Jan's observations on the Second Night are brilliant. Some reasons that 
might make sense to parents and staff:
- baby is shutting out all the extraneous stimuli during the day by 
sleeping (lower the lights, shut off the noise, put baby skin to skin 
during the day and he'll wake up! unless he's drugged...)
-baby gets thirstier as the days pass - in utero they drink 450-600 ml 
of amniotic fluid per day. Colostrum is in lower volume, in part to act 
as 'training wheels' for learning to safely coordinate swallowing and 
breathing (a more viscous fluid and a smaller volume is less challenging 
early on, and these are the characteristics of colostrum.)
-the more often the baby nurses in the first 2 days postpartum, the more 
milk mom will make later, and the earlier she will make more milk. The 
first weeks are the 'market research phase' of lactation.

If moms are taught to expect this, and HCP's know why it happens, they 
will be more supportive and less likely to shove a paci in the baby's 
mouth and mess with the breast's calibration. Help moms rest during the 
day, knowing the nights are going to be busy, and keep the baby closer 
to mom during the day and the hyperstimulating environment calmer, and 
the baby will do more feeding during the day too.

Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC  NYC  cwgenna.com


On 3/6/2011 9:02 PM, Jessica L. Callahan wrote:
> Ah, you too.
> Is there some research out there on why neonates behave the way they do at night time. Nurses and parents complain that the infant wanted to nurse all night long and the second they tired to put the baby down he would wake up and want to nurse again. I explain it as the fact that they sleep lighter in the night time hours and the movement from something warm and lovely (mothers arms and breast) to something cold and firm (bassinet) wakes them up. But I find that the nurses and the parents get relief when they give a pacifier. I try to explain the hardships of providing a pacifier to early but sleep is the only thing the parents want.
>
> Jessica IBCLC
> NC, USA
>
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