New research finds babies should wake at night
New research from Swansea University challenges the idea that babies should be sleeping through the night.
The study led by the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences asked mothers with a baby aged 6 - 12 months how often their child woke in the night and whether they fed their baby when it did.
The findings firstly showed that more than three quarters of babies at this age still regularly woke at least once in the night with six out of ten having at least one milk feed during the night.
The study also showed that although mums who were breastfeeding tended to feed their baby more at night, there was no difference in the number of times babies woke up dependent on whether they were breast or formula fed, how many feeds they had in the day or how many solid meals they ate.
"The findings are very interesting as they firstly challenge the idea that babies should be sleeping through the night once they are past a few weeks old and secondly that what you feed babies will help their sleep. There is a common belief that formula milk or giving more solid foods will help your baby sleep better and this study shows this isn't true.
– DR AMY BROWN, MSC CHILD PUBLIC HEALTH
Follow us on
