Due to physiological reasons, infants also need to eat milk at night, but they can't eat it all the time. If they eat it all the time, it is easy to cause caries, and it will affect the quality of sleep and the healthy development of children, so they still need to give up night milk at a certain time.
It's suitable to cut off night milk for several months
Babies also need to be nursed at night for physiological reasons. However, if the baby is still used to eating night milk at a certain age, it will easily increase the burden on the stomach and intestines, cause digestive and absorption obstacles, and it is not good for the baby's teeth, which is more likely to lead to tooth decay. Mothers also spend a lot of time trying to wean their babies off night milk. So when is the right time for a baby to wean at night?
The baby's night break milk can't be cut to pieces. It needs to be determined according to the baby's age and specific situation:
Newborn (infants within 1 month)
Newborn night milk must not be broken, must be based on the needs of the baby (when the baby is hungry or when the milk is swollen) for breastfeeding.
4-6 babies
Although a small amount of complementary food has been added, it is still dominated by milk (breast milk or milk). Due to the reason of adding complementary food, the night milk will naturally be less than that in one month, so the mother does not need to deliberately cut off the night milk.
Babies over 6 months
A large number of supplementary foods have been added, such as porridge, noodles, rice paste, bread, meat mud, fruit mud, egg soup, cake, etc., which are semi liquid or solid food, which can bear much more than breast milk or milk. Therefore, at this stage, the baby's night milk will be less, many babies only have one night milk or only eat one time in the morning, which is a normal situation.
Because the calories provided by complementary food account for about half of the total food calories, from the physiological function, the baby over 6 months has the right conditions for weaning at night, but there is no specific regulation, the mother can choose the right time according to the baby and her own situation.
How to cut off night milk reasonably for baby 1. Gradually reduce the times and amount of night milk
From the 4th month, the baby who has reached the height and weight development standard can lose a night's milk. We should have a plan to let the baby develop the habit of not drinking milk at night. The mother can slowly reduce the number of times to feed the baby at night, from three times to two times to one time, so that the baby can gradually get used to it.
When weaning your baby, you should follow the principle of step-by-step. Instead of reducing all night milk at once, you should gradually reduce the amount and times of night milk.
The mother can shorten the time of feeding, decreasing every day, for example, feeding 8 minutes in the first few days, feeding 6 minutes every few days, then to 4 minutes, 2 minutes, until finally no longer feeding to sleep, the best way to pacify the baby to help sleep is to have other ways.
Artificial feeding of the baby, you can gradually adjust the night milk to some light, the amount of milk is also gradually reduced.
2. Add supplementary food in time, and be full before going to bed
In the early stage of adding complementary food, the calories provided by complementary food account for about 10% of the calories provided by all food; in the middle stage of adding complementary food, when the baby is 8-9 months old, the calories provided by complementary food account for about half of the calories of all food, at this time, weaning at night for the baby has been provided with appropriate conditions.
Not eating enough food for dinner is the most direct cause of baby's large demand for night milk. In order to ensure that the baby will not be hungry at night, you can eat semi liquid or solid things like rice milk powder, porridge or milk cake once or two hours before going to bed, but you should pay attention to whether you want to feed too much, so as to avoid the baby's gastrointestinal burden.
3. Delay gratification, replace with water
On the premise of ensuring that the baby is not hungry, when waking up in the middle of the night for milk, the mother can do the above step first, clap and coax, and give comfort to the baby. If the baby is still noisy, the mother must insist. You can use water instead of milk for your baby to drink. Maybe the baby will quarrel, but the mother must insist. Pediatricians generally believe that even if the baby is hungry at night, it doesn't matter. Sleeping doesn't consume much energy. Don't forget, our first goal is to make our baby eat delicious and full during the day.
4. Sleep with someone other than mom at night
During the period of weaning, the mother should accompany and take care of the baby as much as possible during the day, but sleep at night can be taken care of by other relatives besides the mother. It's going to be a little hard time for a baby: when the baby wakes up and finds that it's not a mother, it may cry, but it's going to be ok if it's persisted several times.
5. Not anxious, not soft hearted
Eating night milk is not only the habit of the baby, but also the result of the mother's accommodation. As soon as the baby cries at night, the mother will be soft hearted and feed the baby. The baby will develop the habit of drinking night milk, so the mother should be determined to help the baby to get rid of the habit of eating night milk. In a word, mom should insist on it gradually and gently.