Is Hunger Keeping Your Baby Awake?
From the moment I became a mom, one of my top priorities was to make sure my baby was comfortable and nourished. As the weeks went on, I started to understand my little guy’s cries and could often decipher between the hungry, tired, or wet cry. Of course, he had me guessing from time to time when NOTHING I did seemed to make him happy.
When your baby wakes up in the middle of the night, it’s tough to know if it’s because she is hungry, something is bothering her, or simply can’t get back to sleep.
Now, I’m not suggesting you don’t respond to your baby’s cries. But I am saying that if you have a healthy baby and she is waking every 30 minutes to an hour and a half and you’re finding yourself getting up 7 or 8 times a night, that’s not good for anyone’s health or sanity, including your sweet baby.
It’s pretty common for babies to develop a tendency to need to be fed, rocked, bounced, or held back to sleep. And, it’s not something that can be resolved in just 15 or 20 minutes. But, we can talk about a fix for multiple night wakings later on.
Here’s a checklist to reference when you’re trying to figure out if your baby is waking from hunger?
Is Baby Six Months Old? At this six months of age, most can sleep through the night. Before six months of age, the majority of babies are having at least one feed. Their tummies are tiny and milk digests pretty quickly so there is a good chance she’ll be calling on you for a feed in the middle of the night.
Of course, some babies are sleeping 11-12 hours at night and then eating a ton all day long. But for the most part, these little ones have a feed in the wee hours.
Does Baby Eat Enough During The Day? When baby reduces nighttime feeds or stops eating at night all together, you want to make sure that you are pushing those calories into the daytime, not removing them. When that happens, it’s not uncommon for it to take several days before she starts eating those calories during the day. Keep offering longer nursing sessions, an extra nursing session or more ounces in the bottle.
Don’t forget to talk about it with your pediatrician. If a baby has a weight issue you’ll most likely be advised to keep in that night feed. Sleep is amazing, but calories are essential.
Is Baby Falling Asleep During The Feed? Most mamas have experienced this common scenario. Baby wakes up crying 30 or 40 minutes after you put her down. You go in, give her a feed and she falls asleep within minutes.
If baby is hungry, she will typically eat until full. If she is eating for comfort, she will often drift back to sleep right after getting what she needs to be able to link another sleep cycle, the breast or the bottle.
Does Baby Wake Up Soon After A Full Feed? At six months of age, a sleep cycle is about 45 minutes to an hour. After a full feed, most baby’s will sleep at least 3-4 hours. If she is waking sooner, it’s most likely that she is dependent on sucking to fall back to sleep.
Can Your Baby Fall Asleep Independently?
That right there, is the prerequisite for sleeping longer stretches at night. Baby needs to make the journey into a blissful slumber totally free of a sleep prop-something external used to fall asleep like, a pacifier, a feed, being held or rocked. Now, there is nothing wrong with any of those things. They are all glorious. My recommendation is to put some space between those props and baby falling asleep. If your baby is using a prop to fall asleep at night, she is going to have a hard time going back to sleep without that same rocking, feeding, holding, and pacifier.
The gist is, to put your baby in the crib awake and alert.
If you do this and she is still waking at night, there is a better chance she will need your assistance in the middle of the night.
This whole figuring-out-if-your-baby-is-hungry-at-night-thing can be complicated. Calories are SO important, but so is sleep, and finding a balance between the two is not always easy. Once you break the habit of baby needing to eat in order to fall asleep, you can be more confident that a night waking is out of necessity.
As always, if you need a hand with this sleep business, I’m here for you. Send a message my way.