How to Do Night Feeds

Parents generally fall into two camps when it comes to their feelings about night feeds: They either enjoy them or despise them. 

For some, night feeds are a calm, quiet time of connection. There are no other siblings awake to distract you from your child, and you are free from the public eye and the stress of activities scheduled throughout the day. It’s simple. 

Other parents physically tense up when they hear their child cry for a feed. Exhaustion and anxiety mark their memories of night feeding, as they wonder how long it will take to put their baby back to sleep and how many hours they have left before they have to rise from their beds and start their 24-hour day all over again. 

Here’s the good news: Regardless of the camp you fall into when thinking about night feeds, if you understand how to do them well, then baby will likely move out night feeds on their own when they no longer need them. 

So … what’s the secret to night feeding while supporting independent sleep skills?

When baby wakes up, wait a few minutes before responding. 

We know that babies can cry in their sleep for up to 10 minutes. And when baby is changing sleep cycles, they often do cry out. Babies are noisy little things! A baby that is fussing, grumbling, or moving around is not fully awake. 

Other babies might wake up temporarily, but are not actually hungry and can fall back to sleep if given the opportunity. They might go through different stages of crying to try and self-soothe. Baby is learning a lot of things about it’s world, and crying is the only method they have to communicate. They may cry out for a minute or two, and then go back to sleep. 

Waiting before responding almost always results in less night feedings, and also in less night wakings because we are not rushing in and waking them up when they are not actually awake, we are giving them the opportunity to learn to self-soothe in small chunks of time, and we avoid teaching baby that a cry results in instant gratification with a feed. 

When you go to your baby, the first thing you’re going to do is change their diaper. 

The diaper change helps baby become fully alert for their feed. This means a fuller feed. We definitely prefer few full feeds at night over many partial feeds at night. So try to keep your baby as alert as possible during the feed. 

Changing the diaper will also help us know that baby is comfortable, and not waking up later because of a soiled diaper. 

When putting your baby back to bed, simply re-swaddle / zip on their sleep sack and then lay them down. 

There is no need to redo the night routine or to wait to leave the room until they are fully asleep. In fact, it is best to lay them down fully awake (though this can be difficult during a night feed) so that they can practice falling asleep independently. 

And that’s that: The 411 on how to night feed while supporting independent sleep. 

Babies are really good at knowing what their bodies need, and we want to encourage them to listen to their bodies. As they gain confidence in their sleep, we need to gain confidence in listening to their body tell us when they need food, instead of instantly running to their side at the first sound they make. 

Want to know more? Check out the video below!

Enjoy those night feeds,

Anna