Have you ever wondered why some babies effortlessly drift off to sleep, while others just seem to struggle? Beyond our baby’s unique temperaments, feeding habits actually play a large role in how well our baby sleeps both at night and during the day. So if you have been wondering how to get your baby to sleep longer stretches, this blog post is for you!
In this blog post, we’ll unpack 3 feeding principles that are key to finding better and longer stretches of sleep for your baby.
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- Nutritive vs comfort sucking
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- Effective breast and bottle feeding
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- Connection between drowsiness and sleep pressure
The Dual Nature of Feeding: Nutrition and Comfort
Feeding serves 2 main purposes: nutrition and comfort. Effective feeding is when baby is actively transferring milk from the breast or bottle. You are noticing those big sucks and swallows. This is nutritive sucking going on. When we see our baby flutter sucking, playing with the nipple or bottle teat, and not actively transferring milk this is referred to as comfort sucking.
A well-fed baby is more likely to be content, relaxed and experience a deeper sleep!
So as parents, when we are looking to help our baby find better sleep, clueing into what our baby looks like throughout a feeding session can help us optimize their nutrition for better sleep. Here’s some tips!
Effective Feeding: One Puzzle Piece to Healthy Sleep
Practicing effective feeding habits helps teach your baby to recognize when they are hungry and when they are tired.
Here are some helpful tips for my breastfeeding families:
And here are some helpful tips for my bottle feeding families:
Drowsiness and Sleep Pressure
Sleep pressure is the drive a person feels to want to fall asleep. Now, when our baby’s are feeding many times they begin to get relaxed and become drowsy. Interestingly enough, drowsiness does not actually look like true sleep. It may look more like long blinks, staring off, or on and off closing eyes. But, this is actually them entering the first stage of sleep!
When our baby enters drowsiness during the feeding, this little cat-nap can be enough to decrease their sleep pressure- – or drive to fall asleep. This can lead to waking during the crib transfer, fighting to fall back to sleep, excessive crying when putting them down, short naps and frequent night wakings.
Once we can identify what drowsiness looks like in our own baby, it can be a game-changer to promoting healthy sleep habits and progressing toward better and longer stretches of sleep.
When we prioritize effective breast and bottle feeding and prevent drowsiness, parents can help optimize their baby’s calories and set them up for successful sleep!
I want you to feel empowered and supported throughout your sleep journey! Sleep does not always come easy and having a hand to hold as your navigate your baby’s sleep can make all the difference in finding success♥️
