Parentpedia

What Experts Say

You've heard the expression "sleeping like a baby." If you've got a newborn, however, you've probably noticed that babies seem to do anything but sleep during the night. While this can be frustrating -- and exhausting -- the fact is that up until about 4 months of age, babies wake up frequently simply because they are hungry.

Newborns have very small stomachs and require huge amounts of calories to gain weight, so they need to be fed often, about every two to three hours. In fact, for the first two weeks, you should wake your baby if he goes more than four hours without a feeding.

From three weeks until four months, there is a wide variety of "normal" when it comes to how long a baby can sleep between feedings.

"Some babies may only be able to go two to three hours, while others may start sleeping [for] six-hour stretches," explains pediatrician Ari Brown, M.D., author of "Baby 411" and "Toddler 411." "It just depends on your baby and if you're nursing. Formula takes longer to digest than breastmilk, so formula-fed babies tend to sleep for slightly longer stretches of time."

By the four-month mark, most babies are able to sleep six hours straight without eating; by five months, they can sleep nine hours; and by six months, almost all babies can go 12 hours without needing to eat. (Keep in mind that if your child was a preemie or has acid reflux, he'll likely need to eat more often than these guidelines.)

"One of the biggest mistakes parents make is assuming that a child over 6 months old is still hungry at night and needs to be fed," says Dr. Brown. "At this point, your baby doesn't need a bottle for nutrition, it's simply a learned behavior and he's using it to help him drift back to sleep."

To end this cycle, don't let your baby fall asleep at the breast or while drinking a bottle at bedtime, since he'll associate feedings with slumber and won't know how to soothe himself back to sleep when he wakes up in middle of the night. (In this case, try our get-to-sleep strategies. Offering a pacifier in the middle of the night may also help end these middle-of-the-night snack sessions as well.)

Late-Night Feedings How-to

• Keep nighttime feedings as calm as possible. Don't turn on the lights (try a night-light in the room so you can see what you're doing), don't talk to your baby, and try not to make eye contact. As soon as the feeding is over, quietly burp your baby and put him back in his bassinet or crib.
• You may not need to change your baby's diaper after every feeding, since this will only stimulate him and make it harder for him to fall back asleep. Instead, only change a diaper that is soiled or very wet, or if your baby has diaper rash.
• If you're nursing, avoid anything with caffeine in the late afternoon and evening, since this can travel through your breastmilk and wire your little one.
• Breastfeeding moms are often particularly exhausted since they end up doing all the night feedings. Instead, try to pump some milk during the day so your husband can use a bottle or consider substituting formula once during the night. Another option: Try a "dream feed." In addition to the feeding you gave him before his bedtime, gently rouse him from his crib just before you turn in for the night at around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. and feed him again. He's likely to go right back to sleep and you'll get to snooze for a longer stretch before he wakes up to be fed again.

Safety Note

Never give your baby a bottle when he's in the crib. Letting him fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth causes formula to pool in the mouth which leads to tooth decay. For any late-night feedings, hold your little one in your arms until he's finished drinking, then take the bottle away and lay him back in his crib.

In addition, ignore the old wives' tale that putting cereal in a baby's bottle will make him sleep longer. "This just doesn't work: Rice cereal has very few calories and doesn't have any impact on sleep," says Dr. Brown. "Plus it's a choking hazard."