Lolli’s Lesson: We LOVE Night Feedings!

This may be my most unpopular post, but it needs to be said. Baby is waking you up at night to eat? WE LOVE TO HEAR IT!!!

Waking up at night to eat is part of normal newborn feeding patterns. In fact, when I have families tell me their baby “sleeps so good” in those early weeks it makes me nervous. Babies should not be sleeping through the night as a newborn—especially a breastfeeding newborn. There are some instances where this is happening in a growing, thriving baby once breastmilk has been established—but these cases are very rare.

Newborns should be eating anywhere between 8 and 12 feedings in a 24 hour period of time. Unless you are feeding your baby every hour on the hour, this is not likely to happen without at least a couple of feedings overnight. In the early newborn period, the relationship between breasts and the baby is a tricky thing. Each time that baby goes to breast it signals the milk-making hormone, prolactin, to make milk. It’s almost as if the baby is “calling in their order” for the amount of milk needed to help baby grow as baby’s tummy gets bigger and can hold more volume.

The newborn period is hard. Sleep is hard to come by some days (and even more during the nights!) There are many tips and tricks we love to educate parents on in these early days of breastfeeding a newborn. But knowing that it is healthy AND expected for a baby to wake up at night and have a milk party will hopefully help families power through these first few sleep-deprived weeks with their precious newborn.