Successfully Stopping Night Feeding
Night feeding can be the nightmare of the weaning process. Night feeds are usually very comforting for a child, and most of the time it’s comfort and not food that your child really requires when night feeding. On the parents’ part, though, it can be very tiring and difficult to constantly get up at night to comfort the baby. Some parents want to be able to stop night feeds as soon as possible in order to get a full night’s sleep.
Babies naturally grow out of night feeding. For some babies it is faster, and for others it does take a while. There have been stories of some toddlers who still get up in the middle of the night, not necessarily for the feed anymore, but because they are so used to the comfort that they receive.
On average, new born babies will need to feed because they are hungry about twice a night. This will continue on till they are about two months old. By the time they are approaching their third month, babies will need one night feeding because they are hungry. This continues on till their fourth month. Some babies begin early and start sleeping for around seven hours straight by their fourth month, while other babies start at five months.
Beyond five months, and your baby may be waking up at night, not because they are hungry, but because they want comfort and are used to waking up at night. Babies have sleep cycles the same way we do, but their sleep cycles are much shorter, approximately thirty minutes per cycle. In between cycles, babies tend to wake up. If the last thing they remember was holding their bottle, or being pressed against your breast, they may begin crying.
They cry because they want comfort. They have gotten used to seeing their bottle or you, and they cry so you or the bottle will come back. If you leave the bottle in your child’s crib or bed for them to suck on throughout the night, they will cry if it runs out. This is also not advisable because it often leads to tooth decay.
If you think it is unusual for babies to wake up between cycles, know that you do it too. Only you have become an expert at just turning around or adjusting yourself in bed and then going back to sleep. You don’t notice that you’re partially awake. Babies, however do notice.
Another reason behind waking up at night is because the baby is fed frequently during the day. Frequent, short feedings during the day means the baby will definitely need food at night because they are hungry. They didn’t get enough to eat that day. Beginning two months old, space out your baby’s feedings to every couple of hours, feeding them about eight times a day. By the time they are four months old, only feed them every four hours. This should help them sleep through the night because they will not be hungry.
Frequent feedings will also cause your child to go to the bathroom more often, and they can be waking up at night because their diapers are soaked. If your baby is older than five months and you are into the process of getting them to sleep through the night, try not to change their diapers at night. If you absolutely have to, make as little noise as possible, and use very little light so as not to wake your baby.
Page Two: The Process to Stop Night Feeding (Successfully Stopping Night Feeding continued)
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