Waking Baby to Feed

Deciding whether you should awaken your sleeping baby to feed is a question many new mothers have. You may enjoy watching her sleep and are likely to be a bit hesitant to wake the baby to feed her. But, you should remember that each feed is important for your baby's growth. So, do not hesitate to wake the baby to feed her if she is sleeping. Your baby will enjoy being held close to you. You can watch out for her showing signs of hunger in her sleep. Babies must be fed quite often and you can adopt some simple techniques to wake and feed your baby.

Tips to Wake Baby to Feed

• Undress your baby and establish skin-to-skin contact with her and hug her close to your breast. Your body temperature may help in waking her up for her feed.
• Help her sit up straight and keep talking to her maintaining eye contact. She will slowly open her eyes. This is called the doll's technique.
• Stretch out her arms and legs These postures alert her brain and signal her to wake up.
• Rub your baby's palms and feet. The warmth will wake her up.
• Wipe her face with a cool cloth.
• Tickle her lower lip with your nipple. This stimulates her to open her mouth.
• Tickling her ears and soles of the feet are another option.
• Keep talking to her as long as you feed her.
• Try changing her diapers. This may wake her up.
• Keep the lights in the room dim. Your baby's eyes are highly sensitive and she may keep her eyes closed to bright lights.

If she begins to fall asleep while nursing, gently release her from your breast. Help her burp and move her to the other breast. You can also try a different breastfeeding position if she appears to be falling asleep during her feeds.