The first few weeks of Breastfeeding may prove especially challenging, for some moms it may even last for months. Night time breastfeeding may even start to become the begging of a never ending nightmare.
Those agonizing nights were it just seems to be one feed after another, then diaper changing and trying to soothe baby in between. Next thing you know its dawn and you have had no sleep at all.
Sleep deprivation can be very difficult to cope with, and you may even envy your bottle feeding or formula feeding friends whose babies are sleeping for 5-6 hours stretches. However it is interesting to know that breastfeeding moms actually get more sleep than bottle-feeding moms (remember all the up keep that is involved with bottles like cleaning, sterilizing, measuring and heating).
Rest assured that you are not the only mom going through this, and the reason is because there is much logic in the behavior pattern of your little breastfeeding baby, and actually nature intended for it to be this way. You need to take consideration the following points to have a better understanding:
- Babies have tiny tummies: You would be surprised to know that babies tummy at birth is about the size of a blueberry, therefore in those early days your baby will need to feed about every one to two hours, and also breast milk is digested much quicker than formula, therefore baby will need to refill more often.
- Babies cannot distinguish night and day until around two months: Therefore their sleeping patterns may well be the same until they reach the step of actually learning the difference (hence why it’s so important for mom to get some rest during the day too).
You may find comfort in knowing too that nighttime feedings actually make up part of an important role in the development of your babies health as well as your milk supply. The main benefits being;
- Breast milk contains particular hormones and amino acids such as tryptophan, which help to regulate sleep and create better sleeping patterns for baby.
- There has been much research that shows that breastfeeding babies are also at much less risk of SIDS than that of formula and bottle-fed babies.
- Some good tips that can help make nighttime feeding a little easier on you would be;
Practicing safe co sleeping, this helps baby stay calm and feed as often as they like as they are right there next to you.
To help with sleepy babies be sure to strip them down to a diaper to wake them up and get a longer feed at the breast and go to sleep on a fuller stomach.
To help with light sleep babies make sure that you rock them for a good while so that they reach a deeper sleep before you put them back down on their crib.
Make sure that baby eats well and often during the day, a satisfied baby will wake up less often during the night to feed.
When going to bed for the night make sure that you have no light electronics turned on, and that you turn down your curtains (if possible use black out shades). By ensuring that your room is completely dark at night and light in the day you will help your baby differentiate better between night and day, in addition to them getting better uninterrupted sleep. As humans we are biologically adapted to distinguish night and day through daylight and darkness.
So rest assured mom that your baby will eventually start sleeping through longer stretches at a time through the night, in the mean time enjoy the quiet night time to bond with your baby, especially try skin to skin, as this helps to put baby to ease, and boosts your milk supply. Although you may not think so right now you will miss those days you could enjoy your little one and hold them close.
