Let’s talk about night feeds. As you all know, during the first few weeks, you can expect your new arrival to wake up every few hours to be fed. Although some nights you’ll love this precious time with your little one, on other’s staying awake at 3am will be the day’s biggest challenge. To help you get through the twilight hours, we asked our Mother&Baby mums to share their top tips.
13 tips to help you through the night feed:
Nightfeed tips
1 of 131) Catch up on TV
Finally! A chance to catch up on all that TV you’ve been missing! Nip downstairs for a couple of episodes or dig out the headphones, dim the light on your phone and get ready for a 20-minute binge. EastEnders omnibus anyone?
2 of 132) Snacks and water
Make sure you have a bottle of water and a packet of biscuits by your side to snack on – this will help you stay awake (and beat the midnight munchies!).
3 of 133) Get organised
If you are bottle feeding, take a boiling water flask to bed to heat bottles in the night. Keep nappies and wipes handy in a bedside drawer, or under your baby’s Moses basket so you’re not scrabbling around half asleep in the middle of the night.
4 of 134) Warm water by bed
Have a flask of warm water on your bedside table for nappy changing. This means you won’t be running back and forth to the bathroom when your new-born wakes up.
5 of 135) Get ahead
Put a barrier cream on before putting your baby down to sleep and avoid using wet-wipes unless you really need to during the night change. This will avoid waking your baby and hopefully get her to drift off quickly.
6 of 136) Cuddle
Try to enjoy the private cuddle time with your baby – you’ll miss it when he’s sleeping through the night.
7 of 137) Online shopping
For most online retailers, their sales start at 3am, so use the night feed to browse for online bargains before everyone else wakes up!
8 of 138) Sneak in some learning
One Mother & Baby mum told us she used a Portuguese language app to stay awake during her first few weeks of night feeds. With her phone dimmed, playing games on the app kept her awake and helped her learn the language she’s going to teach her baby. Super impressive!
9 of 139) Game time
If you’re worried about falling asleep as your baby feeds, some of our mums recommend playing a game on your phone. So there you have it, breastfeeding is the perfect time to perfect your Candy Crush skills.
10 of 1310) Audiobooks
One of our mums recommended audiobooks to help make those late night feeds more enjoyable. Perfect if you don’t want to stare at a screen, but are worried about nodding off. Now, where did we put those headphones…
11 of 1311) Read
If you find the light of your iPad or tablet stops you from nodding off again, why not try an old fashioned paperback and dimmed book-light? The story will help you stay awake, but the lack of screen will hopefully mean you drift off quicker.
12 of 1312) Head downstairs
Get out of bed and go downstairs, as sitting in bed watching your partner sleep is just too tough.
13 of 1313) Interaction
Avoid interacting with your baby in the middle of the night – they’ll soon learn daytime is for playing and night time is for sleeping (hopefully!)
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