Does Feeding Have an Effect on Baby Sleep? By Lisa Baade At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Many parents of new babies often find that their little bundle of joy doesn’t sleep as well as he or she should. This can leave some parents looking for answers and other pointlessly placing the blame on themselves.

The first thing you should do is investigate some simple possible causes for your babies broken sleep routine. Most bad sleep patterns can be associated with feeding problems so this article will discuss these following.

Complimenting feeds and the relationship to sleep problems.

Some believe that combining a mixture of bottle feedings with breast feeding could be a potential cause for some sleep problems. There are many reasons why parents would want to compliment their breast feedings including going back to work, becoming pregnant again or just for convenience. If there is no change between your babies sleep patterns compared to when you baby was breast fed exclusively then this is unlikely to be the cause of your problems. There is a risk that your milk supply will lesson if you are not breast feeding at least once every four hours. If you milk supply is diminishing then this could be a cause of your babies poor sleeping problems as they may be waking up hungry.

Using Feeds to get your baby to sleep.

Feeding your baby to sleep is a dangerous path to go down for two reasons. The main reason that this causes trouble is that the baby doesn’t get a chance to burp before going down for their nap. This causes wind pain that will likely wake your baby before they have had enough sleep. The second reason that this is not recommended is that your baby will associate sleep with food. This may lead them to expect a feed every time they need to go back to sleep including in the middle of the night. Try to establish a routine where the feed is given upon waking. This will allow time for the baby to expel their wind and will help to break the trend of associating a feed with sleep.

You are what you eat – and so if your baby if you are breastfeeding.

A breastfeeding mom will need to consider what they are eating and drinking as everything they consume has the potential to go through to the breast milk. A healthy balanced diet will defiantly help you keep up a great milk supply for your baby but you may want to reconsider some types of food s that may cause tummy upset in your bub. Some foods that are known to cause wind pains are garlic and chilli, but these need to be consumed in large amounts to have an effect. Also consider how much caffeine you are having as this could be helping to keep you baby awake. It is a common myth that your baby will wake if they are not getting enough food. This might be the case if they wake because it is time for another feed but a severely undernourished baby is more likely to sleep for very long periods of time because they lack the nutrition to stay awake.

Does introducing solids help your baby to sleep?

This is another myth that many parents will hear. Many people think that the baby will sleep longer once they have a more satisfying meal in their tummies. The truth is that introducing solids too early may cause a tummy ache and prevent your baby from getting to sleep. Doctors usually don’t recommend solids to babies under the age of 6 months.

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