Less night feeds = more sleep?
Reducing your baby’s night feeds won’t necessarily mean a reduction in night wakings.
Infants wake in the night for numerous reasons including hunger, separation anxiety, teething, a change in their temperature, loneliness, nightmares and during developmental milestones such as rolling, crawling or walking for example. This is all completely biologically normal.
As adults, we naturally go through periods of stress, upheaval, illness, anxiety and loss, and we wouldn’t think to question our less-than-optimal sleep in these periods. Yet many people question babies waking during the night for anything other than nutrition, when actually they go through SO MUCH change and development in their first few years of life. It’s inevitable they will look for reassurance from parents at night as well as in the day. And if we respond to them during the day - it would be confusing and even frightening for them if we didn’t do the same at night.
Written by Claire, IBCLC and founder of Latch.
Claire supports families with evidence-based breastfeeding and responsive sleep support and volunteers with Leeds Bosom Buddies and the National Breastfeeding Helpline.
