If The Baby Wakes Up At Night

It does not matter that your baby wakes up hungry during the night, the important thing is to learn when the baby needs to eat and when you can allow the baby to go back to sleep on his or her own. Learn to interpret the baby’s messages. Babies make a lot of noises when sleeping such as grunting, winning and crying, but these do not always mean the baby is waking up. Observe the baby carefully. If the baby is awake and hungry, feed him or her as soon as possible so that they continue sleeping. However if the baby is only whining, give him or her a few pats on the back and allow the baby to go back to sleep.

If your baby has an uneasy rest during the first days, try wrapping the baby and immobilize the baby’s arms and legs. Sometimes the movement of baby’s arms and legs scares them and wakes them up. 

Accommodate the baby in the crib before the baby is asleep so that he does not become disoriented if he wakes up.

In general, babies under four months of age should wake up a couple times during the night to breastfeed; between four and six months they usually wake up once, but from six months on up they should sleep all night.

Distinguishing The Day From The Night
A baby sleeps approximately 18 hours a day, with the sleep times distributed in 6 or 7 periods. Teach your baby to distinguish the day from night so that he or she sleeps more at night and so you can rest better as well. During the day allow the baby to sleep in a room with light, and where the baby is able to hear natural noises of the house. At night the baby’s room should be dark and silent. If you bathe your baby, put his or her pajamas on, kiss the baby good night and allow him or her to listen to the same music every day, your baby will associate this routine with sleep time. Choose a song when waking him or her and a different one when it is time to sleep so that the baby identifies day from night.

When the baby has a routine and follows it in somewhat of an organized way, he or she might wake up at midnight. In this case, calm the baby down by taking him or her out of the crib, with a lot of affection but without enthusiasm, so as to not increase the baby’s state of excitement.

Remember that there are situations that cause sleep perturbations such as when solid foods are introduced to a baby, when the baby is teething, when the baby has a dirty diaper, when the baby is at a growth spurt, or when the baby is hot or cold.