Newborns frequently feed at night

Newborns will also feed several times at night, but generally two to three times is enough. There are also many babies who feed frequently at night. There are many reasons for this situation. Every baby develops differently. Some babies develop better and digest and absorb faster, so they naturally breastfeed more often than other babies. It may also be because the baby is not full each time they breastfeed, so the number of times they breastfeed increases. However, you can’t always feed your baby whenever he is hungry. Eating too much will cause indigestion in your baby.

The truth about newborns' frequent feeding

1. Insufficient breast milk

Another situation that can cause babies to breastfeed frequently is insufficient breast milk. One of the characteristics of insufficient breast milk is that the baby takes a long time to feed and sucks the nipple hard, but no continuous swallowing sound can be heard.

2. Infant colic

Colic will cause the baby's stomach to bloat and cause cramps, so the baby will need to breastfeed frequently and will not sleep well during the day or at night. If the child's weight gain is OK, it is likely that the parents' "overfeeding" has caused the child's rapid weight gain. In this case, the baby is most likely suffering from colic.

3. Not feeding on demand

Often, when a child breastfeeds frequently, it is because the mother does not feed on demand but instead feeds on schedule, which causes the child to neither eat nor sleep well.

4. Rapid growth period

Babies don't grow at a uniform rate, they grow in bursts, including periods of accelerated growth spurts, which some people call the "growth spurt" and the "feeding days." They never seem to be full. This situation usually lasts about 3 days, and then the baby will return to the normal feeding pattern and may even sleep more than usual to rest after the rapid growth. The growth spurt of a newborn baby usually occurs around 10 days old, so mothers should be mentally prepared in advance.

5. Your baby has difficulty concentrating

When breastfeeding, there are too many distractions from the surrounding environment, which will cause the baby to lose concentration on feeding, thus causing the feeding time to be too long.

6. Promote milk secretion

First of all, when breastfeeding, you should gently squeeze the breasts with your hands. This can promote milk secretion, so that the newborn will not have to work so hard to feed and will not feel tired so easily.

7. Seek comfort

Sucking allows the baby to effectively get milk to fill his stomach, and the baby also relies on sucking to comfort himself. Sucking is the only way for a baby to express himself that he can control and enjoy. The foraging and sucking reflex does not occur only when he is hungry. The baby also has an instinctive sucking reflex when seeking comfort.