For a baby it is not only normal, but it is healthy to wake up overnight and breastfeed then. Knowing it is a help on the toughest nights. Neither behavioral methods nor heavy bottles are good for them. They must wake up. We will see the reason for this below. The specific needs of the baby will make his dream the most convenient to fulfill them.
We know that babies, like the rest of living beings, are born being able to develop the behaviors that allow them to stay alive. The human baby is born unable no longer to defend or flee, but even to move on its own. It is so dependent that not even, as monkeys do, could it cling to the mother. It must be held in arms at all times.
But of course if you are prepared to take care of the vital functions: You can eat if your breast is offered, you can even crawl to your chest shortly after birth, you can breathe, you can make sounds to call your mother and can undoubtedly sleep. I already did it in the womb.
If humans, or any other being, we had to learn to eat, breathe or sleep we would be extinct. on vital functions so that our bodies continue to function. Regarding sleep, essential for rest and recovery, will change as the baby grows and will continue to change until old age.
The newborn needs eat very continuously, even during the night, and will continue to need it for several months. When you are a baby of less than three months, breastfeeding at night is essential, so that you can receive the necessary amount of food so that hypoglycemia does not occur. The baby will suck as much and as continuously as necessary, without schedule. He will just wake up normally. And he will fall asleep again later if that is what he needs. Night breastfeeding is essential then to maintain enough supply of milk, to avoid hypoglycemia. And in addition the night teats promote the production of hormones that increase production, so waiting or wishing that the child does not breastfeed at night is counterproductive to his health.
But in addition to the nutritional reasons there are other evolutionary and developmental ones that converge in making the baby's dream as it is, with awakenings and without distinction of night and day. And they also indicate that you will want to sleep accompanied and be alert while you sleep. We will see you in the next topics.
