If you have chosen to demand-feed are you feeding to your baby’s hunger or to their crying? Many mothers fall into a trap when demand-feeding and are actually snack feeding their baby and teaching them to cat-nap. A well-fed baby will, of his own accord, begin to ‘demand-feed’ every four hours if encouraged to do so from the beginning.
Feeding baby to sleep, except for the two night feeds, is not a good idea, as he begins to associate feeding as a technique to get himself to sleep. If he falls asleep during a feed, wake him up and make sure he feeds well so he is not hungry later on. If baby wakes after a one hour sleep and you know he has fed well at the last feed it is not hunger that has woken him, resettle him.
Tips: Babies that feed well are generally settled and sleep well. The exception to this is when they have never learnt to resettle themselves after the first sleep cycle, or there may be a problem with reflux or an infection.
Remember: Baby should be getting enough if –
- he/she is content directly after a feed,
- putting on weight and
- has plenty of wet nappies. If the nappies are light and urine is dark and smelly, your baby may not be getting enough to drink.
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Cradle 2 Kindy parenting coaches are trained to assist with breastfeeding concerns to help you establish good breastfeeding habits and overcome your anxiety and any difficulties you may encounter.
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