Do I need to wake the baby for feeding at night?
If the baby sleeps sweetly next to mommy or in a separate bed, but it’s been quite a long time since the previous feeding, mothers are wondering if you need to wake your baby to feed it.
Someone, without doubt, bothers the baby a couple of hours after falling asleep, trying to give him food. Someone is sure that with hunger the child would not sleep, but loudly “told” to his mother that he wanted to eat. Who is right about night feedings and how to wake up the baby correctly so that there is no stress for the child’s body?
When do you need to wake up?
Of course, it is undesirable to interrupt the baby’s sleep, because in the case of a natural awakening the psychoemotional state of the infant will be better. But to assert that it is never necessary to wake the crumbs, too, will not work. When deciding what to do, you need to take into account many factors, including the weight and age of the infant, his health, and the type of feeding.
If the baby is only a few days old, and he sleeps more than 3 hours all the time, without waking up, the mother should consult with the pediatrician. Such a long sleep can be one of the symptoms of various diseases. On average, babies of the first month of life eat every 2-3 hours, so their sleep rarely exceeds this interval.
Baby grows up and increasingly prefers to sleep rather than eat, so by 6 months many babies refuse to eat at night.
To decide whether to wake the toddler for feeding, it is necessary to take into account the weight of the baby. A healthy, well-gaining mass of a child should not be awakened, even if he has not eaten for 4-5 hours. If the baby is premature or is gaining weight very badly, long pauses between feedings can only worsen its condition. Such babies should eat more often, so without interrupting sleep for the sake of feeding is not enough.
Another reason to wake the baby up for feeding at night is to reduce the lactation of the mother. It is nightly meals that make the body of a woman produce hormones that support milk production. Having woken the baby for feeding, mother will be able to overcome difficulties with lactation.
How to wake up a child for night feeding?
Even if the baby is completely healthy, and the woman's milk is produced in abundance, the mother may need to disturb the sleep of the child for the next feeding. This happens if a woman needs to leave the house, for example, for an exam or pass tests. Therefore, many mothers should learn how to wake up the baby, so that it would be at least uncomfortable for him.
- Take the baby in your arms and walk around the room. In this case, you can talk with a baby or sing a song, make a small massage, stroke the back, move it with arms and legs. Typically, such actions cause rapid waking up and the emergence of interest in food.
- Begin to change baby clothes or change a diaper. Most tots quickly react to such manipulations.
- If all previous versions of the effect have not yielded, bathing the baby may be the last resort. However, in cases where the baby is so sleepy that you had to wake him with a swim, we recommend that you contact your pediatrician.
It is not necessary to completely wake the baby. It is only necessary that he began to suck the breast. To do this, take the crumbs so as to take a comfortable position for feeding. Stroking his cheek or karapuz sponge, you make him want to turn his head to his chest and grab the nipple, but do not wake up.If the baby has taken the nipple in his mouth, but continues to sleep, he can be stroked or tickled his cheek or ear, and his chest can be shaken a little.
It is important to carefully monitor the baby, and if he is constantly drowsy, naughty, unfriendly and sluggish, the baby should be shown to the doctor.
