When your baby is a newborn, a feed is usually offered for every night waking as the first option. Our midwives tell us or we read about how babies tummies are tiny and they need regular feeds. So any time our precious newborn squeaks, our first option is to feed, day or night!
However, as your baby moves beyond the newborn stage, it's well worth knowing that not every night waking automatically means your baby is hungry. There are many reasons babies are awake or unsettled in the night, a hungry tummy is just one of those reasons.
Yes, your baby will always be happy to take the breast or bottle and for many parents, they are happy to use feeding as their go to resettling technique. Babies often settle most quickly with a feed and everyone is back to sleep pretty quickly.
Is a feed what is most needed?
There are lots of reasons babies wake in the night, including the physiological changes that happen around 4-5 months when babies start to wake fully between every sleep cycle.
Have a read of our article on Why is My Baby Waking in the Night for some of the other reasons your baby may be awake in the night.
What if my baby is hungry?
A hungry baby is highly unlikely to go back to sleep unless they are fed. So read your baby's cues and see if they are showing hungry signs.
And if you try a cuddle or another settling technique and baby still won't go back to sleep, it's likely they do need a feed.
This article is not suggesting you don't feed your baby if they are hungry! It's more about awareness for new parents that there are many reasons that babies wake. And that other reasons for waking can often be settled with techniques other than feeding.Â
Your well child provider or GP can also help you with knowing if your baby it putting on enough weight and when you can start to gradually reduce the number of night feeds.
I'm happy feeding my baby every time she wakes
Awesome! Babies need feeds in the night and it's a quick way to get everyone back to sleep.
If you want to feed your baby in the night as your first option for settling, that is absolutely fine and the choice of many parents to feed immediately rather than look at whether other resettling techniques may work.
Resettling Techniques
As your baby gets older, you may feel maybe a feed isn't needed for every wake-up and you want to try resettling. Or your baby is waking every hour or two and you are quite confident that a feed isn't needed every time - you're the best judge of how many night feeds are right for your baby.
So when you feel you want to reduce a night feed, you might want to try one or some of these techniques before offering a feed to help baby back to sleep - these are to be used if you think your baby isn't hungry.
- Roll baby onto their side and pat their bum (always roll them onto their back for sleep).
- Cuddle or rock baby until drowsy and put down to fall asleep in bed.
- Stroke baby's forehead upwards from between the nose.
- Crank up white noise volume until they go back to sleep then leave quietly on continuously.
- Sit by the cot holding your baby's hand.
- Rub baby's tummy.
- Offer a dummy to satisfy sucking.
- Offer a comforter to cuddle (only if your baby is over 7 months old) – choose a breathable, age-appropriate option, such as a Cuski.
- Use the Pick-Up, Put Down method – pick up and cuddle until calm, then put baby back down into bed and give them some opportunity to settle before repeating.
- Use some spaced soothing or Verbal Reassurance, with short periods of time out of the bedroom and saying a reassuring phrase repeatedly rather than picking baby up. We generally recommend this from at least 6 months old.
Read more 3-6 Month sleep articles
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