When you determine that the time is right, let your baby cry through his or her nighttime feeding until they calm down and fall back asleep on their own. This can be difficult for the parents so go into it eyes wide open. However, if your baby’s nighttime feeding is from habit then this will break the habit in a matter of a couple days.
We have observed that often first time parents are terrified of this option thinking that they are going to do permanent damage to their only child. While parents with multiple kids have seen enough to know that their child makes it through to emerge all the more healthy, happy and well slept.
On the other end of the spectrum, some parents who are deep sleepers accomplish the above without ever knowing it. On a night in which they may have been particularly sleepy, they simply sleep through their baby’s cries to be fed and miraculously have one of those baby’s that “sleeps through the night without any help from us.”
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Consider easing your child off of nighttime feedings
In some cases simply teaching your baby to fall asleep unassisted will also teach them to sleep through the night without needing to be fed. When they are comfortable in their crib they may simply decide to go back to sleep instead of cry for a feeding in the middle of the night.
However, nighttime feedings can quickly become habitual and many babies need your help to break this habit and become better sleepers. Some signs that your baby might be eating out of habit vs. need could include:
- Increase in the number of feedings demanded at night (ie., baby used to sleep 7 hours before being fed but lately has started to only sleep 3 hours).
- Highly excessive feeding at night (ie., baby is demanding to be fed every hour and a half).
If you think your baby is eating out of habit and want to ease him or her off of nighttime feeding, consider the following before taking action:
- Confirm your baby is in good health
- It is critical that your baby be thriving and in good health before reducing or eliminating night time feeding. Ask your pediatrician to ensure that your baby has gained enough weight and does not need the nourishment. One rule of thumb is that a baby should be both 13 weeks old and at least 13 pounds. But don’t let this line in the sand substitute for your doctor’s opinion and your own intuition.
- Additionally you want to be 100% sure that baby’s health is not compromised by anything else such as a lingering cold or something that would cause him or her pain.
- Ensure that you are in good health
- Since change can be stressful for parents as well, you should not begin a new sleep regimen unless you too are feeling well and are well slept to begin with.
Agree with your spouse on the tactic employed. This will avoid night time arguments when you may be disoriented or cranky.
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Sleep is easier on a full stomach.
photo by chadmiller
- As soon as possible, stop using feeding, rocking or other sleep aids like pacifiers to put your baby to sleep. You can– and should– undertake a variety of soothing activities in the run up to bedtime. But when you are sure that your baby is well fed and sleepy, place your baby in his or her crib to fall asleep unassisted.
- This does not need to involve much if any crying, but this will depend on your patience for getting your baby sleepy and personal judgement on how much crying is OK.
- Either way, if you work on this skill over a short period of time you will see that your baby gets very comfortable being alone in his or her crib, goes to sleep happy and wakes up happy.
- This is a crucial skill for helping your baby sleep through the night. They need to get comfortable alone in their crib and falling back asleep unassisted so that when they do wake up during the night, they can get themselves back down on their own.
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Depending on the proximity of your room to your baby’s you may want to purchase a baby monitor.
Audio monitors simply pick up noises from the room so you can be sure all is well. We’ve had good success with this: Sony Baby Call Nursery Monitor
The Sony has been a solid performer and does what we need. We’ve also had success with the Philips AVENT Digital Screen Baby Monitor with DECT Technology
– which is much more expensive- actually the price of this baby monitor is in the range of video monitors. The temperature in our apartment fluctuates quite a bit so we are happy we have the added room temp info on the Philips. The sound does seem to be clearer with this one too. There are several other features which we don’t take really use. Note: there is a newer version of this Philips model that isn’t quite as well reviewed. Here’s the link for that one: The Sony has been a solid performer and does what we need. We’ve also had success with the Philips AVENT Digital Screen Baby Monitor with DECT Technology – which is much more expensive- actually the price of this baby monitor is in the range of video monitors. The temperature in our apartment fluctuates quite a bit so we are happy we have the added room temp info on the Philips. The sound does seem to be clearer with this one too. There are several other features which we don’t take really use. Note: there is a newer version of this Philips model that isn’t quite as well reviewed.
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