How to stop a child from eating at night? Effective ways

12/15/201602/16/2017 Nadezhda Plotnikova

Absorption of breast milk is one of the main “tasks” of a newborn. Until about six months, the baby needs constant food intake, since his body requires a huge amount of energy.

But if the “daytime” appetite of a baby brings only joy to a nursing woman, then night feedings are not always associated with something pleasant. A mother who has managed to care for the baby during the day and perform household chores often feels irritated and annoyed when she hears a hungry cry at night.

Expert advice will help you learn how and when to stop feeding your baby at night.

To wean or not?

Feeding at night becomes a big problem for some young mothers. For the sake of sound sleep, women even switch to a feeding schedule that is convenient for them, but such a step does not cause delight among infants. So should you stop eating at night?

For a naturalist, night feeding is a necessary element of normal growth. For a child under one year old (and especially a newborn), it is extremely important to have constant contact with the mother, both day and night.

Infants under 6 months of age cannot withstand long pauses between feedings. Waking up and crying at night in order to eat is not a whim, but a natural need of little children.

In addition, night feeding is important for both the baby and the new parent. The hormone prolactin, which regulates the secretion of milk secretions, is produced precisely in the pre-dawn hours. If the baby does not eat at night, very soon the amount of breast milk will decrease.

Breastfeeding experts warn that stopping nighttime snacks too early will disrupt the optimal secretion of milk secretions, as a result of which the baby will remain on a “starvation ration” and switch to formula, and the mother may experience breast problems.

A baby whose diet is dominated by formula milk is most often fed by the hour. When bottle-feeding, it is a little easier for mothers to set at least approximate meal times. However, up to 6 months, bottle-fed babies should eat at night, just like breastfed babies.

When can you wean off?

Some parents, especially experienced ones, easily tolerate feeding their newborn at night. Others try to stop late-night snacking as soon as possible for various reasons. It is the latter who are actively interested in at what age it is better to wean a child from feeding in the dark.

There is still no consensus on this issue among breastfeeding experts, pediatricians, psychologists and lactating women.

Most often, experts advise eliminating night feedings when the child turns 11 months or a year old. After a year, babies almost completely switch to “adult” food, so the nightly “snack” of mother’s breasts is more of a psychological habit.
Women who are coping with two or more small children at once tend to wean their babies early - after 6 months. GW consultants do not condemn, but also do not approve of such a decision.
Psychologists assure that stopping night feeding of a child is rather a psychological problem, so this process should be carried out only after the second year of life. For children of the sixth or eighth month, feeding at night is not just to satisfy hunger, but a desire to be close to their mother. Stopping feeding your baby too early can cause stress.

Thus, there are no specific recommendations at what age you should stop night snacking.
The time of refusal depends on whether the child is breastfed or bottle-fed. In addition, you should not dismiss the individual characteristics of the baby. If a nursing woman is ok with night feeding, this process can last until the fourth year of life. However, usually new parents get tired of lack of sleep within a year, so advice from experts on breastfeeding will come in handy.

Reasons why you crave late-night snacking

Many people notice that in the evening or at night, while lying in bed, they really want to eat. Doctors do not advise giving in to this desire, because at night the body is in a relaxed state. Food, as you know, is a source of energy necessary for life. There is no benefit from a late-night snack.

Factors that make you want to snack at night:

Hunger. If a person is on a diet all day or simply starving, his body does not receive enough nutrients and energy. At night, hunger makes itself felt, the stomach “rumbles”, “sucks in the pit of the stomach”, so you have to get out of bed and empty the refrigerator.
Stress. Typically, stress causes the release of adrenaline, which inhibits the expression of hunger, but sometimes the system malfunctions and the opposite reaction occurs. Severe emotional distress or experiences lead to the fact that a person cannot fall asleep for a long time at night, remembering the events experienced the day before. A nighttime snack helps him calm down.
Insomnia. The reason for lack of sleep may be emotional distress or a sedentary lifestyle or a long period of rest. Food helps keep you occupied at night.

It is important to remember that late-night snacking is a type of eating disorder. It is advisable to combat this problem. If you do nothing, extra centimeters will soon appear on your hips and waist.

How do you know when your child is ready?

The choice of weaning methods is best made after women determine whether babies are ready to give up breast milk or formula. Quite often, after 6-7 months, when additional products are introduced, the child stops waking up at night, allowing the mother to get enough sleep.

The main symptoms of a baby’s readiness to give up nighttime snacking appear at about 11 months or a year and look like this:

infants receive the most varied feeding;
the number of breastfeedings or formula preparations during the day is significantly reduced;
infants experience good weight gain;
the child is absolutely healthy;
at night the children get up at a certain time;
The child cannot be forced to eat the entire last portion; he can often be distracted.

If such symptoms are present, we can assume that eating at night for a child is not a vital need, but an established habit. In this case, it will most likely be possible to wean the baby without any problems.

How to wean your baby off night feeding?

The question of how to wean a child from night snacks is relevant for many families who are tired of constantly waking up during the rest period.

Knowing how to stop feeding in the dark is especially useful for mothers:

who have older children who need attention and care;
who plan to wean their baby in the near future;
if the baby is already 6 months old.

It is important to approach solving this problem responsibly and carefully. If you suddenly stop feeding your baby at night, this can lead to problems with digestion and the nervous system. The baby should be prepared to avoid snacking in the dark.

The following signs indicate that you can wean your baby off night feeding:

the child receives varied and nutritious complementary foods;
the number of requests for a bottle with an adapted formula or breastfeeding at night has decreased;
the baby is gaining weight normally;
during the dark period of the day, the baby wakes up at the same time;
The child does not eat the portion offered to him completely and is often distracted during feeding.

You should not deny your baby night snacks if he:

sick;
has a body weight below normal;
is in a stressful state.

It is not recommended to stop feeding the child at night for those women who were forced to go to work before the baby turns six months old.

Prolactin, which is responsible for the production of milk, is synthesized in large quantities at night. Night feeding will help maintain a woman's lactation. Also, working mothers do not have the opportunity to give enough attention to their babies during the day. Night snacks for a child allow you to make up for the lack of care and affection from a loved one.

Secrets of weaning babies from feeding in the dark:

for children 6-9 months of age
. It is important to ensure that the baby does not smell the breast at night. Therefore, you need to put him to sleep in a crib located away from his mother. If the baby is capricious, then you should ask the father to come to him and rock him to sleep. During the period of weaning from night feedings, it is better for the mother to sleep in another room. Instead of milk or an adapted formula, it is necessary to offer the child water;
for babies 9-12 months . Pedagogical methods can already be applied to children of this age. Infants already partially understand simple speech addressed to them and intonation. It is necessary to explain to the baby that he needs to sleep at night, and during the day he needs to eat and stay awake. At the same time, you should talk to the baby affectionately, but confidently.

When weaning off nighttime snacking, it is strictly prohibited to use coercive methods, intimidate the child, ignore his crying, or take him to his grandparents. This can only lead to nervous disorders.

Slowly or instantly?

Stopping snacking at night can be gradual or immediate. Each of these methods has positive and negative features. This is why a woman who is breastfeeding or using formula should make her own decision about the preferred technique.

Gradual way

The essence of the technique is to stop breastfeeding at night gradually due to heavier meals during the day. For example, before going to bed, the baby is additionally fed with porridge or vegetable puree so that he does not wake up in the middle of the night.

Simultaneously with the introduction of more complementary foods, the total amount of breastfeeding should be reduced. In this case, the woman’s milk secretion will also decrease.

The main advantage of this method is that babies fall asleep full and happy, and the mother will not need to express breast milk, which reduces the likelihood of cracked nipples and lactostasis.

This technique also has disadvantages:

A nursing woman is not always able to follow the chosen regimen due to incorrect calculation of feeding hours. In addition, it is necessary to select porridges according to the child’s taste.
Another disadvantage is the probable reluctance of infants to eat the products offered. Some babies cannot be weaned due to their habit of drinking only breast milk. The parent will have to endure several weeks of tears and whims of the child (sometimes the irritation lasts up to a month).

When the mother begins to stop snacking at night, breastfeeding experts recommend that she demonstrate her love to the child in every possible way - caressing, talking and kissing. Such attention in infancy is vital!

This method is usually used when weaning a child under one year old, but it is also useful for older children. From 6-7 months, infants can already receive complementary foods. For children under six months old, even such a “gentle” method is still not suitable.

Instant way

This technique is acceptable if a new parent needs to wean her child as quickly as possible. Of course, there must be significant reasons, for example, chronic lack of sleep, going to work, or forced separation from the baby.

The main advantage of this method is that the woman saves the time that would be needed to gradually eliminate night feedings. The disadvantage is very significant - such a sharp refusal of milk and formula can cause stress in a young child.

Of course, situations are different, but most breastfeeding experts do not advise immediately weaning infants under one year old. A child at 2 months, and at 11 months, and even at a year old reacts extremely painfully to the deprivation of his mother’s breast.

Advice from Dr. Komarovsky

When asked at what age a baby should be weaned from night feeding, a popular pediatrician answers – after 6 months. Komarovsky assures new mothers that a baby in the seventh month of life no longer needs to eat at night.

Night breastfeeding of a child older than this age is a common habit formed due to the indulgence of the mother. Children's tears at night are not necessarily caused by hunger. If you feed a baby every time it squeaks, its digestion may be disrupted.

The pediatrician advises following the following rules to help you finish your nighttime meals.

You should not give your child too many foods at the penultimate meal. But before falling asleep, the baby needs to be well fed so that he does not wake up from hunger.
When breastfeeding (and even when using formula), late bathing has a positive effect on fast and sound sleep. Any additional procedures (bath or massage) must be carried out before feeding so that the baby is hungry.
At an early age, the microclimate in the room is especially important. Cool and humidified air (up to 20 °C) promotes sound sleep. It is better to put warm pajamas on your child than to put him in a stuffy room.
You can try, if not eliminate it, then reduce daytime sleep. Babies in their third month of life sleep approximately 16-20 hours a day. After the sixth month, sleep duration decreases to 14.5 hours. A child spends an hour less in a crib per year. A woman can try to wean her baby from sleeping too much during the day.
It is extremely important to establish a routine almost from the first month. If a new parent follows a daily routine, then the child at 11 months, a year, and preschool age will firmly understand when to eat and when not.

A well-known pediatrician is confident that if these rules are followed, a child at the age of one will begin to eat only during the day, and at night he will doze sweetly and soundly, without forcing the mother to wake up and put him to the breast.

Recommendations of Dr. Komarovsky

Many mothers are looking for an answer to the question of when and how to wean their baby from night feedings - on the Internet, communicating on forums.

Having studied the opinions of women regarding this problem, it can be noted that some prefer to abruptly give up night snacks, others gradually reduce the frequency of meals in the dark, and others wait until the baby stops asking for the breast.

Pediatrician Komarovsky claims that you should stop night feedings no earlier than six months of age. If a baby older than 6 months wakes up several times in the dark to drink milk, then this indicates a problem.

For a mother, such a feeding schedule is very difficult. For normal lactation, a woman also needs rest. Komarovsky notes that frequent awakenings of a child can be caused by a number of factors.

The pediatrician gives young families the following advice:

normalize your diet during the day. The doctor advises feeding the baby nutritious and nutrient-enriched food during daylight hours;
Organize your baby’s own sleeping place. At first it should be placed near the parents’ bed, and then gradually moved away;
change the microclimate in the apartment. The air in the room where the baby sleeps is of great importance. For a long and relaxing rest, it should be damp and cool. Warm and dry air will make the child feel thirsty and cause frequent awakenings in the middle of the night. The optimal temperature in the room where the baby sleeps is +18 degrees, and the humidity is in the range of 40-70%;
bathe your baby just before bedtime. This will relieve psycho-emotional stress and make the baby’s rest calmer and longer;
After the bath, feed the baby tightly. Then the baby will sleep longer;
During the day, pay more attention to the baby, show your love and care.

If, despite changes in the microclimate, feeding and water procedures before bed, the baby continues to wake up and demand milk, then you need to postpone weaning from snacks in the dark. Perhaps the baby is not yet ready for change. After a few weeks, you should try again. Komarovsky does not recommend abruptly weaning your baby off night feedings.

Sears family method

The older generation of the family, who raised seven babies, argues that in the absence of any problems, night feedings should be preserved. The child himself will decide at what age to give up such snacks.

If babies still demand breast milk or formula even after a year, a nursing mother can use the following recommendations.

When breastfeeding, you should increase the number of strokes and touches during the day. Children under one year old vitally need tactile contact with their mother, so you can play with them during the day and lie next to them at night so that they feel their mother’s warmth.
Since babies fall asleep earlier than their parents, breastfeeding experts advise waking up the infant so that he can eat or drink water before the mother goes to bed. This will help eliminate at least one meal at night.
Try to change your child's habits. For example, if he is used to falling asleep in a crib, put him in a sling or stroller. In young children, a change in one habit often leads to a change in other habits, including those related to feeding.
You can wean kids off with the help of special clothing. If a woman falls asleep with her child, her mammary glands should be hidden. Another option is to purchase children's beds that are attached to the parent's bed. This will help you gradually move the baby away from you after 6 months of life.
If the baby continues to reach for the breast, it is better to transfer him to another room. This advice is more suitable for children older than one year.
To stop children's tears, the mother gets up at night and calms the child. Since fathers wake up anyway, the procedure for calming the baby can be transferred to the stronger half. Dad can give the baby some water and rock him for a while. Of course, it won’t be possible to wean off this way right away, but after a week, children usually stop reaching for the breast.
An extreme method is to simply deny the child milk. Since babies in the seventh month of life, much less one year old, no longer need breast milk at night, the mother can simply say “no.” Of course, it is necessary to wean off in such a harsh way if all other advice has not helped. Children's tantrums will soon end - a break of 2-3 weeks will be enough.

The authors of the method advise monitoring the child’s condition. If his behavior remains virtually unchanged, follow the advice.

In case of excessive tantrums or decreased weight gain, it is better to adjust the refusal method. You can wean yourself off late-night snacking in a more gentle way.