How to feed sleeping baby? Many new parents are told that before the baby starts sleeping through the night, they need to feed them during the night to make sure they don’t wake up too hungry.
Usually, your baby is born with a natural routing reflex that can eat while they are asleep. While the baby is sleeping, you can try to express a few drops of your breast milk on your baby’s face. The smell and taste of breast milk can help your baby suckle or drink milk.
How to feed sleeping baby? Best 7 Tips
When your baby is hungry, you should feed it. Breast milk and formula can be given to babies when they are asleep. Breast milk is best for the healthy growth of a newborn baby. It contains the essential nutrients that help infants grow and build immune systems.
As a mother, you should understand how to feed sleeping baby properly to give it good care. Here are the Best 7 tips that can help you understand how to feed sleeping baby:
1. Start with the age-old method of thumb sucking. You can try to start breastfeeding by your baby’s mouth or use a pacifier to start this habit.
The pacifiers are easier for mothers who already have breastfeeding experience. If you’re a new mother, you may need a little more time and patience to learn this skill.
2. Never use the bottle as a pacifier. Your baby may choke on an object too small to be used as a pacifier. It is also not recommended to use pacifiers for babies without teeth. The size of the bottle or teat should be suitable for your baby’s mouth.
3. You can try different nipple shapes suitable for your baby’s mouth and taste buds to encourage them to drink milk.
4. It is recommended that you use clear and safe plastic bottles. Do not use dark glass bottles because they may contain heavy metals that affect your baby’s health.
5. Do not feed your baby too much when it is hungry at night, or you can make it feel sleepy.
6. You must clean the bottles and pacifiers before giving them to your baby.
7. For babies who are given both breast milk and formula, it is recommended to use a mixture of milk and formula.
You may also choose breast milk/formula and water/dilutable juice if you don’t want to use bottles.
Feeding your baby during the night is an important matter that all mothers should know.
Tips on How to Awaken and Feed a Sleepy Baby
How to feed sleeping baby with the right method? Many new parents need to understand how to feed sleeping baby. When your baby is hungry, and you know it is time to feed it, you can try the following ways:
➤ The Back Scratch
When you scratch your back, your baby may get interested. The back-scratch will help their sucking reflex become active, and they will begin feeding.
➤ Use the Baby’s Fingers
You can try placing your baby’s fingers in their mouth. When the baby suckles and sucks, a reflex is activated, making them start to feed. If you want to help the baby fall asleep, this method should be applied only to babies who no longer cry due to hunger.
➤ Feeding with Breast Milk and Formula
If your baby hasn’t reached six months of age, you can use formula or breast milk and water to substitute for bottles.
➤ Baby’s Fingernails
You can try to scratch your baby’s fingernails because this will make the baby want to suck. When your milk comes out, the baby will start feeding as usual.
➤ Bright Light
If your baby is asleep in a dark room, you can put on the television or lamp to create bright light. This method will make the feeding reflex alive and help start feeding immediately.
➤ Burping Your Baby
You can try to burp your baby or apply a lot of suction to their mouth to make your baby swallow the milk.
➤ Swallow the Milk by Hand
Swallow the milk by hand and gradually let it run down to their mouth. If you want your baby to choke, you can use a safety cap on this bottle.
You can try using the above methods to learn how to feed sleeping baby. You can also try to massage your baby’s back and breastfeed them by using a bottle, pacifier, or fingers.
Some mothers use baby bottles and pacifiers appropriate for babies 10 days old or older. You should also breastfeed your baby until the age of six months.
Why Is It Essential to Wake Your Baby for Feeding?
How to feed sleeping baby is one of the most important things that all new mothers need to learn. When your baby cries, you should know how to feed it. When you have the habit of waking your baby for feeding, your baby will not be hungry during the night.
◉ It is essential to wake up a sleeping baby before it can fall asleep again. This will help ensure that a sleeping baby will not wake up too hungry and cry in hunger during the night.
◉ If your baby is not sleeping, you can use the time to talk to it. When you see it sleeping peacefully, avoid waking it up so as not to wake your baby too early.
◉ The most important thing is to prevent your baby from waking up hungry in the middle of the night. You can make a record before bedtime of which time you wake up and feed your baby. With this method, it will be easier for you to know exactly how many times you need to feed your baby during the day and at night.
Ways to Wake a Sleeping Infant to Feed:
◉ Shaking
You can shake the baby’s body lightly to make it wake up a little. This kind of shaking is not harmful and will help stimulate the baby’s reflexes, which will make it feed again.
◉ The Back Scratch
You can try scratching your back vigorously. You will awaken the reflexes in your baby’s mouth and start feeding again when you do this.
◉ The Bottle in the Baby’s Hand
Place the baby’s hand on the bottle so that they will start feeding when they try to grab it.
◉ Massaging Your Baby
Gently massage your baby’s body to make it sleep again. You can also apply a lot of pressure on their face.
◉ The Pacifier
If you have an older baby, you can try to place the baby’s fingers in their mouth. If the baby sucks, they will start feeding again.
◉ Swinging Your Baby
When your baby is in a swing and starts to sleep, wake it up by making the swing move slowly. You can also change the direction of the swing to wake up your baby again and make it start feeding.
Another Solution
You can apply a lot of pressure on your baby’s body to wake it up and make it start feeding again. You can also change the position of your baby’s body or place them in different positions. The important thing is to make sure that your baby is fed.
Do I Have to Wake My Baby Up to Feed?
When your baby is sleeping, you do not have to wake it up. You can feed it when it is awake and if you want to do so. When your baby starts to cry, you can use any of the above methods and feed it to stop the crying.
For babies fed with breast milk and bottles, you should cling to the feeding schedule. Feed during each scheduled time two or three times a day.
What happens if my baby doesn’t wake up to eat? · If your baby doesn’t wake up to eat and stay awake, you can try other ways to make them fall asleep. You can play with your baby, feed them as usual and avoid feeding when they are not hungry.
Conclusion
How to feed sleeping baby is one of the most important things that all new mothers need to learn. When your baby cries, you should know how to feed it. When you have the habit of waking your baby for feeding, your baby will not be hungry during the night.
If your baby doesn’t wake up for feeding, you can try other things like taking a bath in hot water or tickling them for a little bit. You can also try burping your baby or spoonfeeding only when you feed without bottles and bottles.
I hope this article can help you find out how to feed sleeping baby. If you have any questions, please think about them and leave a comment for me.
FAQs
Why Are Babies too Sleepy to Feed?
Babies usually have some trouble falling asleep. The main reason that makes babies fall asleep is the first feeding. The most important issue for babies is their first feeding or drinking milk or water at home or during the day. You should give your baby a good amount of time to get used to breastfeeding to sleep well.
Why you should wake newborns for feedings?
The first feeding is important for breastfed newborns. Breastfeeding helps newborns decide whether to sleep or wake. If a breastfeeding newborn is sleepy, it will probably go back to sleep after drinking milk.
How can I feed my baby who sleeps too much?
Even if your baby sleeps, you should continue to give it a bottle or breastfeed it during scheduled times to ensure that it won’t be hungry at night.
Should a sleeping baby be woken to feed?
You can wake your sleeping baby to feed. However, if your baby seems to be sleepier, you should try not to wake them up.
If your baby is hungry during the night, you should feed it during scheduled times in the day. You should do this because feeding a very sleepy baby at night will make it fall asleep again and won’t let you sleep well yourself.
How long should a newborn sleep without feeding?
The baby should be asleep for 8 hours without feeding or taking a bottle. You can make an effort to put it asleep for 12 hours, but if your baby is still sleeping well after 20 hours, you can let them keep sleeping until the next feeding.
