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Night
Feedings
Don't forget to feed your baby at night!
- A breastfed baby may receive about one third of her or his
nutrition from night feeding.
- A young baby will not know day from night. Expect to wake up
frequently early on.
- During this frequent waking period, it is in the best interest
of everyone to sleep with the baby. At
least, have the baby in your room.
- Nurseries are for the parents, not the baby. The baby would
be much happier, safer, and better fed in the parents' arms or
bed.
- Breastfed babies are said to wake up more often at night than
artificially fed babies. Don't let this discourage you from
breastfeeding.
- If you sleep with your baby, it's easy to nurse at night.
You don't even have to wake up fully. Just roll over and latch
on your baby. When your baby is a little older, she or he may
even manage to latch on and nurse without any help from you. No
need to make a hungry baby wait for her or his food. It's
always ready, always clean and safe and at the right
temperature. Everyone is happy and relaxed when a nursing baby
sleeps in the parents' bed.
- Hormones that your body produces when you nurse your baby
have a relaxing effect. These hormones help you sleep better.
If you breastfeed at night, you may be surprised to find
yourself better rested the next morning!
- A formula-feeding parent would need to get out of bed and
warm a bottle. Even with one of the expensive bottle-warmer
gadgets, you need to wait for the bottle to warm up. Your baby
might be crying frantically by this time. Then, you need to
calm down the baby, hold the bottle, and burp the baby when she
or he is done. Everyone is awake and upset by now.
- Do you know why an artificially fed baby goes longer
between feeds (around four hours) than a breastfed baby? It's
because artificial breastmilk substitutes contain fats and
especially proteins that are hard for the baby to digest. Your
baby takes a long time to digest those proteins. Those are the
same proteins that can cause food
allergies and increase the risk of childhood asthma. Your
artificially fed baby is in constant gastric distress. Are you
sure you want to do this to your baby just so you get to sleep
a little longer? Don't forget that if you breastfeed you'll
definitely sleep better if shorter (see above)!
- Don't even think of putting your baby
to bed with a bottle of juice, milk, or formula! This may
cause dental cavities and, especially if your child has asthma
(which is more likely in a bottle-fed child), inhalation
pneumonia.
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