Is your baby hungry… or tired? This is one of most common topics I get asked about when it comes to newborn babies.

So your newborn baby won’t stop crying…
he must be hungry.

But he can’t be hungry yet,
he just ate an hour ago.

While yes, I believe newborns should be fed on demand, I believe they should be fed on demand every 2.5-3 hours (unless told otherwise by your pediatrician).

If your baby is fussing all day or is waking and crying every other hour at night, and you automatically assume it’s because he’s hungry… you might be creating the problem.

The Big Picture

Let’s say your baby is fed every 2.5-3 hours during the day. You want your baby to be waiting at least 2.5-3 hours (if not a little longer) between feeds at nighttime.

If your baby wakes at 1:00am and you feed him, then wakes again at 3:00am, he’s most likely not very hungry yet. Chances are that he just woke up and is frustrated because he wants to be sleeping but doesn’t know how to fall asleep on his own yet.

But if your baby wakes at 1:00am and you feed him, then wakes again at 3:45 or 4:00am, he’s probably hungry!

Snacking vs. Full Feeds

If you are feeding your baby every time he gets fussy or wakes during the night (let’s say every 1.5-2 hours) you will unfortunately create a habit of “snacking”.

Snacking is when baby takes small feeds more frequently.

Instead, you want to encourage full feeds as much as possible.

If your baby is having full feeds every 2.5-3 hours, they have enough in their tummy to keep them satisfied until their next feed.

What Do I Do?

During the night, if your baby wakes and it’s “time” for a feed, feed them.

If your baby wakes and it isn’t “time” for a feed just yet, try other strategies to comfort your baby first:

– Offer verbal reassurance (shushing)
– Offer physical reassurance (rubbing belly, patting back)
– Offer a pacifier
– Do they need a diaper change?
– Are they too warm/too cold?

Most likely, your baby just doesn’t know how to connect sleep cycles and fall back to sleep on their own.

If you want to feed your baby every time they wake because you know it’ll get them back to sleep right away, you can do that.

But if you want to get sleep under control, you shouldn’t.

Final Thoughts

Establishing full feeds and trying not to create a habit of snacking will help to eliminate a feed-to-sleep association before one even begins.

When a baby has developed a feed-to-sleep association, they will require that feed every time they want to fall asleep; it’s the only way they know how to fall asleep.

This means for naps, at bedtime, and in the middle of the night when they wake from a sleep cycle.

So pause for a moment and ask yourself this… Is your baby hungry… or tired?

Remember to try other soothing methods first if it’s not “time” for a feed.

Do you want to learn everything you can regarding newborn sleep?

Do you want to prep your newborn for sleep success so that you both can begin sleeping through the night sooner?

Check out my guide, Newborn Sleep: The Guide to Thrive.