What You Should Know About Feeding to Sleep
Babies naturally get sleepy while eating, especially when they are newborns.
But is it ok to feed your baby to sleep consistently? In this blog post I will cover everything you need to know about feeding to sleep.
Is it “wrong” to feed my baby to sleep?
Let’s start by answering this question…NO! Every family and baby is different. As long as it is safe and age-appropriate, there is no “wrong” way to help your baby sleep. If feeding to sleep works for you, then please continue to do so. You’ll know it is no longer working when it doesn’t feel sustainable anymore and you can’t imagine continuing your current sleep routine for the foreseeable future.
Here are a few reasons you may not want to rely on feeding your baby to sleep:
We want baby to get a nice full feed in. If your baby is falling asleep in the middle of a feed, they are probably not taking in a full feed. This can lead to wanting to eat more frequently, shorter naps, and more wake-ups at night.
Babies can eventually become reliant on feeding to fall asleep. Some families are fine with this! However many families will find that their baby isn’t able to lengthen naps independently and is waking frequently at night. If your baby relies on feeding to fall asleep, they will most likely wake in between sleep cycles needing that same thing to fall back asleep.
Feeding to sleep can often become unsustainable. This may look something like feeding your baby, laying them down just for them to wake up quickly after, then putting them back on the breast or bottle to try and get them to go back to sleep even though they just ate. This can feel frustrating and may make it hard for you or your baby to get restorative rest.
So what can you do to move away from feeding to sleep?
It depends on the age of your baby.
0-4 Months:
If your baby is younger than 4 months, I recommend moving the feed to the beginning of the wake window. Babies 4 months old and younger are typically only awake 45-90 minutes max. In this case, an eat-wake-sleep routine can work well. Moving the feed to when your baby wakes up from a nap will help them stay awake while eating and will break the association between eating and sleeping.
Rather than rely on feeding when it comes to naptime or bedtime, you can implement the 6 S’s to soothe them to sleep. These are:
swaddle
side
shush
suck
sway
eyebrow stroke
4+ Months
If your baby is older and is starting to stay awake for 2+ hours at a time, an eat-wake-sleep routine usually stops working. In that case, I would move their feeds to the middle of their wake window or 20-30 minutes before their nap.
After 4 months you can also teach your baby to fall asleep independently! Most babies 4+ months old are ready to learn how to initiate sleep on their own, lengthen naps independently, and cut down on night wake-ups. Doing this would eliminate the need for you to feed (or rock or pat) to sleep!
Wondering how to teach independent sleep skills? You don’t need to do this alone. Check out my May Group Sleep Coaching here!