Is your baby eating too much at night and not so much in the day?

This is surprisingly quite a common problem!  After endless sleepless nights it’s easy for parents to fall into the habit of trying to give their baby more milk at night time in hopes that it will help them to sleep longer. Unfortunately this actually has the opposite effect. Your baby will then wake more frequently at night for food. You will also find that your baby won’t be so interested in eating during the day. If you feel you have fallen into this cycle then it will take a little work on your part for a few days in order to get better nights of sleep.

The best thing to do is to establish a dream feed each night. So if your baby has a feeding at 7pm, pick him up and feed him again at 10pm, whether he is sleeping or not. This will be the last feeding for your baby before his long stretch of sleep. If your baby ate at 8pm, then you may want to do this at 10.30 or 11pm. But whatever time you choose for this dream feed, make sure it is the same time every night from now on. The next time your baby wakes in the night, if it’s around 1 or 2am, don’t feed your baby. Re-swaddle your baby, if necessary, and settle your baby back to sleep. Every baby will respond a little differently to this, some being easier than others. The best thing to do, no matter how long it takes is to get your baby back to sleep. The key here is to make sure your baby goes back in his crib semi awake so he actually learns to settle himself. Don’t be discouraged if this takes a few attempts, infact anticipate that it will, then if your baby settles quickly it will feel great. Then the next time your baby wakes, go ahead and feed him. So you are gradually making the time between the 10pm feeding and the next feeding longer and longer.

After a couple of days you will notice your baby will have more of an appetite during the day. This is the pattern you really want to encourage. Enjoy your little one 🙂