What To Do When… Your Child Wakes Up Hungry
Your child hasn’t breastfed or taken a bottle in months.
Heck, has it been years yet? You can’t remember (hello, sleep deprivation!), but you know it’s been a while since you could soothe them back to sleep with some sort of milk. But yet here they are, standing in front of your bed at 3 o’clock in the morning, telling you that they’re hungry.
What do you do?
Well, the logical answer is to offer them some food. Taking them downstairs for a quick snack as a one-off isn’t the end of the world (we’ve all woken up hungry ourselves before, right?), but what if it keeps happening? How do you prevent these night-time hunger pangs from turning into a habit?
1. Offer supper before bed. Choose sleep-inducing foods such as oatmeal or wholegrain cereal, yogurt with granola, or a turkey sandwich. If it fits in with your routine, you could also try serving their main meal a little later than usual.
2. Encourage your child to enjoy their evening meal and tell them it will help keep their tummy nice and full until the next morning. Don’t take any chances by introducing new foods for this meal. Instead, give them something you know they’re particularly fond of and would usually eat well
3. If needed, consider introducing some additional structure to your mealtimes. For example, setting and eating at the table, having predictable timings for main meals, etc.
4. Sometimes, we can confuse hunger with thirst, so it’s generally a good idea to see if they’d like a drink of water in the first instance as well.
5. If they’re insistent and you’re happy to take them downstairs for a quick snack, make sure you keep the room dim and that everything is quiet and uneventful whilst they eat (no TV!) When they’re finished, take them straight back up to bed. You could even bring a snack to your child. I don’t suggest letting them eat in bed, but in the room is okay.
6. Are they really hungry? If your little one isn’t settling down to sleep after their snack and still doesn’t seem satisfied, consider that there may be another reason for their waking that they’ve been unable to express or put into words. Perhaps they’re scared of the dark or dealing with separation anxiety, but they’ve found it’s easier to say they’re hungry than attempt to explain the complexities of their feelings. See if you can dig a little deeper by talking things through, but this can wait until the next day if they’re not receptive. Try to practice naming emotions as a daytime game to see if you can unearth the root of what’s niggling them.
7. Keep a diary of your child’s eating habits and sleep issues to see if you can spot a pattern that could help to prevent future wakings.
