Let me start by saying that if you have a newborn then this will probably not work, as newborns sleep about 14 to 18 hours a day.
As your infant gets a little older, I would say about 3 to 6 months you can start trying to aviod those middle of the night feedings. The reason being that this age is sleeping about 12 to 15 hours, and may be doing less sleeping throughout the day.
Just because your baby wakes up in the middle of the night doesn’t always mean that he/she is hungry. In some cases the reason that they wake up is because it is the pattern that they are used to. Instead of instantly feeding your baby when he/she wakes up, try soothing them back to sleep.
If you feel like your baby truly is hungry then please go on and feed them. I suggest giving this a try, because in some cases the longer that you wait the more you baby is going to want to get up and eat.
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Thanks for the nice informations about feeding the baby.It really helps to all new mothers out there.
Comment by Amor — Apr 16 @ 11:42 am
Except if you are breastfeeding and this can lead to a reduced supply. If a baby is getting ready to hit a growth spurt, it’s likely that they are fussier through the night and (even if they didn’t need it just a week or two earlier) trying to boost your milk supply by nursing more frequently. Avoiding night time nursing can also cause fertility to return sooner, so for moms who want to delay menses as long as possible (which helps to prevent breast cancer) night nursing is especially important.
Comment by OneMom — Apr 17 @ 10:12 pm
Good advice! I think I will actually try that with my next baby (due in June!), because I always did feed my son right away when he woke up at night…so this is a great idea because, like you said, they might not actually be hungry.
Comment by Andrea — Apr 18 @ 1:56 pm