Feeding the child at night. How to wean a child from night feeding?

Why does the child are night feeding? At what age can you refuse them? Detailed tips on how to wean the baby from night food.

Sunno nights - this is what most mothers are associated with the first months of motherhood. If desired, these troubles can be avoided. But you have to deprive the baby of night feeding. From what age can you teach the baby to sleep without milk all night? How to wean a little amateur to eat after midnight from late food? And do I need to do this?

Breastfeeding at night

Feed the baby at night or not? The answer to this question depends on what the child eats. If it is on breastfeeding, then the answer is unequivocal - yes!

The first two months, pediatricians advise feeding the baby on demand. This technique does not depend on the time of day. Whenever the child cries, in the afternoon or at night, he needs to be attached to his chest and try to feed him. If he refuses, then it is worth checking if he has other reasons for crying: uncomfortable clothes, cold, wet diaper.

Late feeding is important not only for the baby, but also for the mother. After all, after three in the morning, the production of prolactin becomes maximum. This hormone helps to turn into mature milk, and regulates its amount. It turns out that night feeding in the first months of the baby’s life is the key to successful breastfeeding in the future. In addition, night feeding will protect you from lactostasis and mastitis.

If the baby woke up at night, the easiest way to lull him is to give him a chest. The baby calms down not only from the feeling of saturation, but also from the sucking movements themselves. He feels mother's warmth, hears the knock of her heart, feels a familiar smell .... But he is already sleeping, and his mother also has time to rest. Until the next feeding.

Feeding a child with a mixture at night

The situation is different if the breastfeeding has broken. In this situation, only a baby, but not a mother, will receive benefits from late feedings. Does the baby sleep firmly at night? Then it makes no sense to wake it up and stuff it with a mixture.

If the baby is healthy and cheerful, he does not have a weight in weight, and he eats well during the day, let him sleep 3, 5 or even 7 hours in a row. In the morning he will catch up. But if he wakes up every couple of hours and loudly requires a favorite bottle, do not refuse. To do this, it is convenient to keep in the heater the water for the mixture, heated to the desired temperature. So you will cook food faster. You can’t prepare the mixture in the evening.

The artificial mother often has a temptation to calm the awakened baby, giving him a bottle of food, and go to fill up. Never do this. The child is not yet able to completely control the food process. He can choke, drop a bottle or burst food. You always need to wait for the end of the meal, and then hold it in an upright position. So the air that the baby could accidentally swallow with food will come out faster. So, the baby will not torment colic.

How many times to feed a child at night?

What should be a break in feeding at night? Most doctors already in the hospital allow mothers to sleep for 5 hours if the baby does not require food. In the afternoon, it is recommended not to allow him to remain hungry for more than three hours.

Moms of small and premature children feed babies every three hours, both in the afternoon and at night. In this case, the baby wakes up, even if he was not going to eat.

In the first months of life, it is recommended to feed on demand. Experienced mothers say that the baby can “demand” every hour, while staying at the chest for 10 minutes. Other children can sleep calmly for 5-7 hours.

Do you need a break in night feeding?

Starting from the third month, you can proceed to the free feeding methodology. It is similar to feeding on demand, but a pause between meals should be at least two hours. A new portion of food can upset the tender gastrointestinal tract of the baby, if it has undigested residues.

Important: do not forget: after a break in feeding will become more than six hours, prolactin in your body will become less. It will stop slowing the ovulation cycle. If you do not want to become a mother of weather, you have to use contraceptives.

Until six months, a break in night feeding determines, rather, the baby himself than a mother. The mother’s task is to make the child’s day so full and so rich that he wakes up as little as possible and let his parents get enough sleep.

Night feeding: at what age?

• Pediatricians say that for six months a healthy baby is quite able to do without night feeding. After this period, late food is already your good will. The child has no biological need in it.
• The famous children's doctor Evgeny Komarovsky recommends abandoning frequent night feeding if they burden their parents. Although he treats children, his basic principle is “Mom is also a man!” Komarovsky comments: “Mom such a regime is harmful. It is necessary to try to change the child feeding system so that he ate more often at night. For example, at 6 months you can eat 3 times per night, but this is a lot. To bring the situation to one feeding is more than real. ”
• By the way, sometimes it happens that the baby sleeps tightly all night up to six months, and after this time suddenly begins to wake up and demand the “additives”. This is due to teething. During this period, children get used to “hanging” on their mother for hours, because the gums were swollen and itch.

In this case, you can replace night feeding:

• nipple;
• cooling teething;
• anesthetic ointment for gums.

And remember that when the teeth erupted, night feeding becomes even harmful. The baby can face bottle caries, which causes the remnants of sweet milk or a mixture on the first teeth.

Do I need to wake the child for feeding at night?

More recently, all mothers were recommended to feed children on schedule. In this case, the baby had to be woken up to feed on schedule. Now doctors do not recommend disturbing a strong dream of crumbs. The only exception is small children.

How to teach a child to sleep at night without feeding?

Most often, the kids themselves are taught to sleep on the night by six months. If the baby still often bothers you with crying, try changing its mode.

1. The mentioned Dr. Komarovsky advises three tricks to make the baby's sleep strong. Firstly, to take a big break before the last feeding, so that the baby is hungry for dinner, like a wolf. Secondly, to bathe it in cool water immediately before bedtime. Thirdly, firmly feed after bathing. And, of course, the baby’s day should also be saturated so that he is just tired by the evening.
2. If you have already introduced complementary foods, try not to give breasts, but porridge before bedtime. The "adult" food is more calorie, and the baby will remain full.
3. Check the atmosphere in the room. During the heating season, the air in the nursery can be very overdried. Accordingly, it also dries up in the mouth of the child. Perhaps he wakes up from thirst, not hunger.
4. Try to replace night food with water or nipple. Experienced mothers say that by going to the water, the children gradually stop waking up at night.

Dad at night with a baby

1. Bring the dad to the process. The dad’s handles are just as warm and comfortable, but does not smell of milk. Having learned to fall asleep without food, the child will simply stop interrupting the dream.
2. If you sleep with the baby in the same bed, put on a closed pajamas so that the baby is difficult to get to the chest. Create a small barrier-leaf among themselves and the baby. Think about whether it is time for the baby to move into your own crib. But if the baby perceives “moving” negatively, you do not need to create two stresses at the same time.
3. Change the food mode during the day. The child should not lose one feeding. Let the night meal happen closer to the morning, and gradually turn into the first breakfast.
4. Even a well -fed baby can simply demand your attention. Communicate more with him during the day, more often pick it up. If there is no way to play with him for a long time, sing songs and tell fairy tales while doing household chores.

Night feeding is important not only for a newborn, but also for mom. They allow the baby to gain weight well, and mother to produce enough milk, avoiding lactostasis and mastitis. But over time, they become only harmful to both.

After six months, it is advisable to reduce the number of night feeding to a minimum. There are many ways for this, but the most important of them are sanity, patience and love.

Video: How to wean from night feeding?