How Do You Know Your Baby Is Hungry?

Babies give a lot of subtle cues that they are ready to feed, long before they begin to cry – from rooting with their mouths to making sucking noises and trying to suck on their fists or fingers, as well as little noises that say, ‘I’m working up to a cry’. If these signals are ignored, they will yell. Crying is a late hunger cue and when we repeatedly wait until a young baby cries (sometimes it is unavoidable), perhaps because we are trying to implement a strict feeding schedule, we can set ourselves on a path to unnecessary feeding problems. Notice where your baby’s tongue is when she is yelling – a baby can’t latch on to feed when her tongue is up against the roof of her mouth, and if you do manage to calm her enough to latch on and feed, her suck is likely to be disorganised, or she may be exhausted from crying and only take a small feed before falling asleep. This, of course, means that she will probably sleep for a very short time then wake for another feed as her tiny tummy quickly empties.

At night-time, it may take you a little longer to arouse from your own sleep to respond to your baby’s signals before he actually cries but he will usually give a few small ‘warning’ calls before he works up to distressed wailing. If your baby sleeps near you in the early months you will be surprised how intuitively you will respond to his movements and noises, even if they aren’t very loud. There is evidence that by keeping your baby close at night, you and your little one will share sleep cycles so you will be able to arouse easily, rather than being woken from a deep sleep. This makes it easier to respond promptly to your baby’s early signals, so he will feed quickly without waking fully – and because of this natural ‘efficiency’ you will get more sleep!

Night feeding tip!

Most breastfeeding mums say they feel very hungry during the night, especially in the early weeks. Keep a drink bottle of water on your bedside table and, instead of waking yourself fully to get up and raid the fridge, keep some Boobie Bikkies next to your bed or feeding chair – they are individually wrapped so stay fresh and you can nibble a cookie with one hand while you feed your baby. Remember to keep the lights dim so you and your baby stay in ‘snooze mode’ and if your baby needs a nappy change, do this half way through his feed then nurse him back to sleep – your breastmilk has lovely ‘night time’ hormones that will encourage drowsiness and a quick return to sleep.