first step to sleep

Full Feeds lead to Full Sleep…Half Feeds lead to Half Sleep!

🌙 WHAT? It’s important that each time you feed your baby or young child, they’re eating until satisfied. This means not letting them snack/fall asleep/get distracted while eating.

🌙 WHY? If a baby doesn’t have a full belly, it’s difficult for them to get a full nap or night of sleep. If they learn the habit of snacking, they need to snack every hour or two all day and night in order to get the daily calories they need, leading to unnecessary night and nap wakings (like when you need popcorn at 2AM because you ate at weird times that day)

🌙 HOW DO I ACHIEVE A FULL FEED? By spacing out the time between feeds. A baby under 4 months should eat no more than every 3 hrs, unless they have a health issue or are underweight. This maintains enough spacing between meals so that they’re actually hungry enough to eat a full meal. If your child is 4 months to 4 years (or really into adulthood) they’re more than capable and of going 4 hrs between 4 daily meals: breakfast, lunch, supper and dinner. Think meals not feeds! Also, it’s important to keep meal time for eating, not sleeping or playing. For newborns, you can tickle their cheek to keep them awake during feeds. After the newborn phase, it helps to feed them milk in a low stimulation, quiet, screen-free place to keep them focused on feeding.

🌙 AFFECTS ON SLEEP? If they’re eating full meals during the day, you can expect your baby under 3 months to naturally sleep 4-8 hour stretches at night and your baby over 3 months to sleep 8-12 hrs at night…without needing to wake to eat! Getting your baby onto a consistent routine of (full) meals that happen at about the same time each day is the simplest & most natural way to help them get the full night of sleep they need.