottle fed infants typically can wean off night feeding by 6 months of age. Breast fed infants tend to take longer, up to a year of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months, with the addition of complementary foods continuting up to a year, or longer “as desired by mother and infant”. It’s important to note that night weaning can lead to weaning altogether. More on this below.
Do you want to continue night nursing? Some moms, especially those who work outside of the home, value the closeness and extra time that night nursing provides. If that is the case, you don’t need to stop, provided that you are getting enough rest. If not, you may need to make a choice between getting better sleep and dealing with a dwindling milk supply.

How to stop feeding at night

There is one guiding principle here. Don’t go cold turkey. It is equivalent to asking your child to skip a meal every day. They could do it, but they would be miserable (and so would you). Instead, the plan is to make slow incremental changes over time. These changes are relatively easy to make and your child will tolerate them well.

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

How to stop bottle feeding at night

So, your child is over six months of age, growing well, and still feeding frequently at night. If you child drinks milk (breast, cow, goat, or otherwise) or formula, this is relatively straightforward. There are two ways to to wean this, and I have a strong preference for the first one.

Wean one ounce a night: Let’s say your child takes three 4 oz bottles a night. You take the last bottle and reduce it by an an oz on night one. On night 2, you reduce bottle 2 by 1 oz. On night 3 you reduce Bottle #1 by 1 oz. When a bottle gets down to 2 oz, substitute a bottle of water. After this step, you get rid of the bottle. Whatever you do, don’t wake up your child if they sleep through a feeding– that is the goal. If they skip a feeding one night but wake up the following night for that feeding, it is OK to give them the scheduled bottle. Expert tip: write this schedule out beforehand. You won’t remember it in the middle of the night.
Here’s this example by by night:
Night 1: 4 oz, 4 oz, 3 oz
Night 2: 4 oz, 3 oz, 3 oz
Night 3: 3 oz, 3 oz, 3oz
Night 4: 3 oz, 3 oz, 2 oz
Night 5: 3 oz, 2 oz, 2 oz
Night 6: 2 oz, 2 oz, 2 oz
Night 7: 2 oz, 2 oz, h30
Night 8: 2 oz, h30, h30
Night 9: h30, h30, h30.
I would limit the water bottles to 2 oz, simply to reduce the amount of urine produced and wet diapers to deal with. If your child doesn’t want the water, that is fine. But don’t give in and give the milk.
All other methods: The other ways to do this include increasing the amount of time between feeds, and reducing calories in each bottle. I don’t like the first way, because then you drag out the intervals when your child is potentially crying. I don’t like the second because a) it’s too complicated to figure out how to dilute the milk night to night b) milk + water = gross.

How to stop breastfeeding at night

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick 4 page PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

This is a bit of a more complicated topic. I reached out to my friend and former colleague Dr. Sylvia Romm for more information on this topic. Sylvia is a pediatrician and the founder of Milk On Tap, a company which provides lactation support to families via the internet. Here’s what she has to say about the evolution of nocturnal feeding in infants:

All babies are born eating every 2–4 hours, even at night

A mother’s body only makes more milk if milk is emptied from the breast. If milk is left in the breast, the body gets the signal that it should make less milk

Women have different capacities for milk storage (it doesn’t have anything to do with breast size). Women with larger capacities can go longer before their breasts are full, and therefore can go longer before their milk supply is affected. Women with smaller capacities have to feed more often, or their milk will go down.

In the early weeks, breastfed babies should rarely go longer than 4 hours without eating, not only to ensure that the baby is eating enough, but also to ensure mother’s milk supply is established. Even then, most women need to breastfeed at least 8 times per day, although some women can breastfeed often during a period of time (usually during the night, called cluster feeding) and can go longer chunks of time at other times in the day without affecting their supply.

After about 4–6 weeks, some women can start to feed their children less often, generally moving towards 6 times per day. These are usually women with a larger capacity. These women can start to find that they may be able to go longer stretches at night.

At this age, most babies will still want to wake often at night, and so night feedings are more for the baby.

At 2–3 months, some babies can go for longer stretches at night (by that I mean starting to break the 6 hour mark). That’s when mother’s supply can begin to be an issue. Mothers without the larger capacity report that they can never go more than 6 hours without breastfeeding, or their supply starts to go down.

There are no studies out there that look at this topic, but from my anecdotal experience, I believe that the push to sleep train at 4 months in the US contributes to women “not making enough milk”, or saying that their “milk just dried up”. This is a common age for mothers to both report that they are encouraging their babies to sleep longer and for women to report that their milk supply is failing to keep up with their baby’s needs.

However, that’s OK, As long as mothers realize that night weaning may lead to complete weaning at this age.

Many mothers report that they need to do an extra pump or feed at night once their child is sleeping longer at night. If you do feed, trying a dream feed (where you don’t wake up the child but feed them anyway) can both help a child sleep longer and help mother keep up her supply.

As Sylvia points out, there is actually not much research to provide guidance with night weaning. She notes that this can be a “confusing and difficult journey for parents and baby.”

Sylvia notes are a couple of different ways to go about night weaning.

You can shorten each night feeding session: This can be hard to do, however, as it is hard to be disciplined and watch the clock in the middle of the night.
You can space out the feeds: If your child feeds on a pretty regular schedule, you can try to stretch out the interval between feeding. However, this is pretty hard to do if your kid is crying.
Get Dad (or the non-nursing partner) involved: This might be the most effective method, Syliva says, “I’ve found that the most successful method is moving the child out of the bed and picking a middle of the night wake up that’s usually a feeding, but sending dad in to the kid instead. That way the baby can be comforted back to sleep, but they learn that it’s not a feeding time. Dad can’t give in, so that temptation is removed. It gets dad involved, and gives mom more sleep. Honestly, I love daddies, but usually if the baby isn’t fed, the kiddos just start sleeping through that wake up.”

Note that options 2 and 3 are going to be pretty difficult if you are bedsharing with your child. So you may want to move your child out of your bed first. (Here’s my post on how to stop cosleeping the least painful way possible).

The Take Home

Many families, especially those who are breastfeeding, may struggle with letting go of night feeds. However, when you are ready to do so, making the changes above can go a long way towards an uninterrupted night of sleep. Please share this article if you find it useful, and leave any questions you have in the comments.

Free Bonus: I created a quick guide to help you stop feeding at night. It’s a quick 4 page PDF you can save and reference later as you try this yourself. Click Here to get the guide, free.

until what age to feed a baby at night

Breast milk is the ideal food for babies, so every mother should strive to maintain breastfeeding for as long as possible. But if for some reason it is impossible, it is important to choose high-quality breast milk substitutes and the optimal feeding regimen, close to the natural rhythm of breastfeeding. The younger the baby, the more often he needs food. Newborn children need to be fed several times at night, older children, from about six months, once. After a year, children can already sleep at night without waking up for feeding. nine0003

Why do newborns eat at night?

In the womb, the baby receives nourishment through the umbilical cord continuously, without separation between day and night. After birth, the volume of the baby's stomach is very small, so he cannot get enough nutrients and vitamins and minerals at one meal. Therefore, the baby needs to eat often, in small portions, so that there is no regurgitation and digestive problems.

Another argument in favor of frequent feedings is a very intensive metabolism in an infant. This is necessary to provide the body with the necessary building blocks and energy during a period of very rapid growth and development. In the first year of life, growth processes are maximum in speed, and in order for a baby to triple its weight by a year and grow by 50% of its original height, it needs to eat often and a lot. nine0003

Proper nighttime feeding of babies

Even 20 years ago there was a recommendation to maintain a break at night (from midnight to six in the morning), not to feed the baby. This was explained by the fact that the stomach needs rest, and you need to “deceive” it with some water or give it a pacifier. But today it is already known for sure that the stomach is equally active both during the day and at night. In early childhood, circadian rhythms have not yet been formed and the digestive system works around the clock.

Today, doctors recommend feeding a newborn on demand - he himself determines when to eat and how much milk to suck out for feeding. In the first 2-3 months, a child can wake up up to 3-4 times a night (between 9 pm and 6 am) to attach to the breast, up to six months - up to three times, after six months - once, less often twice.

When breastfeeding, it is recommended to feed the baby on demand, including at night, giving up the practice of "hungry" motion sickness, the use of pacifiers or water. nine0018
For mixed-fed babies at night, breastfeeding should be preferred. This will also help stimulate lactation in order to increase the amount of milk secreted during the day.
Formula-fed infants should be fed every 3 hours. Let's say a break of 4-5 hours if this is a child older than 3-4 months.

Until what age should I feed my baby at night?

Many parents think that as complementary foods are introduced, the baby no longer needs nighttime feedings, because he can be fed during the daytime. Yes, of course, the baby already receives more dense food - vegetable, cereal, meat complementary foods. But this does not mean at all that he will not want to eat at night. nine0003

In the daytime, children eat a variety of complementary foods, and at night they have a need to attach to the breast, to get enough of breast milk. After all, the number of attachments to the breast in the daytime gradually decreases, and babies can compensate for this by waking up at night to feed.

If a child is breast-fed, he may have 1 to 3 nightly feedings until the end of lactation (to fall asleep, actually at night, to calm down and fall asleep). If a child is on artificial nutrition, after a year, milk formulas are almost replaced by other products. Most often, children drink cow's milk or fermented milk products at night, special mixtures for children of the second year of life (“threes” or “fours”). nine0003

Most children under three wake up at least once during the night to eat. This is quite normal and does not require any radical intervention from the parents.

Should my baby be weaned from night feedings?

This issue is quite complex and it is solved individually. Up to a year, if the child himself does not refuse night feedings, they should not be removed. After a year, this issue must be addressed individually, based on indicators of height and weight, the level of physical and neuropsychic development. If the baby was born prematurely or gained weight at the lower limits of the norm in the first year of life, it is worth leaving feeding in the second year so that the child receives more nutrients for growth and weight gain. nine0003

If a decision is made to wean a child from night feedings, one should not take radical measures, arrange battles with crying and tantrums. It is not worth practicing methods of the “cry and stop” type, they negatively affect the psyche, disrupt the baby’s sleep, provoke capriciousness, irritability. Night tantrums will not benefit other family members either.

To wean a baby from night feedings, it is necessary to create conditions when the child does not want to eat during the night. This is achieved by eating porridge in the evening, before going to bed. Complex carbohydrates are absorbed slowly, so the baby stays full longer, can sleep through the night without waking up. New, unfamiliar complementary foods should be introduced in the morning to help reduce the risk of negative reactions to food that occur at night and disrupt sleep. You should not give your child meat dishes at night, as they contain protein compounds that are heavy enough for digestion. nine0003

Sometimes children wake up at night not because they are hungry, but because they are thirsty. Dry and warm air leads to drying of the mucous membranes, which causes dryness in the mouth, thirst arises. Therefore, when the crumbs wake up, you can drink it with water at room temperature. If the baby fell asleep and does not wake up anymore, it's not about hunger. If after a few minutes he wakes up again - you need to feed the baby.

Up to what age to feed the baby at night and how to replace formula

Baby formula is only a forced measure to replace mother's milk in the absence of sufficient lactation or underweight in the baby. In all other respects, the infant formula feeding algorithm remains the same as with breastfeeding. The baby also needs nightly feedings about every 3-4 hours. This is due to scientifically proven facts. Babies up to a year old have an accelerated metabolism, food is digested faster, and naturally, they experience hunger at night. Also, any anxiety of the baby at night forces him to demand his mother's participation, and of course - food as a sedative. There is even a theory that children are genetically woken up to eat to avoid "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" in their sleep. nine0003

But also can't it continue indefinitely? The child grows, develops actively, from the age of 6 months receives a variety of complementary foods, and over time should form a normal daily routine. And for this you need to figure out: how to wean a child at night to eat the mixture in the most gentle ways.

Up to what age to give the mixture at night

Experts differ on this issue, but the average age when you can do without night feedings is nevertheless deduced. Infants with normal development can sleep peacefully at night without formula 10-12 hours from 9-12 months. Of course, if parents do not consider it necessary to restrict their child in nutrition, they can safely continue to feed their child at night and beyond. But they must be aware that, firstly, over time, these periods of eating become just a habit for the baby. And secondly, mothers should also think about their own well-being after sleepless nights. So, the approximate age of weaning a child from night feedings has been determined, it remains to find out how to replace the mixture for the night after a year for the first time of the transition to a new regimen. nine0003

Night formula alternative

Formula feeding formula is extremely nutritious and delicious for your baby. Therefore, the nightly replacement should be unequal, so that the baby subsequently feels that he does not need to wake up for such food. For these reasons, many mothers, thinking about how to replace the mixture for the night, use not the best products.