Do I have to wake up the newborn to breastfeed him?

We asked midwife Ilaria Orzi, of the Italian Obstetrics Association, to answer some questions that may arise when breastfeeding a baby.

When you come home from the hospital after giving birth, as well as obviously the joy for the birth of the baby, it is common to feel a sense of bewilderment.

Especially if it’s the first child, we need time to find the right pace and understand the child’s needs. It’s all a succession of new experiences which, however, shouldn’t scare you. In case you find yourself in difficulty (which is very normal for most new mothers) or need answers, don’t be afraid to ask for help : from family members, from some friends who already have experience or even from your trusted midwife.

When breastfeeding a baby, should he be woken up to eat if he has been asleep for several hours?

The newborn child initially undergoes a physiological decrease in weight.  The milky mount takes a few days from delivery to arrive and the baby may initially have difficulty latching on and therefore the decrease comes accordingly. We generally recommend not letting the baby sleep more than 3 hours until he recovers and exceeds his birth weight, and until the mother’s milk production is regularized. This means that day and night feeding takes place approximately every 3 hours (or even less).

This phase can last even more than 20 days in some situations.

When the baby has reached and exceeded the birth weight and begins to have a “regular feeding pattern”, then you can let him sleep without waking him. However, it is rare for a newborn to sleep more than 5-6 straight hours in the first month of life.

From 4-5 months onwards, the baby slowly tends to be interested in different things and not just the mother’s breast. So feeding times can spontaneously lengthen slightly, being more distracted by the surrounding environment, he tends to ask for milk only when he’s really hungry.

And when does he continue to ask for the breast at night after one year of age? Is it hungry?

The moment of breastfeeding is not only aimed at feeding but has multiple functions. It serves as a consolation, it strengthens the emotional bond between mother and child.

A one year old baby’s diet is complete and night feedings may be superfluous for nutritional purposes.

If the child shares the same bed with the mother, it is normal that the request for feedings is greater than for children who sleep in their beds; because she feels his closeness, his warmth, her perfume and therefore it is natural that she acts accordingly.

A child around 12-15 months should learn to fall asleep on his own, first in his arms, then in the cot with his mother or father present and then alone. It is a more or less long process but it leads the child to a certain autonomy and to enjoy a good quality of continuous sleep, a fundamental step for a good quality of sleep which is important in the child, as in the adult

In any case, it’s up to the mother and her child to find the rhythms that best satisfy them and the right times to face the changes.