Feeding baby to sleep for naps

Breastfeeding to Sleep and Other Comfort Nursing • KellyMom.com

Many mothers feel guilty for breastfeeding their baby for comfort or as they drift off to sleep. Breastfeeding your child to sleep and for comfort is not a bad thing to do– in fact, it’s normal, healthy, and developmentally appropriate. Most babies nurse to sleep and wake 1-3 times during the night for the first year or so. Some babies don’t do this, but they are the exception, not the rule. Many children, if given the choice, prefer to nurse to sleep through the second year and beyond. I’ve never seen a convincing reason why mothers shouldn’t use this wonderful tool that we’ve been given.

Breastfeeding is obviously designed to comfort and help a child sleep. Breastfeeding calms a child and can even help your child handle stress better when not breastfeeding (Beijers et al, 2013). Sucking releases the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) in both mother and baby, which results in a sleepy feeling (Uvnäs-Moberg et al, 1993). In addition, breastmilk also contains sleep-inducing hormones, amino acids, and nucleotides, whose concentrations are higher during the night and may actually help babies establish their own circadian rhythms (Sánchez et al, 2009, Cohen et al, 2012).

If breastfeeding your child to sleep and/or nursing your child for comfort is working for YOU and your family, that’s all that really matters! Breastfeeding is not only nourishing; it’s also nurturing. Your breast is a wonderful place of comfort and security to your child, not just a “feeding trough”. The time spent breastfeeding your child is a very short period in the total life of your child, but the memories of your love and availability will last him a lifetime. Trust that your child will fall asleep on his own in time, and enjoy every sleepy moment while it lasts.f

Following are some Frequently Asked Questions…

My child sometimes nurses for comfort, when he’s obviously not hungry. Is this a problem?
Am I creating a bad habit by allowing baby to breastfeed to sleep?
What about letting baby “cry it out?”
I’ve been told that my child will NEVER learn to go to sleep on his own if we don’t teach him…
How will my child go to sleep when I’m not there to breastfeed him, or after he weans?
How can I gently encourage my child to fall asleep without breastfeeding (and without crying)?
My child wants to comfort nurse the entire time he’s napping! How can I slip away without waking him?
My toddler wants to comfort nurse forever when he’s trying to fall asleep.

Additional resources

My child sometimes nurses for comfort, when he’s obviously not hungry. Is this a problem?

Comfort nursing is normal. If baby were not comfort nursing he would need to be sucking on his hands or on a pacifier. The breast was the first pacifier and the one that all others are modeled after, so don’t be afraid to allow baby to use it in this way. There are studies that show that comfort nursing is healthy for your child, too. All babies need to suck – some more than others. It ensures that they survive. If your baby seems to be comfort nursing all the time and this is more than you can handle, keep in mind that this will probably ease some as time goes by. In the meantime, you may find that carrying baby in a sling or a carrier on your body will lessen his need to comfort nurse so much. He may just need to be close to you at times and seeks out nursing as a way to do that.

Comfort nursing serves a purpose, too. Studies seem to indicate that this type of sucking overall decreases a baby’s heart rate and lets him relax. It seems to have a very positive effect on his whole physical and emotional well-being. Don’t be afraid to allow this type of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is more than just imparting fluids and nourishment. It’s a way to nurture your child as well.

Am I creating a bad habit by allowing baby to breastfeed to sleep?

Your child’s desire to nurse to sleep is very normal and not a bad habit you’ve fostered. Don’t be afraid to nurse your baby to sleep or fear that you are perpetuating a bad habit. Baby often will seek the breast when sleepy or over-stimulated because it’s a comforting and familiar place to him. To associate the breast with wanting to relax enough to go to sleep makes perfect sense. As adults, we also do things to relax ourselves so we can go to sleep: we read, watch TV, get something warm to drink or a snack, deep breathe, get all snug under the covers, etc. Breastfeeding does the same thing for your baby.

For many babies at the height of exploration or distractibility, nighttime or naptime can often be the ONLY time the baby will nurse well. Allowing him to nurse at these times when he is more focused on nursing and less intent on other things helps ensures that he gets enough milk, that your supply is maintained, and that the nursing relationship goes on. Don’t be afraid to nurse at these times or fear that you are perpetuating a bad habit. Instead, take advantage of these times for better nursing.

The sleep issue is not merely a matter of good versus bad habits. It is much more an issue of culture and lifestyle and expectations. Here are three approaches to parenting issues:

Forcing baby to change to fit the parent’s lifestyle is one approach. Our American culture tends not to be very baby friendly, and rarely makes accommodations for breastfeeding babies. The current trend, seen in many popular books and parenting magazines, is to force baby to do all of the accommodating so that we experience as little change in our pre-baby lifestyle as possible; for example, baby MUST sleep through the night so that we get unbroken sleep and a “good” baby is seen as one who makes as few demands on his parents as possible.
Another approach is to try to approximate the mothering style of traditional societies and let the parents do all the accommodating. This approach can be very difficult to pull off without lots of support and changes of expectations in the people around us.
A third approach is to do as much accommodating on the parental side as possible, and then to “ask” baby to accommodate the last part of the gap. This is an approach that can work for many families. With this approach, parents do all they can to be sensitive to their baby’s needs, and only ask baby to accommodate when nothing else truly works.

What about letting baby “cry it out?”

There are two schools of thought about getting babies to sleep. One is a rather rigid method of “sleep training” where a baby is put down awake in a crib and left to cry himself to sleep so that he learns to “self-soothe” and doesn’t develop sleep associations that require someone else to put him to sleep. This method has been around since the 1890’s and was dreamed up by male university sleep laboratory researchers. Many of the popular “sleep training” methods of today are modified versions of this (allowing baby to cry for progressively longer periods without comforting him, instead of just leaving him to cry until he gives up and stops).

I can’t, with good conscience, recommend the cry-it-out method for getting baby to sleep. Anyone who advises you to let your baby cry until he gives up and falls asleep is focusing on the baby’s behavior (going to sleep by himself) and not on how the baby feels in the process. In my opinion, this “sleep training” often creates an unhealthy attitude about sleep: after going through this training, baby tends to view sleep as a fearful state to enter into and to remain in. Parents often need to “retrain” baby if there is any break in the usual routine. In addition, it can condition parents to ignore baby’s cries, and break down the relationship of trust between parent and child.

Younger babies, in particular, do not have that sense of “object permanence” and if mom leaves them to cry, they are developmentally unable to realize that she is just in the next room. All baby knows is that he has been abandoned and that mom is not there. A young baby can only express his needs through crying. A baby who is left to cry alone will eventually stop crying because he has abandoned all hope that help will come: as far as he can tell, no one cares enough to listen, or come and provide comfort. In the book Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent, anthropology professor Meredith Small writes, “When signals are missed, babies stop signalling; they withdraw; they suck their thumbs; they turn away; they try to right the system themselves by not sending out any more signals.” The baby protects himself by shutting down, and “accepts” the situation because he has learned that a response is not forthcoming. Crying is also hard, physically, on baby: it can lead to hoarseness that can last for days; the digestive system is upset; stress hormones rise; heart rates can climb to levels over 200 beats per minute; and oxygen levels in the blood are diminished.

Another school of thought, which I subscribe to, discourages viewing sleep as a state you can force a baby into. Instead, it’s best to create a sleep-inducing environment that allows sleep to overtake the baby. The process of breastfeeding itself regulates baby’s temperature and heart rate and lowers his blood pressure, and puts him to sleep. This helps your baby develop a healthy attitude about sleep, where baby views sleep as a safe, comforting, natural state.

I’ve been told that my child will NEVER learn to go to sleep on his own if we don’t teach him…

Never? It is normal, natural and healthy for your child to fall asleep nursing. Breastfeeding children fall asleep so quickly – how can anything so perfectly designed be worrisome? I’ve read a lot about babies’ sleep patterns, and I’ve talked to many moms about this. Both my reading, my personal experience, and the experiences of other moms has convinced me that falling asleep without breastfeeding is a developmental milestone that your child will reach when he is ready. The first step often comes when your baby starts to nurse to sleep then stops nursing, rolls away and goes to sleep on his own. Or perhaps he will fall asleep in Daddy’s arms when he’s walking with him. These incidents may not happen very often at first, but they are the first step and do make you realize that it IS possible for your child to fall asleep by himself.

There are countless numbers of children who have been nursed to sleep and nursed during the night from birth who eventually learn to fall asleep on their own without the breast. You don’t have to teach them to do this. They reach this as a milestone – when they’re physically, developmentally, and emotionally ready. You can try to speed this process along by putting baby to bed before he’s asleep, but always nursing him to sleep will not keep him from learning this on his own.

My daughter started to occasionally fall asleep on her own (or with her Dad) when she was around 11-12 months. Knowing that she could go to sleep without me right there really helped, even though she didn’t do it too often. As time passes, she’s fallen asleep without nursing more and more. We did not “teach” her to do this, or even particularly encourage it. It has simply been a natural developmental progression that came about as she was ready for it.

How will my child go to sleep when I’m not there to breastfeed him, or after he weans?

Many moms are worried about how their child will go to sleep when he enters daycare or weans, and feel that they must teach him to sleep independently before this time. This is really not necessary, and can add lots of stress to something that is already a big transition for your child. Children are very adaptable and will find new ways to go to sleep when mom is not there. Your child and his other caregiver(s) will work things out just fine, and they will find new ways to comfort that work great for both of them. The same will happen when your child weans.

How can I gently encourage my child to fall asleep without breastfeeding (and without crying)?

First, remember that if breastfeeding to sleep is not a problem for you, your child will discontinue it on his own without help from you. If you’d like to try to accelerate the process, read on…

Try transitioning from breastfeeding your child totally to sleep, to breastfeeding him almost asleep; then to just really relaxed, and then eventually to no breastfeeding at all to go to sleep. The process may take a long time, or it may not. If you’ll start out taking it as gradually as you possibly can, it will probably work better and you’ll avoid possible problems and frustrations for both you and your baby.

You might start by lying down with him in the bed he will sleep in for naps, or on the floor, etc. – wherever he will be sleeping. Don’t insist that he sleep in the crib if he doesn’t want to. Your goal at this point it to get him comfortable enough and secure enough to go to sleep on his own. You don’t want that made more difficult by any fears of being alone in his crib.

After he is okay with breastfeeding to sleep in this way, you might try nursing him till he’s almost asleep; eyes closed, heavy breathing but not completely out. Then transition to nursing just till he is relaxed and settled from all the activity prior to the nursing session. When he has done well with you leaving after only nursing this long, then you can try to transition him to going to sleep entirely on his own. You might offer him a favorite toy, book, etc. Give him a kiss and a hug and tell him “night night” in a way that is upbeat and positive. Try to have naptime and bedtime at the same time every day with a routine that he can begin to recognize and expect. For example, have naptime every day after lunchtime or have bedtime every night after snack or bathtime. That way he knows what to expect. You might even remind him that naptime or bedtime are coming and talk excitedly about it. For an older baby or toddler, ask him what he would like to take to bed with him; talk about the place he will sleep, how nice it is, etc. Allow him to have the light on if he wishes or the door open or whatever he wants in the bed with him – don’t fight him on the little things.

Again, your goal is to get him to a comfortable enough place that he feels secure enough to go to sleep without nursing and by himself.

My child wants to comfort nurse the entire time he’s napping! How can I slip away without waking him?

It’s really not unusual for children to wish to breastfeed while napping. They do grow out of it eventually. There are a couple of things that you could try to help you to slip away.

Depending upon how big he is, you might let him continue to sleep latched on, but have him in a carrier (sling, wrap, etc.) so you can get up and do things while he sleeps.

You can also work on slipping away after your child goes to sleep. Make sure he is deeply asleep and no longer swallowing before you try this (you may have to wait a while). He’ll then be doing what we sometimes call “flutter sucking” or comfort sucking, a really light suck. When a baby is in a light sleep, you’ll see facial grimaces, partially clenched fists, muscle twitches, fluttering eyelids, and overall tense muscle tone. You can recognize deep sleep by an almost motionless face, regular breathing, still eyelids, and especially the limp-limb sign — arms dangling weightlessly at baby’s sides, hands open and muscles relaxed.

Once your child is in a deep sleep, try and slip away very slowly. One thing that sometimes helps is to slip a finger in his mouth near the nipple, then ease the nipple out so he is just sucking your finger. Then you can ease your finger out of his mouth – it helps to put a little pressure on baby’s bottom lip as you do this. By doing this, you can often keep baby from waking. Putting something right up next to him that has mom’s scent (a t-shirt, pillow, or an animal he sleeps with) also helps.

My children often seem to detect the loss of body contact and warmth when I get up. As I’m getting up, I keep my hand(s) on baby for a few moments, then *gradually* take them away so the transition isn’t so sudden. Baby will usually stir when I get up, but often goes back to sleep if I keep my hands on him till he gets still again. If your baby is older, it can also be helpful to put a hard pillow (preferably a warm one that you’ve been sleeping near) beside him in the spot where you were sleeping so that he doesn’t feel empty space if he reaches out in his sleep. If baby was resting his feet on me (common with mine), then I’ll sometimes even put a pillow under his feet. With an older baby/toddler, I lay him down on top of my pillow if I’m trying to put him down on the bed when he’s already asleep. (Keep in mind that it’s not safe to use pillows with young babies due to SIDS risk.)

It’s often easier to slip away during a nap when you’re both lying down. If you’re nursing sitting up, the position change may be waking him – you might try nursing him on a pillow in your lap so you can just transfer him to a bed or the floor without moving him around as much (again, younger babies should not be sleeping on or near pillows). If baby wakes when you put him in his crib, you might try moving him to a baby-safe bed or pallet on the floor, instead of his crib – he might nap better in a different place.

This article has additional tips for helping baby stay asleep: Let Sleeping Babies Lie – please…

My toddler wants to comfort nurse

forever when he’s trying to fall asleep.

Sometimes we start to question ourselves (again, perhaps) when we have a breastfeeding toddler who wants to hang out at the breast for hours at bedtime, without ever quite falling asleep. Have you ever had one of those nights when you keep trying to slip away, thinking your toddler is asleep, to be interrupted by a sleepy protest every time you try to unlatch? The later at night it is, the more you can start to doubt yourself and wonder if “they” might have been right about that “bad habit.”

Both of my kids have gone through stages of time (often teething or illness related) when they wanted to stay latched forever, but remember that these are usually just stages that come and go. If you are willing to let your toddler continue to nurse to sleep, rest assured that he will learn to fall asleep on his own, in his own time.

What if the comfort nursing is becoming uncomfortable for you, or if you just feel that you’d like to move away from it? If you’re experiencing discomfort, pull your child closer in and check on latch and positioning – remember that even constant comfort nursing should not be uncomfortable if latch and positioning are as they should be (assuming you’re not pregnant). If you feel the need to gently ease away from nursing to sleep, then go ahead and do so (see above for tips) – nursing is a two-way street and there is no reason not to have some basic age-appropriate “nursing rules” for toddlers. But don’t feel that you need to change things just because someone wants to “guilt” you into it — it’s only a problem if it’s adversely affecting your family.

Additional Resources

Sleeping Through the Night
Cluster Feeding and Fussy Evenings
Frequent Nursing
Safe Co-sleeping and bed-sharing
Night Weaning
Read excerpts from Good Nights by Jay Gordon, M. D. and Maria Goodavage (including “Any ideas on how I can have a little time to myself while my baby naps?”)
Are you worried that you will spoil your baby?
What should I know about giving my breastfed baby a pacifier?

@ other websites

Comfort Nursing and Nursing to Sleep

5 Cool Things No One Ever Told You About Nighttime Breastfeeding from Breastfeeding Chicago
When They Need You to Fall Asleep: Self-Soothing and Other Myths by Wendy Wisner
The Human Pacifier by Lu Hanessian, from New Beginnings Vol. 19 No. 1, January-February 2002, p. 14
Nursing for Comfort by Teresa Pitman
Comfort versus nutrition by Kathryn Orlinsky
Normal Infant Sleep: Night Nursing’s Importance My child only goes to sleep nursing by Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D.
8 Infant Sleep Facts Every Parent Should Know from AskDrSears.com

Controlled Crying

Position Paper on Controlled Crying (Sleep Training) from the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health
Baby Sleep Training: Mistakes “Experts” and Parents Make: Advice to ignore the needs of babies by Darcia Narvaez, Ph. D.
Controlled crying… oops sorry controlled comforting by Sue Cox RN, RM, IBCLC, ABA breastfeeding counsellor
Stress in Infancy by Linda Folden Palmer, D.C.
Letting Baby “Cry-It-Out” Yes, No! from AskDrSears.com
The Con of Controlled Crying by Pinky McKay
Cry It Out: The Potential Dangers of Leaving Your Baby to Cry by Margaret Chuong-Kim
Mistaken Approaches to Night Waking by Paul M. Fleiss, MD, MPH, FAAP, fromSweet Dreams: A Pediatrician’s Secrets for Baby’s Good Night’s Sleep
Children Need Touching and Attention, Harvard Researchers Say, from the Harvard Gazette

Is it really so bad to nurse a baby to sleep?

There’s nothing more peaceful than having your baby doze off during her nighttime feeding—so why do experts discourage breastfeeding your baby to sleep?

For many moms, nursing a baby to sleep is a peaceful, relaxing habit that comes naturally to both them and their babies. Unfortunately, it’s likely not the best way to set your baby up for a restful night’s sleep.

“Babies arouse two to six times in the night as a result of normal healthy sleep rhythms,” explains Pamela Mitelman, a Montreal-based clinical psychologist who specializes in paediatric sleep. But they don’t necessarily fully wake up every time. The difference between a slight arousal or a full-blown wakeup? Sometimes it’s if they’re dependent on something to get them back to sleep. It could be rocking, a pacifier or nursing—whatever it is, if it isn’t there, they’ll wake up looking for it. So, if your baby develops a need to nurse to fall asleep, they could potentially fully wake up needing you at every little arousal—basically every 90 to 120 minutes in the night.

In the early days, it’s virtually impossible for your newborn not to doze off while nursing because his circadian rhythm hasn’t been established and breastmilk is a natural sleep inducer. So if your baby is less than two months old, try not to worry that much when you see his eyes close mid-feed. That said, you can instil good sleep habits from the get-go by trying to put your baby down while he’s tired but not asleep, even just once in a while, to get him used to the idea of falling asleep without nursing. “After a few months, we encourage moms to try to keep the baby awake during feeds,” says Janey Reilly, CEO and founder of WeeSleep. This might mean tickling his feet, or nursing in a brightly lit, noisy area to help him avoid the temptation to drift off.

It’s not that you can’t nurse your baby at bedtime, but try not to do it as the last part of the routine, says Mitelman. “The best way to put an infant to sleep is in a drowsy but awake state,” she says. For example, you could try nursing your baby without letting him fall asleep, then put him in a sleeper, turn off the lights and place him in the crib. “If a six-month-old or even a four-month-old is being nursed, has a cat nap, opens his eyes, then mom puts him into bed, he is not as primed for sleep,” says Mitelman. (If your baby still needs a feed in the night, the wakeup should be at a consistent time every night, and he should be able to feed and then get back to sleep without much fuss.)

During the day, starting at about four months, Reilly suggests feeding your baby when he wakes up from a nap, rather than when he’s going down, which has the added benefit of giving your baby a full, hearty feed, rather than having him doze off and not getting all the milk he needs.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with nursing your baby to sleep, if you want your baby to sleep through the night so you can too, you’ll likely have to change that nighttime feed. Whether he’s four months old, six months old, or even a year old, the most effective way to break the habit is to not make nursing the last step before sleep, and make sure that when he does nurse, he stays awake for the full feed. Mitelman recommends breaking the nursing-to-sleep habit at bedtime first. “It’s the easiest time because they are most primed for sleep. ”

Keep in mind, your baby will not likely take to the new routine without some protest, and the older they are, the stronger their protest is going to be. “A one-year-old who has had a whole year of being nursed to sleep will protest a lot harder than a younger child,” says Mitelman. She adds that wakeups for a one-year-old tend to be more prolonged than for a younger baby, too. “Oftentimes, what happens is they’re nursed to sleep, they wake in the night, the mother tries to nurse them back to sleep, but now their child may be up for one to two hours. It seems like they need to be nursed to sleep, but it’s really a habit that has been formed and, as the infant develops, it will no longer be an effective means of attaining healthy sleep.”

Stay consistent, say the experts, and know that you can break the habit. “The reality is everything is fixable when it comes to sleep,” says Reilly. It may help to keep your mind on the end goal, says Mitelman. “The habit needs to end if you want your baby to sleep through the night. ”

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FILED UNDER: Baby care baby sleep Breastfeeding nursing routine service seo

Daily routine for a child under 1 year old

Daily routine is a system for distributing periods of sleep and wakefulness, meals, hygiene and health procedures, activities and independent human activities throughout the day.

Compliance with a rational daily routine corresponding to the age characteristics of the child contributes to his healthy growth and development. Getting used to performing various types of activities at the same time, the child is prepared for the upcoming type of activity at every moment of time, which ensures their easier and faster implementation. Compliance with the correct daily routine provides a good mood for the child and maintains a keen interest in the study of the world around him, contributing to his normal motor and psychoverbal development. nine0003

The child's daily routine includes the following obligatory elements: diet, time spent outdoors during the day, frequency and duration of sleep, mandatory classes to develop skills in accordance with age, free time.

In the first months after birth, a healthy newborn baby sleeps for most of the day, since all external stimuli are very strong for the nervous system of a child, accustomed to a cozy intrauterine environment, and cause its rapid exhaustion. As the child grows older, the duration of sleep gradually decreases and the time of wakefulness increases. nine0003

nine0013 4 times 2 hours

Age	Daytime sleep mode	Night sleep	Wake mode
From birth to 2 months	6 x 2.5 hours	6 hours	During feeding
2-4 months	5 times 2-2.5 hours	6.5 hours	4 x 1.5 hours
4-6 months	4-5 times for 2 hours	7 hours
6-9 months	3-4 times for 1.5-2 hours	8 hours	4 x 2.5 hours
9-12 months	2 x 1.5-2 hours	9-10 hours	4 times for 3-4 hours

Closely related to the sleep-wake mode is the feeding mode of the baby. The sleep of a child in the first months of life is very sensitive and is easily disturbed under the influence of various extraneous stimuli, including hunger. nine0003

Age	Mode	Example
From birth to 2 months	7-8 times, every 3 hours	6,9,12,15,18,21,24 (no night feeding)
From 2 to 6 months	6-7 times, every 3.5 hours	6, 9.30, 13, 16.30, 20, 23.30 (without night feeding) 6, 9.30, 13, 16.30, 20, 23.30, 03 (with night feeding)
From 7-12 months	5 times, every 4 hours	6,10,14,18,22

A child's stay in the fresh air is essential in the daily routine. The total duration of stay in the open air for children under 1 year of age should be at least 5-6 hours a day. Fresh air has a calming effect on the baby, improves metabolic processes, and increases the body's defenses. In the summer, all games and activities should be held outdoors; in the cold and transitional seasons, two one-time walks of 1. 5-2 hours are provided. nine0003

Fresh air also has a beneficial effect on sleep. By acting on the skin and mucous membranes of the nose and upper respiratory tract, it provides a faster fall asleep of the child and a higher quality of sleep. Sleeping outside can replace a walk, especially during the cold season.

The child's daily routine is generally individual, but ideally, one should strive to ensure that the child eats after waking up, and then stays awake until the next sleep. A well-slept baby eats with appetite and then calmly and actively plays or engages, and tired of games, easily goes to sleep. nine0003

When your baby is awake, try to keep him active and cheerful. It is necessary to dress the child in loose clothing that does not hinder movement, provide access to toys appropriate for his age, and most importantly, actively participate in games and activities with the baby as a whole family.
Author - Physiotherapist - DMITRIENKO T.G.

How to wake up a baby for feeding and whether it is necessary to wake up a baby in the afternoon

05/29/2020

For any parent, the question of whether to wake up a baby is not easy. On the one hand, there are fears that a child who has been sleeping for a long time will not be able to fall asleep in time later, and on the other hand, how to raise such an angel, who was laid down for so long...

Let's discuss situations where it is important to wake up a child and how to do this so that his sleep is not affected.

Let's start with the smallest children. You've probably heard the phrase "never wake a sleeping baby." But it is not always fair. Some newborn babies wake up on their own for feedings, while others need to be awakened. Whether or not you need to wake your baby depends on their age, weight, and overall health.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waking your baby for feedings if he sleeps more than 4 hours in the first two weeks of life. On average, a baby needs feeding every 2-3 hours. nine0003

Frequent feeding is very important for several reasons:

The baby's stomach is very small, the baby quickly digests breast milk. Faster than a mix. Therefore, physiologically, the child necessarily needs frequent feedings every 2-3 hours.
Babies can sometimes sleep even when hungry, thus malnourished, which affects their development.
After birth, the baby loses 5-10% of its body weight. And in the first weeks he needs to gain weight. Lack of milk or formula slows down this process. nine0143
A short interval between feedings helps to maintain lactation. That allows you to avoid problems with a shortage of milk in the future.

Tears already signal strong hunger. Therefore, it is better to breastfeed the baby before the baby starts crying. Learn to recognize the early signs of hunger: the baby puts his hand in his mouth, smacks his lips, tossing and turning when he sleeps.

Do I need to wake my baby up for feeding during the day? In general, if an infant sleeps for more than 3 hours in one dream during daylight hours, he must be awakened. Then the mother can feed the already awakened baby. This makes it possible to adjust the work of the biological rhythms of the baby. nine0003

How to Wake Up

Help your child gradually fall asleep by stroking their arms, legs or lightly tickling them.
Change diaper. Often this is enough for the baby to wake up and be ready to eat.
Undress and place skin to skin on your chest. You can squeeze a few drops of milk onto your baby's mouth. He will smell and taste it and begin to suck on the breast.
Speak - he will hear your voice and wake up. nine0143
Avoid bright lights. A dim light is sufficient. The bright light will blind your eyes.
If the baby has latched onto the breast but has not begun to suckle, stroke his cheek.

How long to feed

As soon as the baby wakes up and starts to feed, make sure the feed is long enough to empty at least one breast. So we will know that he ate hind milk, which is necessary for the growth of the child's body. Some babies take 45 minutes or more to feed one breast, and some do it in 10 minutes. nine0003

The sucking reflex promotes falling asleep. Therefore, make sure that the baby does not fall asleep while feeding. If he falls asleep, change position, lift him up to burp, and then start feeding again.

By 6 months you will have a more or less predictable eating schedule. But each baby will have his own. Some of the children eat every 2 hours, and someone is able to stay without food for 3-4 hours by the second month of life. This is especially true for children who are formula fed.

The time intervals between feedings increase as the child grows older. By the age of six months, many babies can already go without supplements at night or are able to sleep for longer periods.

If a baby wakes up too often after 6 months and asks for food in the dark, perhaps this is no longer hunger, but a way to relax and fall asleep.

Avoid using a pacifier in the first weeks after delivery. The pacifier helps the child to calm down and prolong sleep. So you may not notice that your baby is hungry. Therefore, start using a pacifier no earlier than 4-6 weeks and when you are lactating. nine0003

Should the baby be woken up to feed formula? As with breastfeeding, the newborn needs frequent formula feeding. But the interval will be more than 3-4 hours.

When it is necessary to wake up the child

It is important to wake up the baby in the morning if he fell asleep later than 7.00. This is especially true for children who still sleep 1-2-3 times during the day and have already developed a relatively stable routine. So you create the perfect routine in the morning.

After waking up, children need time to work up their fatigue for the next nap, the ideal window for which is around 9and 13 hours (depending on age).

Therefore, if the baby slept until 8 am, he simply will not be able to fall asleep in his first daytime sleep.

In order for the baby to wake up calmly without tears, you can enter a wake-up ritual. It allows the child to smoothly transition from a sleepy state to wakefulness.

Example of a wake-up ritual:

Opening curtains/lights on
Welcome words and a kiss
Snacks, nursery rhymes after sleep
Happy song

Then you can get up and start breakfast. For older children, such a ritual is also necessary.

The awakening ritual has different tasks:

Marks the end of sleep,
Teaches a child that everyday sounds are not a reason to wake up,
Helps prevent baby from crying when waking up.

It will also be useful to have a light alarm. If the baby wakes up early, he will stay in bed until he sees the light on the clock. nine0003

When to wake up your baby after a nap

Many babies from 4 to 8 months sleep three times a day.

In this mode, it is important to wake up the baby after the third nap no later than 17.00. The duration of this segment is about 45 minutes, but not more than an hour. Then you can easily put the baby to bed by 19 o'clock.

Transition to one nap

At the age of 15-18 months there is a transition to one nap. It can be long and take place in different ways. nine0003

For example:

In the morning, the baby falls asleep easily and sleeps up to 2 hours. But then it is difficult to put it in lunch. And by the evening without rest at lunchtime, he is already overworked and falls asleep with difficulty.

Therefore, if this is your case, you can pick up the child after 60-75 minutes. At the same time, move the start of the second sleep 15 minutes later. But if the baby sleeps for 1 hour in the morning and then it’s already difficult to fall asleep a second time, start putting him down only at lunchtime.

One nap after 2 years

Between 2.5-5 years, daytime sleep may disappear. Here again, the story described above is often repeated. It seems that the child falls asleep perfectly during the day, sleeps for a long time, but in the evening, laying down is delayed until 10-11 pm.