25 Things Every Nursing Mother Needs to Know by Kathleen Huggins

Author:Kathleen Huggins [Huggins, R.N., M.S., I.B.C.L.C., Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard Common Press

13. You need all the rest you can get.

At some point in your breastfeeding career, you'll probably say that your baby won't let you get enough sleep. After worries about getting the baby latched on to the breast and milk supply, sleep deprivation is the most common concern of new mothers.

While you were pregnant, you may have been frequently awakened by kicking, squirming, and things that go bump in the womb. You likely had to get up to make repeated trips to the bathroom as your baby competed for space with your bladder. You may have tossed and turned in bed to find a comfortable position to sleep in. We call all this a dress rehearsal for motherhood. Breastfeeding mothers are on call around the clock.

A baby's sleep-wake cycle may vary throughout the course of the day, but it never stops. And when a baby wakes up, she wants to be fed. Further, many babies like to escape bustle and noise during the day by sleeping and then rock and roll all night, causing their mothers to conclude their infants have day and night mixed up. This can be tough on Mom.

As their children grow up, many mothers hold fond memories of nighttime nursings. The warmth, the intimacy, the baby's breath against their breasts—these are memories like no others.

At the time, though, these same mothers probably longed to get a full night's sleep. For infants, especially very young ones, waking up hungry several times a night is completely normal. Babies have small stomachs, and they're eating enough to triple their body weight within a year. This rapid rate of growth requires frequent feedings. A baby is not made to "sleep through the night." Dealing with this requires creativity, patience, and—sorry, Mom—acceptance.

Your baby craves not only your milk but the soothing closeness of your body. She was warm and cozy in your womb, and now she finds herself adrift in noisy, boundless life on the outside. She naturally stirs at night and seeks your breast for nutrition and comfort. She craves your familiar smell, touch, and presence. To deny your baby what she needs, biologically and psychologically, would be unnatural and counterproductive. The damage could be lasting, too, since avoiding night feedings or delegating them to your partner would send a mixed message to your body and disrupt your milk production.

Mothers who formula-feed often brag that their babies sleep through the entire night, but in our experience this isn't as common as people think. We see as many formula-feeding mothers as breastfeeding mothers struggle with sleep problems. In general, though, bottle-fed babies do sleep for longer stretches at a time than breastfed babies. In fact, breastfed babies sleep less overall.

Marsha Walker, a lactation consultant and educator, points out that babies who are formula-fed from birth have "poor vagal tone." She is referring to the vagus nerve, which controls numerous sensations and reflexes throughout the body. In short, says Walker, formula-fed babies' autonomic nervous systems are measurably disordered. This makes them sleepier and less alert than breastfed newborns.

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