Is it necessary to feed a child at night - until what age should a child be fed at night

Benefit or harm?

The feeding procedure consists not only of saturation with all the substances necessary for life and growth, but also of psychological interaction with the mother, which is extremely important for healthy development. During feeding, the following processes occur.

First experience in close physical contact with someone else's body

And although the newborn is not yet able to distinguish his personality from the image of his mother, this experience will play a positive role in the further development of his personality.

Strengthening the nervous system

The child asks for the breast not only when he is hungry, but also if he experiences fear, cold, loneliness, etc. When the mother takes him in her arms and presses him to her chest, the baby calms down, warms up and feels calm and safe.

Relief from pain

Due to the age-related characteristics of the nervous system, a newborn is not yet able to differentiate between different sources of discomfort, so the feeling of hunger is perceived by him as pain. He associates gradual saturation and relief from pain with his mother, which is also of great importance for the development of the psyche.

Although these facts are more relevant to breastfeeding, bottle feeding also has these properties, because physical contact is also present during bottle feeding.

The trend of the last few decades has been to feed not according to a strict schedule, as before, but in accordance with the needs of the child’s body. There is a well-founded opinion that a healthy, well-groomed baby, surrounded by love and care, will not ask for the breast just like that - he does this only when he is really hungry.

In light of this information, night feeding of the baby is also important, since the production of breast milk is carried out according to the “demand-supply” principle, that is, its quantity directly depends on the number of feedings. Therefore, you should not cancel night feedings before the child turns 6 months old - this will negatively affect the entire process of natural feeding.

Do I need to wake up my baby for feeding?

When a baby sleeps next to his mother after birth, the baby does not wake up completely to feed. When he feels hungry, he looks for the breast, turning his head in different directions and smacking his lips.

The mother puts the baby to the breast, and he sucks without waking up completely. The mother does not need to get out of bed and lull the baby to sleep after feeding. The sleep of both the child and the mother is practically not disturbed; the mother also has time to rest.

A baby sleeping next to his mother reminds him of the need for feeding by searching for the breast and smacking his lips. Babies who sleep in their own crib can soon become accustomed to sleeping through the night without waking up.

Also, those who are weakened and born physiologically immature can sleep without waking up at night. In all these cases, the mother should wake up the baby to feed. Otherwise, the baby will receive insufficient nutrition and lag behind in weight and development.

The frequency of feedings at night depends on:

depending on age: the smaller the baby, the more often he needs night feedings, gradually the requirement for sucking arises only in the early morning hours;
depending on the individual characteristics and condition of the child: it is more often necessary to feed the baby during the period of intensive growth (the first half of life), the frequency of the child’s demands on the breast increases during teething and during illness.

When breastfeeding

It is quite natural that night feedings during breastfeeding are tiring for a woman, especially if she has to wake up often. This is very difficult for mothers of active children who sleep little during the day and require a lot of attention - they dream of quickly stopping feeding at night and regaining a restful night's sleep. However, with proper organization of the process, strength and nerves can be saved and inconvenience can be minimized.

Night feeding will not be perceived by a woman as a heavy burden if she:

will place a crib next to his sleeping place;
will feed lying down;
will purchase comfortable, loose clothing without buttons or other fasteners, which will allow you to quickly release your breasts;
will understand that it is not necessary to transfer the baby back to the crib after feeding;
allows herself to fall asleep while feeding, without fear that she will crush the baby and injure him;
in the morning she will continue to sleep until the child wakes up, without worrying about household chores;
will allow himself to give up all household chores and sleep during the daytime.

Advice. Considering that after feeding the baby often has a bowel movement, it is worth taking care of this in advance: set up a table near the bed where you can quickly wipe the baby with wet wipes and change his diaper.

You should not wake up your newborn at night specifically to feed him, despite the fact that for a long time before this he woke up on his own and demanded food several times a night. This statement applies equally to infants and artificial babies. The child’s body will get all the necessary calories during morning meals.

The child wants to eat at night

If the baby stubbornly wakes up and asks to eat, then experts advise offering him breast or formula between twelve o’clock at night and five o’clock in the morning. At other times it is necessary to give water. However, you cannot replace it with sweet tea, compote or other sweet liquid. It is also important to pour water into a sippy cup and not into a bottle with a nipple.

Doctors advise that if the child is already five months old, then you should not run to him at the first call. In practice, it often turns out that the mother herself wakes up the baby when he simply whimpered in his sleep. It is recommended to wait a few minutes, perhaps the child will fall asleep. Of course, parents’ nerves do not always withstand crying at night, but then the efforts are usually justified.

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With artificial feeding

Artificial feeding differs from breastfeeding in many respects, including the daily volume of formula consumed by the child. The amount of formula is determined in accordance with the standards recommended by the manufacturer, the age, weight and gender of the child, and the rate of weight gain. In this regard, the number of night feedings should be strictly regulated.

For more information about how much milk/formula a newborn should eat per feeding and per day, as well as formulas and tables for calculation, read our article.

Typically, breastfed children wake up less often at night, since artificial formula is more difficult for the body to absorb than breast milk, and the digestion process requires more energy.

Most pediatricians recommend giving the main daily volume of formula during the day from the first months of life, leaving one feeding at night. If the baby wakes up more often, you can give him some water, a pacifier, hold him in your arms for a while, and check if it’s time to change the soiled diaper.

Note. If a formula-fed baby does not calm down without a bottle, this may indicate that he has outgrown his daily intake of formula. In this case, you need to consult a doctor about increasing its volume, and if age already allows, then introducing complementary foods.

Until what age a baby will ask for a bottle at night depends on many factors, including the timely delivery date, the state of the nervous system, temperament and others. If the artificial child is gaining weight normally and is well-groomed, but still asks to eat more often than twice a night, this should be a reason to consult a pediatric neurologist.

To make your task easier, it is better to prepare the formula for night feeding in advance, before bed, and leave it in a bottle warmer near your bed. Otherwise, the organization of feeding artificial babies at night is no different from feeding infants.

What not to do

Wean your baby off late-night snacking gradually.

If you do not follow the rules or want to force events, you can cause psychological trauma to the baby and worsen the condition of the digestive system.

consider the age of the child. Up to 6 months, refusing to feed at night will not bring benefit, but harm: the baby is simply hungry, so he asks to eat;
changes in daily life. Never combine giving up night feeding and moving, changing your environment, or mommy going to work. Stressful situations overlap each other, the little man experiences severe emotional overload. Often not only psychological problems arise, but also health deteriorates, immunity suffers;
during the period of illness - no serious changes. The small body is already weakened, and changing the feeding regime will increase the load on the fragile digestive system. Even after a year, when the stomach and intestines work more stably, in case of rotavirus infection, intestinal flu, diarrhea or constipation, you should not deprive the child of breast milk. Remember:
a natural product is not only energy, but also a lot of useful substances that normalize the composition of the intestinal microflora;
co-sleeping with an older child. After six months, gradually accustom your baby to the idea that he sleeps separately. If the baby has slept in the parent's bed since birth, build a partition from a blanket so that the baby cannot easily reach the mother's breast. An excellent solution is an additional cot for newborns and older children. The little one is not far from his mother, but in his sleeping place. This useful device prevents many problems that inevitably arise when co-sleeping with parents;
changes in diet if the child is underweight. If you are underweight at 9–12 months, you should not give up night feedings, even if the baby does not wake up at night. If your baby does not eat the entire amount in a day, be sure to feed him in the middle of the night. There is no need to specifically wake up the baby if the sleep is deep and healthy, but if the little one is fidgeting at night and is not sleeping soundly, feed him. As your body weight normalizes, feed your baby less and less at night until you stop breastfeeding or bottle feeding altogether. A prerequisite is a varied menu during the day with enough calories plus an active lifestyle so that the baby is tired and sleeps soundly;
The mammary glands are smeared with brilliant green or mustard during weaning. The radical method, which some mothers still use, often traumatizes the child and provokes stress. If a two- to three-year-old child reacts more easily to such an unsightly sight, then at 1 year old a baby can be very frightened if he sees his mother in such a strange form or feels a sharp taste.

Now you know what pediatricians and experienced mothers advise to gently wean your baby off night feedings. Combine several methods, make the process gentle, minimize stress. After a while, you will be able to sleep as soundly as your baby without interruptions at night.

Video - tips on how to wean your baby from night feedings:

Not so long ago, pediatricians recommended not only making sure to give a newborn a drink, but also putting the baby to the breast after 3 hours and taking a 6-hour night break from breastfeeding. Grandmothers of young mothers may advise them to adhere to the same regimen.

It turned out that this tactic is fundamentally wrong: there is no need to give water until 6 months, and milk should not be expressed, and it is necessary to feed the baby at the request of the baby, not only during the day, but also at night.

Young mothers are interested in many questions: are night feedings really necessary? Should I wake my baby for feeding? Until what age and how often should you breastfeed at night? How can we wean ourselves off this?

Lack of night feedings can lead to poor weight gain.

Newborn babies cannot and should not tolerate long gaps between feedings, regardless of whether they receive or.

Long breaks and lack of night feedings will lead to and may even cause dehydration of the baby’s body. Therefore, it is necessary to feed the baby at night both with breastfeeding and with artificial feeding.

Some mothers mistakenly believe that if you do not feed your baby at night, more milk will accumulate in your breasts during the day. Milk production in the body of a nursing woman is a special continuous process.

The less milk is left in the breast after feeding the baby, the faster it will come again. Conversely, with full breasts, milk production and flow decrease. Therefore, for good and stable lactation, you should put the baby to the breast more often, and not “accumulate” milk overnight.

When breastfeeding a baby, night feedings are of particular importance not only for the baby, but also for the mother:

Feeding at night is a very important factor that will ensure successful feeding. Sucking at the breast at night, especially in the early morning hours, promotes the release of the hormone prolactin in the mother's body. Namely, it enhances the production and flow of milk in the breasts.
With large gaps in feeding, milk stagnation occurs in the breast, which can lead to mastitis. Sometimes it is necessary to resort to surgical treatment and transfer the baby to artificial feeding.
Milk produced at night is more complete.
Night feedings are important for maintaining the emotional bond between baby and mother.
The hormone prolactin, the synthesis of which is more intense during breastfeeding at night, prevents the mother from resuming ovulation. Therefore, night feedings can be called a method of natural contraception.

Basic rules for night feedings:

there is no need to wake up the baby for feeding - a full-term baby wakes up on his own, hungry;
the older the child gets, the longer the intervals between feedings;
The feeding environment should be calm, it is advisable not to even turn on the light (you can make do with a night light);
If the child sleeps separately from the mother, then he should be transferred to the crib when the baby falls asleep and lets go of the breast.

The following factors influence night feedings:

Child's age. A newborn baby may wake up and demand the breast up to 10 times. Gradually, the number of snacks decreases, and at 6 months of age, the baby can sleep all night without waking up.
This is especially true for bottle-fed babies, since formula milk is absorbed much longer than mother’s milk, so the baby remains full longer. At one year old, children usually no longer require night feedings. At this age, the child may wake up due to thirst, so you need to give the child water.
Type of feeding. If babies receiving breast milk are fed on demand at night, then bottle-fed babies are fed by the hour. Soon, artificial babies begin to wake up at a certain time, and the feeding schedule of infants remains irregular.
Daytime wakefulness and sleep patterns. If your baby's nap time is short, then most likely he will sleep soundly at night and rarely require the breast or wake up in the early morning hours. And if the daytime sleep is long, then in the evening the baby finds it more difficult to fall asleep and may often require the breast.

Periodicity

How many times a night should you feed? This question concerns absolutely all mothers, especially those who feed with artificial formula. The younger the child, the less food he is able to consume at one time - the volume of the stomach is still too small, in addition, he quickly gets physically tired and therefore falls asleep while eating.

Accordingly, the intervals between feedings are small - for infants they can last only 1.5-2 hours, for artificial babies - 2.5-3 hours (at night 4-4.5 hours).

Number of night feedings by month

The older the child, the longer the nighttime feeding break becomes. By six months, it is advisable to organize the regime in such a way that during the night he does not wake up more than 1-2 times - this will save energy for both him and his mother.

To reduce night feedings in a child over 6 months old, you should adhere to the following rules:

Gradually start introducing complementary foods, since one of the reasons for nighttime food requirements is that during the day the body does not replenish the nutritional deficiency.
If there was no drinking water in the children’s diet before, you should definitely include it in the menu in an amount of at least 250-300 ml. The child is not yet able to distinguish hunger from thirst and is accustomed to receiving both food and drink along with breast milk or formula, so he may also wake up at night because he is thirsty.
Reduce sleep during the day - after six months, it is enough to sleep twice during the day.
Ensure active pastime - the daily routine must include walks in the fresh air, and if earlier the mother tried to synchronize them with sleep, now at least one walk should fall during the waking period. Thus, the child’s brain will receive a large amount of information and require a good night’s rest.
Do not turn on the light during night feedings, unless absolutely necessary - the use of illumination can lead to a shift in the day and night patterns.
Feed your baby thoroughly before bedtime - the last meal should be no earlier than 2 hours before bedtime.
1.5-2 hours before going to bed, arrange water procedures - this will relax the muscles of the body and calm the nervous system. You can add decoctions of soothing herbs (for example, chamomile) to the water.

Memo. Do not forget to review the children's regimen in accordance with the age requirements of the body. Physical and intellectual stress, sufficient for a 6-month-old baby, will no longer be sufficient for a one-year-old child.

The period when a child stops waking up for night feeding on his own varies from 6 months to 2 years in the case of breastfeeding. Natural, non-forced refusal of night meals is the best option for mother and child, since it does not require effort on both sides. But you shouldn’t wait too long in the hope that the baby will begin to sleep peacefully all night without waking up, because after a year, night feedings become too exhausting.

When to wean your baby

For a baby, natural night breastfeeding is the key to good health, rapid growth and good mood.
And if the baby is less than a year old, then he needs contact with his mother at any time of the day, and the best connection with his mother is through breastfeeding. Up to six months, it is important for children to eat frequently; they simply cannot withstand long pauses between feedings due to the special structure of the body. Therefore, crying at night because of the desire to eat is not just a habit or a desire to eat, it is a baby’s need.

For the mother, by the way, this is also an important element when she is breastfeeding. It's all about the hormone prolactin; it regulates the secretion of milk secretion, which is produced precisely in the pre-dawn hours. If you do not feed your baby at night, then very soon the amount of breast milk will decrease.

Breastfeeding experts (hereinafter referred to as breastfeeding) confidently say that stopping night feeding too early disrupts the correct amount of milk secretion, which can result in: problems with feeding, from which the baby will have to be switched to formula, and problems with the mother’s breasts . Therefore, this is a rare case when you need to look for an answer to the question: how to wean your baby from night feedings.

When formulas predominate in feeding a baby, he is fed by the hour. And it's a little easier for moms to set an approximate feeding time. But up to six months, even formula-fed babies should receive food at night in the same way as breastfed children.

Some children, while weaning off night feeding with formula, begin to be capricious, a couple of times this is normal, but when the tears do not stop for a week, it is worth stopping the weaning process. The best option would be to incompletely wean off night feeding. Or reducing the number of meals at night.

It also happens that a mother, after an unsuccessful attempt to wean her baby from night feeding, continues to feed the child at night even after 2 years. This can happen until the child himself understands that he no longer needs it and stops waking up at night. Pediatricians agree that this stage of a child’s development passes on its own when the baby’s nervous system is completely ready for it.

However, if the situation tires the mother so much that it is no longer possible to endure. Before you start weaning your baby off night feeding, it’s worth remembering some important points. If this process causes changes in the child’s behavior during the day (which is expressed in whims, tears, anger), then it needs to be stopped.

Whether to continue to think about how to wean your baby from night feedings is a purely individual matter for each baby and his mother. But you should endure this not too long period and wait until the baby no longer needs night feeding. The baby will feel calmer and happier, and the mother will avoid the risk of breast problems.

After deciding to wean your baby, you will probably be interested in what age is best to wean your baby off night feeding. Surprisingly, neither doctors nor psychologists have a common opinion. But there are general recommendations:

It is best to start the weaning process from 11 months to 1 year. Since after a year the baby’s intestines are more or less formed to eat more adult food and night feeding rather becomes a habit, no matter whether the baby was breastfed or formula fed.
Do not try to wean your baby before 11 months, even if you have a difficult situation with time, still children. Experts on breastfeeding do not prohibit the action, but, by the way, do not approve of it at all.
But psychologists believe that it is necessary to wean a baby from night feeding only after 2 years of the baby’s life. Because it's about psychological development. Until this time, the child has night feeding - the desire to be close to his mother. And early weaning will lead to stress.

So there is no specific answer to this question, and there are no exact recommendations either. It all depends on the baby’s diet and behavior. But if it’s quite tolerable to wait until weaning, then it’s better not to rush.

How to stop night feedings?

This question is relevant for mothers:

whose children have already reached the age of 6 months or more;
who have older children who also require attention and care;
planning to wean in the near future.

Women who are faced with the need to go to work before the baby is six months old should not stop feeding their baby at night. The hormone prolactin, which produces breast milk, is released in greater quantities at night than during the day, so night feedings will help working mothers maintain lactation for a long time, despite daytime separation from the baby.

At 6-9 months

If weaning off late-night snacks occurs at the age of 6-9 months, care must be taken to ensure that the baby does not smell the breast at night. To do this, you need to put him to sleep in his crib, ask his father to take over the night motion sickness during the weaning period. During the weaning period, it is better for mom to sleep in a separate room. Also at this age, you can already offer other drinks instead of breast milk.

The decision about what to feed your baby at night instead of breast milk is made together with your pediatrician. If the baby does not have digestive problems (does not suffer from colic, complementary feeding is well tolerated), water, fruit or vegetable juice, compote of fresh or frozen berries and fruits, or special children's tea can be given as a drink. This will lead to a gradual weaning off of night feedings, and sleep will become stronger and longer.

At 9-12 months

If the child is already 9-12 months old, pedagogical methods can also be introduced. At this age, children are already able to distinguish strict from affectionate intonation, and partially understand simple addressed speech. You can explain to them that everyone sleeps at night (mom, dad, brother, favorite toy), so both mom’s breast and bottle need to sleep.

Psychologists recommend performing a joint ritual of putting a bottle or breast to sleep - wishing them good night, turning off the lights, covering them with a blanket. Story-based daytime games also help, in which one toy goes to sleep, and the other is not allowed to be noisy and wake the first.

Advice. When the baby wakes up at night and starts asking for food, he needs to be gently but persistently reminded that the breast (bottle) is already asleep and cannot give milk.

To stop night feedings, psychologists do not recommend using coercive methods, ignoring the child’s crying at night, scaring him, or taking him to his grandmother for the night. These measures can only achieve nervous breakdown.

If the baby is categorical and does not want to give up late-night snacks, weaning should be postponed and attempts should be resumed after a while.

Baby at 1 year

By this time, the digestive system had become stronger, intestinal function had normalized, and painful colic had passed. Food entering the stomach is better digested and a larger percentage of nutrients is absorbed.

Another important point is that by the age of one year, children are already receiving complementary foods, regardless of the type of feeding. Vegetable puree, fermented milk products, porridge, cottage cheese in combination with milk give the baby more energy and maintain a feeling of fullness longer. During the day, the baby eats more, and the breaks between feedings increase. Now is the right time to give mommy an uninterrupted night's sleep.

Important!

After 7 months, most babies are teething, the baby often worries, cries, refuses the breast or bottle, and is capricious. Refusal to feed at night is additional stress for the little man. Pediatricians advise saving food at night if the baby’s teeth are cutting with unpleasant symptoms. The sucking process, the warmth of the mother’s breast, distracts and calms the baby. Do not deprive your child of a “natural sedative.”

Until what age should a baby eat at night and does he need to be woken up for this?

Particularly strict pediatricians believe that for a baby up to three months old, 2-3 feedings per night are optimal; up to six months, one is enough, and from 6 months onwards, night feedings are not required. However, few children fit into such a strict framework: breastfed babies can demand milk every hour and even fall asleep at the breast, continuing to feed all night. In formula-fed babies, the intervals between feedings are usually longer: formula milk is digested more slowly, and the baby feels full longer. However, if a bottle-fed baby wakes up more than three times a night, it makes sense to check what is causing the sleep disturbance.

There is another extreme: the mother, worried about the baby’s long night sleep, wakes him up herself to feed him. This should not be done under any circumstances: the child’s need for sleep is no less important, and if he does not wake up, it means he is not yet hungry. Forced awakening causes confusion in the baby’s biorhythms, which is why he can be capricious and have trouble sleeping in the future. If the baby is fast asleep, it is better to give him the opportunity to wake up on his own for feeding, and until he does this, rest on his own.

There are no exact instructions up to what age night feedings are allowed. All children are different, and each has its own appetite, character and daily biorhythms. If the mother is not tired of feeding at night, it can last up to 3-4 years - there are many such cases. But most often, parents get tired of lack of sleep by the age of one year, and they are faced with the question of weaning their child from eating at night.

How do you know when your child is ready to stop night snacking?

Before you think about how to wean your baby off night feedings, you need to determine how ready he is to give up the breast or bottle. Often, after 6 months, especially after the introduction of complementary foods and the development of an individual daily routine, babies stop waking up at night, ensuring sound and healthy sleep for both themselves and their parents, and before this age it is not worth taking measures to wean them. But closer to one year, you can determine the following signs of a child’s readiness to stop night feedings:

He receives complete and varied complementary foods.
The number of breastfeeding or bottle calls during the day has decreased.
The child is gaining weight well.
He has no health problems.
At night, the baby wakes up at exactly the same time.
The child does not eat the entire nightly portion and is constantly distracted.

If the baby’s behavior shows such signs, it means that eating in the dark has turned from a need into a habit, and, most likely, weaning off night feedings will be painless.

Why do babies eat at night?

From a biological point of view, children sleep very differently from adults. The baby spends most of the time in shallow sleep, when the main brain development occurs. This phase of sleep is easily interrupted, and when the child wakes up, he usually feels hungry or thirsty. On average, in the first six months of life, a baby wakes up from 1 to 6 times per night, and from 6 months to 4 years - from 1 to 3 times, and this is absolutely normal!

In addition, babies' stomach capacity is small and their metabolism is very high, so they need more frequent refueling than adults. Previously, pediatricians recommended a 6-hour night break, citing the fact that the baby's stomach needed rest. Now supporters of natural feeding, of whom there are more and more doctors, are confident that night feedings are indispensable for the full development of the baby. Therefore, advice to give your child water at night, rock him to sleep and let him “cry it out” is a thing of the past.

Of course, if your baby sleeps peacefully throughout the night, there is no need to wake him up to eat. Such measures are only necessary if the baby is not gaining weight well (often happens in premature babies), and your pediatrician will definitely tell you about this.

How to wean it off?

Stopping feeding at night involves working in two directions: organizing sleep and daytime nutrition.

During the day, it is necessary to feed the baby at regular intervals in slightly larger than usual portions. Pediatricians advise making the penultimate meal lighter, and feeding more heavily before bed. It is possible that a satiated child will sleep for a long time.

Another answer to the question of how to wean a child from night feedings is to create a comfortable microclimate for sleep . Pediatricians name warm and dry air among the causes of sleep disturbances. Setting a suitable temperature in the room (18–20 degrees), maintaining optimal humidity (for this it is recommended to install an ionizer-humidifier) and a comfortable bed will help make the child sleep soundly and long.

Often babies cannot sleep because the energy accumulated during the day requires release, and, not knowing how to use it, they reach for the breast or bottle. Active games, long walks in the fresh air and evening swimming in cool water will tire the baby and make him sleep all night to gain strength.

If the child still wakes up at night, you should not feed him right away. Short quiet games, rocking in your arms or a soft lullaby - there are many ways to distract your baby from eating. You can also try giving your baby water (not juice!): perhaps he wakes up from thirst.

In the case when night awakenings are caused by habit, and not by real hunger, the baby will quickly get tired and fall asleep. Little by little, the craving for night feeding will begin to fade, and perhaps in a few days the child will delight his parents with a sweet sleep that lasts all night. But if the baby stubbornly continues to wake up, cry and demand a bottle or breast, it is better to give in - obviously, the baby still urgently needs night feeding. After a couple of weeks, you can try again.

How to understand that your child is ready

It often happens that the baby himself, after 6-7 months, when new foods are added to his diet, stops waking up at night, allowing his mother to sleep because he no longer needs night feeding.

The first symptoms indicating readiness to give up night snacks appear at 11 months:

The baby's diet is varied;
The amount of mother's milk and formula in the diet during the day is reduced to a minimum;
The baby is gaining weight well;
The child is healthy;
At night he wakes up at a specific time;
The baby is constantly distracted from eating the last portion.

If the presence of all these symptoms is noticeable, then most likely night feeding has grown from a necessity into a habit and weaning the baby will not be difficult.

Night feedings of a bottle-fed baby

pediatrician, leading expert of the online school “Smart Mama”, St. Petersburg

Your baby will interrupt your sound sleep; if he is hungry, you will have to get up and feed him. A bottle-fed baby needs nighttime feeding in order to grow properly—and at some point stop waking up at night. Pediatrician Polina Aleksandrovna Kizino hears questions about baby food at night almost every day. We will find out how children's night feedings depend on age, and how to wean a formula-fed child from them.

— Polina Aleksandrovna, do children who are fed formula need night feeding?

— Artificial feeding is a situation in which a child receives formula milk instead of breast milk. Whether to feed at night or not with this regimen depends on the stage of infancy: from birth to one year, the child changes very much and very noticeably.

Common mistakes

The lack of proper knowledge pushes young mothers to make mistakes related to stopping feeding at night.

When implementing such a task, the following actions are strictly prohibited:

It is forbidden to wean a child from night meals if his baby teeth are erupting or he is sick. For information on how to help your child cut through his first teeth, read the article at the link. Additional stress contributes to the weakening of the child’s psyche. Parents need to postpone this idea for 2-3 weeks.
It is not recommended to leave the baby with close relatives in order to wean him off night feedings. A situation like this is stressful for a child’s body. In addition, parents may lose confidence in themselves.
It is strictly forbidden to apply mustard or red pepper to the surface of the nipple. Such experiments lead to burns of the child’s oral mucosa, as well as the formation of fear in the baby.
When refusing night feedings, it is forbidden to raise your voice at the baby, as well as use intimidation tactics.

A newborn baby is less attached to the nipple than to the mother's breast. That is why the process of canceling night feedings with artificial feeding causes fewer problems. If a young mother experiences difficulties, she is advised to seek advice from a pediatrician or a feeding specialist.

How to wean a child from night feedings? This question haunts mothers who dream of having a normal rest. A tiny person requires constant attention, care and psychological support.

Breastfeeding or bottle feeding at night is gradually exhausting and provokes chronic fatigue and irritation. It is important to recognize the moment when you can give up night feedings with the least harm to the baby. Find out how to make this process as comfortable as possible.

How and when to wake up your baby

What if the baby sleeps all night and does not wake up? To wake up or not to wake up? If the newborn is less than a month old or was born premature and the last time he ate was more than three hours ago, then it is worth waking him up and feeding him. Firstly, such babies need to eat every two to three hours for good weight gain, and secondly, to establish lactation it is very important to put the baby to the breast at night.

To gently wake up the baby, you need to take him in your arms, call him by name in a whisper, softly kiss him, stroke his cheeks and back. Sometimes mothers begin to feed a still very sleepy baby - and he, not yet fully awake, still takes the breast. If all else fails, you can start changing the baby's clothes: usually, when changing a diaper, babies wake up quickly.

To wake up your baby correctly, it is important to know that there are two phases of sleep: deep and superficial. The first half of the night is a deep phase, and in the second half of the night it is replaced by shallow sleep. During the deep sleep phase, you should not wake up the child, since it is at this time that the brain rests and all muscles are completely relaxed. But after three or four o’clock in the morning you can notice signs such as restless sleep, involuntary movements of the child’s arms and legs, rapid breathing - this means that dreams are moving into a superficial phase and that the baby can be woken up to eat.

Remember that how you wake up your baby will determine his psycho-emotional state, so loud screams and sudden switching on of bright lights are unacceptable in this case.

Weaning a child over one year old

Night feedings after 1 year can be stopped without harming the child's health. Children already understand what is happening around them. They are affected in other ways:

Do not put the baby to bed yourself; another family member does this.
They explain to the child that children sleep at night, but they can only eat during the day. It is not easy to give up night feeding in this way, but the child will stop being capricious.
Having been patient, they calm the child down on the first night. Stand your ground. Tell a story, read a book. Give your baby water.

After a week, the child adapts to the regime.

Sharply or gradually

When children are ready for such a change, stopping breastfeeding is easy and quick. They may occasionally remember sucking, but their attention can easily be diverted to something else. Then there will be no difficulties. The baby stops asking for the breast on his own. But this doesn't happen often.

Young mothers, deciding to give up breastfeeding, do not know what is best to do: stop breastfeeding abruptly or gradually.

Some women think that it is better to suffer once and that’s it – the job is done. What's best for a child? How will he survive such a test? Let's try to figure it out.

Abrupt weaning

Sometimes mothers, when weaning a child from the breast, are guided by the principle of abrupt weaning. They take the baby to one of the close relatives for a while or leave themselves so that he forgets about the breast. And they take him away in a few days, when he gets used to sucking.

Some children tolerate this method quite easily. But not all. In addition, the child may, at the sight of his mother, again remember the breast and cry, demanding it from the mother.

Most often, abruptly weaning a baby from breastfeeding does not have the best effect on him.

If a child is under 6 months old, this can have a bad effect on his physical health, so six-month-old babies should not be deprived of their mother’s milk.

Mother's milk is the best food for a baby up to six months, which provides him with all the necessary nutrients and vitamins.

In addition, with mother's milk, the baby receives substances that protect him from a number of diseases, because his own immunity has not yet been formed. Conversion to even the best mixture is not advisable. Therefore, you should not abruptly stop breastfeeding before six months unless there are serious reasons.

After six months, when the child begins to try complementary feeding, it is also not advisable to suddenly stop breastfeeding the baby. If there is a need to wean a child under the age of one year, then it is better to gradually prepare him for this.

After one year of age, the nutritional and protective value of mother's milk decreases somewhat, but is still relevant. At this age, psychological attachment to mother's breast increases. If the child is ready for weaning, then you can take this step. But if not, then it is better to wean him gradually.

Abrupt weaning is justified if the mother is sick and was admitted to the hospital, or other unforeseen circumstances arise. Then it is necessary to take care of the baby’s appropriate nutrition and his psychological state.

Phased weaning

It is best if cessation of breastfeeding is done in stages.

This will help both the baby and the mother gradually get used to changes in their usual routine, without injuring anyone. The following stages can be distinguished when gradually abandoning breastfeeding:

Gradually replacing breast milk with regular food during the day

This stage is good to start after the introduction of complementary foods. Its duration may be related to the individual characteristics of the child’s adaptation to solid food.

The next step is to stop feeding the child during the day after meals or to calm him down.
Before napping, feed your baby well and take him for a walk so that he gets tired and falls asleep without breastfeeding.
Feed your baby well before bed in the evening to help him sleep better at night.

You can supplement with breastfeeding if you can't fall asleep otherwise. Later, replace breastfeeding before bed with a story or a walk, which will help the baby fall asleep.

The last step on the path to completely abolishing breastfeeding is stopping feeding at night.

Each mother needs to decide for herself which method to use when weaning a child, based on what suits them best.

Comfortable poses

To feel comfortable while feeding your baby at night, experts suggest choosing the most comfortable position from the three most common:

Lying on your side. This position is one of the most comfortable if the mother cannot sit after childbirth or if the parents practice co-sleeping.
“Cradle” position: the most famous position in which the mother sits or half-sits, and the baby lies in her arms, as if in a cradle.
Lying on your back. The mother is practically lying down, and the baby is sitting on top. This position is good when the mother has a strong milk flow, as the sitting position helps the baby not to choke when sucking.

Doctor Komarovsky's opinion

Pediatric doctor Komarovsky is convinced that after 6 months the child does not experience hunger at night and night feeding is no longer necessary. Mothers who feed children older than this age overfeed them. The doctor gives tips to help avoid overfeeding:

Feed your baby in small portions during the day, increasing the portion of the last feeding before bedtime. This achieves the maximum feeling of satiety.
Give your baby a bath before bed and feed him. If after bathing the baby is not hungry, do gymnastics before bathing. Fatigue and satiety will prevent the baby from waking up at night.
Don't overheat the room. The optimal temperature for children's sleep is 19-20 degrees. To prevent your child from freezing, warm him with a warm blanket or insulated pajamas.
Don't let your child sleep more than he should. The daily sleep duration of children up to 3 months is 17-20 hours, from 3 to 6 months – 15 hours, from 6 months to a year – 13 hours. If your child sleeps more than normal during the day, it is unlikely that he will sleep soundly at night.
From the birth of your child, follow his regime.

Emergency, rapid weaning

There are situations when you need to stop feeding urgently. This situation is unusual and is associated, for example, with the urgent hospitalization of the mother. Usually, it is not possible to urgently stop only night feedings in babies under one year old, so in such cases breastfeeding is completely curtailed. However, it can be resumed after the end of treatment, which will be difficult with a very young child, and much easier with a child after a year.

If you urgently stop feeding, the mother must monitor her well-being and also express her breasts if the volume of milk absorbed by the baby was significant. This method rarely takes place without crying and stress for the child, so if a woman has chosen this decision, she needs to be patient and, if possible, have the support of her family who can calm and console the baby.

It is not often said that abrupt weaning affects the emotional state of the mother due to changes in hormonal levels. In such moments and hours, you can remember your love for the baby, which does not decrease with the cessation of breastfeeding night and day.

Gentle refusal of night feedings

A gradual, smooth reduction in night feedings is optimal for both the mother’s body and the child’s psyche. When the baby gets used to not having night feedings, motherhood can become easier for those who couldn't get enough sleep while latching in the dark. But we must remember that with the natural cessation of breastfeeding, nighttime and early morning applications are the last to go away, which means that a conscious change in this pattern will require some effort and perseverance.

1.Feed your baby more often during the day. The sucking reflex is strong even at 1.5 years, and if it is not realized during the daytime, the baby will certainly suck at night.

2. Try not to combine giving up nightly breastfeeding or bottle feeding with other new, unusual situations, changes in the family’s lifestyle: adaptation to kindergarten, moving, etc.

3.Remember the importance of hugs and kisses, do not move away from the child so that he does not have a need for tactile touches at night.

4. Offer alternatives. When waking up, pat the baby on the back, sing a lullaby, give him some water, take him to the toilet, whisper in his ear, rock him in his arms.

5.Talk about the fact that people and animals sleep at night, mother’s breasts sleep, the baby also needs to sleep, and it’s better to eat during the day.

6.Take help from your dad, grandma or other loved ones. In the absence of mother, it may be easier for the baby to accept a new, unusual way of falling asleep.

7. Separate the sleeping areas of mother and child. Sometimes children sleep worse separately from their mother, but some find it easier to fall asleep on their own without feeding in their crib or children's room.

8. For IV, you can use this trick: dilute the mixture with a small amount of clean water, gradually increasing the percentage of water. The child will become uninterested in waking up just to drink some water.

9.Share food and use other techniques to fall asleep. That is, do not deny the baby a breast or a bottle, but after them read or tell a fairy tale, sing a song, lie with the baby, no longer giving him food. This also needs to be done gradually, after feeding the baby well in the evening.

Weaning a child up to one year

The best method for weaning children under one year old from night feeding is the correct regimen.

Change where your child falls asleep. If this is your bed or a child's bed, use a stroller or sling.
Go to bed wearing clothes that cover your chest. Don't sleep close to your baby.
If the child continues to be capricious, let the father or another family member sleep with him. At first, the baby may react sharply to the changes, but then he will get used to it and understand that milk has become unavailable at night.
Deny your baby night feedings. This option is considered harsh. But if after the first two such nights the baby is capricious during the day, use gentle methods, do not irritate the child.