help…my baby nurses all night long!

Jan 19th

Have you ever heard of reverse cycling? Reverse cycling is a term that is used to describe the nursing pattern of a baby or toddler who nurses a lot in evening and/or night time hours rather than the “normal” daytime hours. This can happen for a few different reasons. Most mothers probably complain about newborns reverse cycling. Newborns may reverse cycle in the early days or weeks simply because they have their days and nights mixed up.

However, reverse cycling can certainly happen to older babies and even toddlers. Babies reach an age where they easily become distracted. And we all know how easily distracted toddler are! Even mom can get busy and if baby is not overly assertive about nursing or mom doesn’t make herself sit down and take time to nurse the baby, baby misses nursing sessions. Baby may simply compensate for the lack of daytime nursing by waking up more at night to nurse and receive the much-needed closeness to mom that was missed during the day.

Kolt and I struggled with this. He is a VERY busy toddler. He would easily get busy playing and making messes that he wouldn’t ask to nurse. Then nighttime would come around. And he would want to be attached and nursing the whole night long. This is one of the reasons (along with the sore nipples due to pregnancy) that encouraged me to night wean.

Please keep in mind that their other ways to deal with reverse cycling, especially if your baby is under one year of age…

For newborns:

  • During the day, keep the lights on and go on with your normal daytime activities — don’t keep things dark and quiet where baby is sleeping. Play with and talk to baby during waking times. Wake baby to nurse every 2-3 hours.
  • During baby’s night wakings, keep everything calm, quiet, and dark (if you need a light to breastfeed, try using a smaller light like a nightlight or closet light). At some point you may want to begin a bedtime routine (such as bath, story, breastfeeding) to signal that nighttime has begun.

For the distracted baby:

  • Nursing in a quiet, darkened, boring room often helps.
  • Try to catch your baby when he’s more willing, such as when he’s just waking up, already a little sleepy, or actually asleep.
  • Older babies may nurse better if you try different and novel nursing positions in which they have more control – baby standing up, sitting on your lap facing you, etc.

Make sure you make time to nurse and give your child some one-on-one time to breastfeed and reconnect.

This post was written as part of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop, hosted by Slacker Mom, The Gnome’s Mom, and ME! Want to join in? Read the rules here and link up below!

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