Toddlers and babies wake up at night, often at regular intervals, and their moms use various routine to get them back to sleep. One such routine is to breastfeed them until they fall asleep. This is a good method to use if the baby is really awake. However, it has been found that mothers often mistake the sleeping noises of the kids as waking up signs and habitually breastfeed them without checking whether they are asleep or awake.
Babies make many types of noises such as moaning, grunting and whimpering while asleep. Mothers should use their instincts and intuitions to differentiate between their kids’ sleeping and waking noises. When they hear a noise, they should wait, listen and watch their babies. This will tell them whether the babies are asleep or awake. Even if the babies awake for a few moments, they usually go back sleep almost immediately without any assistance. On the other hand, if the moms try to breastfeed them, the babies might actually awake. This is akin to disturbing a sleeping baby.
If the babies are really hungry or uncomfortable they won’t go back to sleep almost immediately. A careful mother can easily identify her kid’s hungry or uncomfortable sounds through practice. Once, the exact reason is identified the mother needs to act immediately and breastfeed the baby. Otherwise, the baby might start crying and it will take longer time to put her/him back to sleep.
The most important thing for mothers to do is to listen carefully to the night sounds of the kids and let them sleep if they are making sleeping noises, or attend to them immediately if they are awake.
Posted on May 21st, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Baby, Breastfeeding, Diet, Sleep, Toddler
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