In some rare cases, lucky mothers find their baby sleeps through the night almost from the time they are brought home. But most are not so fortunate. Nearly all new babies need to be fed through the night; some even require more than one feed.
Since breast milk is so easy to digest, breast fed babies tend to waken for more feeds through the night because they get hungry more quickly. But there comes a time when baby needs to learn to sleep right through the night. Sometimes this happens naturally, but very often mothers must encourage it to happen. Since no one wants to be constantly getting up for night feeds, working towards such a goal is necessary.
One of the main signs that baby is ready to do without that night feed is when he wakens at a later time for his night feed – and in the morning does not seem hungry. Some babies even refuse the morning feed for an hour or two. With a little encouragement baby can learn to do without that feed in the wee hours and learn to wait until morning.
Two things will help this to happen: making the night feed a little later than usual and offering a little more feed than usual for the last meal. The former will be easy to manage if baby refuses his first feed of the day for an hour. You can adjust the timing of feeds for the rest of the day so that the last one will be later than normal – and so baby will feel less hungry in the night.
Getting baby to take a little more feed for his evening meal may not be so easy if he doesn’t want it. In this case, try offering a bottle just before bedtime. Even if he only takes a small portion it may be enough to keep him asleep throughout the night.
Babies often wake up through the night as a habit. They are used to being fed then and their body clock nudges them to stir and cry. However, if the baby is settled down again with a dummy rather than a bottle he will often go back to sleep without a feed, especially if you can catch him before he is fully awake. In this case, don’t pick him up from his cot, but rather pat him back to sleep without any further disturbance.
If the baby is being breastfed, make sure he is given enough milk to fill him up. This can be done simply by offering him some formula in a bottle after his feed. If he accepts it, then he must be hungry enough to need a little more. But if baby doesn’t like the taste of the teat, then offering a little formula when he is hungry – before his feed – might work best.
Once baby is old enough for solids, sleeping throughout the night should certainly be encouraged – even expected. But of course, most mothers hope to get a full night’s sleep well before this.