I'm still waiting for this to happen, and except for a few teaser nights months ago, little man has never slept straight through the night. I don't mind the nights he wakes to eat a bit, but the nights that he wakes up to play can be exhausting.
According to my favorite new mommy book (What To Expect) and La Leche League (LLLI), there is just no way of knowing when your baby will be ready to sleep through the night. Like when he first smiles or takes his first step, or says his first word- one day, it just happens. There also isn't a "right time" for it to happen. Some babies sleep through the night early on, others reach their first birthday without ever allowing their parents a full night's sleep.
If you are still waiting for your baby to reach this developmental milestone like I am, here is some good info I found that will help us during this time:
* Newborns really should not sleep through the night, especially breastfed babies, because they may not have enough nourishment as a result. They tend to need to eat around the clock. Their teeny bellies can only fit small amounts of food, and it is digested quickly, and baby is hungry again an hour or so later.
* Many babies continue to need to eat overnight for the first few months. In fact, until a baby is over 12 lbs or so, they metabolically need to be continuously fed around the clock. Some formula fed babies may sleep longer because the formula takes longer to digest.
* Some parents give their baby rice cereal early on to encourage them to sleep through the night. This seems to work for a lot of people, but often at a cost. Giving a baby "solids" too soon (rice cereal qualifies as the beginner solid) can cause upset stomach in baby's immature digestive system. Just one or two generations ago formula feeding babies was the norm, and many of our moms encourage us to put rice cereal in baby's milk, or to stop "that nonsense" when we struggle with breastfeeding and "just give him formula", but if you are willing to wait, you may have a healthier, happier baby in the long run. Starting on formula and rice cereal too soon has been shown to correlate with children who struggle with their weight later on in life.
* New moms should NOT use their baby's nap time as a time to catch up on chores. I made this mistake, and I was soooo tired all the time. For a little while, your house just has to be messy, or else your husband has to help, or a maid, or one of the grandmas. Mom needs rest- sleep when your baby sleeps.
* If you find you have a hard time with overnight feedings (some nights are harder than others), try lying down together while you are breastfeeding. This was ackward for me at first, but I got the hang of it. If you co-sleep, this saves you a step also, and you can go right back to sleep after you feed your baby. I don't do this anymore, but I do have little man's crib in our room, so it's not much of a trip to pick him up when he wakes up overnight.
* If your instincts tell you that letting baby cry it out is not the right thing, don't let anyone convince you otherwise. There is no need to make both you and baby miserable while you try to force him to cry himself to sleep, so he "learns". Some babies are able to comfort themselves back to sleep, but if your baby is clearly unhappy, don't feel bad about picking him up and snuggling him.
* Usually when a baby is getting enough nourishment during the day (this has nothing to do with what parents are doing or not doing, it has to do with his patterns and changing needs) he will stop waking up at night. If his little tummy still doesn't fit all he needs during his waking hours, he will still wake up at night. We tried to "force" little man into a new pattern for a while, but were never able to, for even one night, or even ten minutes, let him "cry it out", so I ust decided to wake with him at night and stop complaining. As a result, he is happier, and I realized that he wakes for only ten minutes twice a night (it seemed longer when I struggled with him and tried to make him sleep) to eat, and he falls asleep right away again on his own. The nights when he wants to play petered out by the third month.
Hopefully, those of you who still have a baby that keeps you up at night, and who are wondering if you have to do anything to fix it, can now rest easier knowing that eventually it will change, but it can take longer in some babies than others. We all tend to wake up a couple times a night, to use the bathroom, get some water, get into a more comfortable position, and eventually in life, we all at some point learned to fall asleep on our own. It may be better to just let baby get to this point naturally.
According to my favorite new mommy book (What To Expect) and La Leche League (LLLI), there is just no way of knowing when your baby will be ready to sleep through the night. Like when he first smiles or takes his first step, or says his first word- one day, it just happens. There also isn't a "right time" for it to happen. Some babies sleep through the night early on, others reach their first birthday without ever allowing their parents a full night's sleep.
If you are still waiting for your baby to reach this developmental milestone like I am, here is some good info I found that will help us during this time:
* Newborns really should not sleep through the night, especially breastfed babies, because they may not have enough nourishment as a result. They tend to need to eat around the clock. Their teeny bellies can only fit small amounts of food, and it is digested quickly, and baby is hungry again an hour or so later.
* Many babies continue to need to eat overnight for the first few months. In fact, until a baby is over 12 lbs or so, they metabolically need to be continuously fed around the clock. Some formula fed babies may sleep longer because the formula takes longer to digest.
* Some parents give their baby rice cereal early on to encourage them to sleep through the night. This seems to work for a lot of people, but often at a cost. Giving a baby "solids" too soon (rice cereal qualifies as the beginner solid) can cause upset stomach in baby's immature digestive system. Just one or two generations ago formula feeding babies was the norm, and many of our moms encourage us to put rice cereal in baby's milk, or to stop "that nonsense" when we struggle with breastfeeding and "just give him formula", but if you are willing to wait, you may have a healthier, happier baby in the long run. Starting on formula and rice cereal too soon has been shown to correlate with children who struggle with their weight later on in life.
* New moms should NOT use their baby's nap time as a time to catch up on chores. I made this mistake, and I was soooo tired all the time. For a little while, your house just has to be messy, or else your husband has to help, or a maid, or one of the grandmas. Mom needs rest- sleep when your baby sleeps.
* If you find you have a hard time with overnight feedings (some nights are harder than others), try lying down together while you are breastfeeding. This was ackward for me at first, but I got the hang of it. If you co-sleep, this saves you a step also, and you can go right back to sleep after you feed your baby. I don't do this anymore, but I do have little man's crib in our room, so it's not much of a trip to pick him up when he wakes up overnight.
* If your instincts tell you that letting baby cry it out is not the right thing, don't let anyone convince you otherwise. There is no need to make both you and baby miserable while you try to force him to cry himself to sleep, so he "learns". Some babies are able to comfort themselves back to sleep, but if your baby is clearly unhappy, don't feel bad about picking him up and snuggling him.
* Usually when a baby is getting enough nourishment during the day (this has nothing to do with what parents are doing or not doing, it has to do with his patterns and changing needs) he will stop waking up at night. If his little tummy still doesn't fit all he needs during his waking hours, he will still wake up at night. We tried to "force" little man into a new pattern for a while, but were never able to, for even one night, or even ten minutes, let him "cry it out", so I ust decided to wake with him at night and stop complaining. As a result, he is happier, and I realized that he wakes for only ten minutes twice a night (it seemed longer when I struggled with him and tried to make him sleep) to eat, and he falls asleep right away again on his own. The nights when he wants to play petered out by the third month.
Hopefully, those of you who still have a baby that keeps you up at night, and who are wondering if you have to do anything to fix it, can now rest easier knowing that eventually it will change, but it can take longer in some babies than others. We all tend to wake up a couple times a night, to use the bathroom, get some water, get into a more comfortable position, and eventually in life, we all at some point learned to fall asleep on our own. It may be better to just let baby get to this point naturally.
I remember the non-sleeping nights! I was in a fog all day.
ReplyDeleteThat is how it was for a while, but I was fighting his natural pattern so it's really my own fault. Now it's pretty smooth sailing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Every baby is different and gradually mom and baby falls into a routine. You are so right about the... this is how it's going to be so stop complaining. Once I realized like you that the feeds were over quick etc, I was much more relaxed about it and found I could cope with being woken up because I knew it wasn't going to be for hours. Just keep with the mantra, every baby grows up and eventually you will get there. Break it down into six month segments periods of adjustments and each phase doesn't seem so long. :)
ReplyDeleteThe time is passing so quickly too! I don't want to miss a minute of it being impatient or aggravated. What else is more important after all?
ReplyDeletei love your blog. cant wait till my baby sleeps through the night. come visit me at my blog
ReplyDeletewww.bakingwithashley.blogspot.com
Every baby is definitely different, still waiting for my little girl to STTN. I was spoiled with her older sister who did at 5 weeks, lols. It's not so bad now that it's once or twice a night and only to eat and then back to sleep, so glad we are over the every couple hours through the night and wanting to stay awake and play phase too!
ReplyDelete