12/15/201602/16/2017 Nadezhda Plotnikova
Absorption of breast milk is one of the main “tasks” of a newborn. Until about six months, the baby needs constant food intake, since his body requires a huge amount of energy.
But if the “daytime” appetite of a baby brings only joy to a nursing woman, then night feedings are not always associated with something pleasant. A mother who has managed to care for the baby during the day and perform household chores often feels irritated and annoyed when she hears a hungry cry at night.
Expert advice will help you learn how and when to stop feeding your baby at night.
To wean or not?
Feeding at night becomes a big problem for some young mothers. For the sake of sound sleep, women even switch to a feeding schedule that is convenient for them, but such a step does not cause delight among infants. So should you stop eating at night?
For a naturalist, night feeding is a necessary element of normal growth. For a child under one year old (and especially a newborn), it is extremely important to have constant contact with the mother, both day and night.
Infants under 6 months of age cannot withstand long pauses between feedings. Waking up and crying at night in order to eat is not a whim, but a natural need of little children.
In addition, night feeding is important for both the baby and the new parent. The hormone prolactin, which regulates the secretion of milk secretions, is produced precisely in the pre-dawn hours. If the baby does not eat at night, very soon the amount of breast milk will decrease.
Breastfeeding experts warn that stopping nighttime snacks too early will disrupt the optimal secretion of milk secretions, as a result of which the baby will remain on a “starvation ration” and switch to formula, and the mother may experience breast problems.
A baby whose diet is dominated by formula milk is most often fed by the hour. When bottle-feeding, it is a little easier for mothers to set at least approximate meal times. However, up to 6 months, bottle-fed babies should eat at night, just like breastfed babies.
When to stop night feeding
There is an opinion among some pediatricians that the most optimal age to wean a child from night feeding is 12 months. At 1 full year, the baby no longer needs night feeding. Another sign is interruptions in feeding at night. If they are more than five hours, then it’s time to transfer the baby to only a daytime meal. This can be done at the full 9 months, but only if the child really does not need meals at night.
Another factor to understand that it’s time to wean your baby is weight. If the weight is below the norm, which should be at one year of age, then you need to choose a different time for weaning. But if the baby is breastfed, then you need to feed the newborn at night longer than on artificial nutrition.
When can you wean off?
Some parents, especially experienced ones, easily tolerate feeding their newborn at night.
Others try to stop late-night snacking as soon as possible for various reasons. It is the latter who are actively interested in at what age it is better to wean a child from feeding in the dark. There is still no consensus on this issue among breastfeeding experts, pediatricians, psychologists and lactating women.
- Most often, experts advise eliminating night feedings when the child turns 11 months or a year old. After a year, babies almost completely switch to “adult” food, so the nightly “snack” of mother’s breasts is more of a psychological habit.
- Women who are coping with two or more small children at once tend to wean their babies early - after 6 months. GW consultants do not condemn, but also do not approve of such a decision.
- Psychologists assure that stopping night feeding of a child is rather a psychological problem, so this process should be carried out only after the second year of life. For children of the sixth or eighth month, feeding at night is not just to satisfy hunger, but a desire to be close to their mother. Stopping feeding your baby too early can cause stress.
Thus, there are no specific recommendations at what age you should stop night snacking. The time of refusal depends on whether the child is breastfed or bottle-fed. In addition, you should not dismiss the individual characteristics of the baby.
If a nursing woman is ok with night feeding, this process can last until the fourth year of life. However, usually new parents get tired of lack of sleep within a year, so advice from experts on breastfeeding will come in handy.
How to wean: 5 effective ways
How to stop a child from eating at night? This is one of the main questions that probably every second mother asks. When a baby gets up in the dark and starts demanding mother’s milk or formula, no one gets enough sleep.
There are several effective ways to help your baby understand that night feeding has stopped. It is important for parents to be patient and accept that achieving results will not happen immediately, and they will need to be patient for several nights.
Let's look at five ways to help parents get enough sleep:
- Decrease in volume night feedings. This needs to be done gradually. You can even try after 2-3 days and completely skip one meal in the middle of the night. This will help increase the intervals between milk intakes. Screams and hysterics will need to be calmed by motion sickness. The night will take its toll, and the baby will fall asleep anyway.
Increase skin-to-skin contact with your baby during the day
