Reverse Cycling: Why Your Baby Is Suddenly Feeding More at Night
Your baby suddenly starts feeding a lot more at night, and you are wondering “what is happening here!”
While night feeds are normal throughout the first year and into early toddlerhood, shifts in feeding patterns can often lead to questions and concerns. In this blog post I’ll help you understand reverse cycling, why it happens, and some of the ways you can support your baby (and you) through it.
What is reverse cycling?
Reverse cycling is when your baby starts feeding more at night while also feeding less during the day. It is a common nursing pattern for many breastfeed babies. Some parents find it manageable while others struggle with the extra sleep disruptions.
Why does a baby reverse cycle?
Babies (and even some toddlers) may reverse cycle for a number of reasons.
A newborn may reverse cycle in the early weeks because they do not have an established circadian rhythm. They may feed more at night while their body still has their days and nights mixed up.
Distractible babies (and toddlers) are common reverse cyclers. They are so curious, engaged, and active during the day that they don’t want to slow down to focus on nursing. In the calm and quiet of the night they make up for the drop in daytime calories.
Some babies separated from their nursing parent during the day will take just enough expressed milk to get by, and then make up for the lower feeding when reunited.
Extra busy times can lead to reverse cycling – travel and holidays are two common times. Your baby may be more distracted, or maybe you as the parent may be more distracted.
Sometimes babies start nursing more at night without necessarily nursing less during the day.
Teething, growth spurts, and big developmental leaps can lead to more nursing over-all, or a reverse cycling pattern.
How can you encourage your baby to stop reverse cycling?
Encouraging more daytime feeds can often help shift a reverse cycling pattern. The best way to do that depends on why your baby is feeding less during the day.
For a distractible baby:
Try feeding in a low stimulation environment. Take them into a dim, calm space away from distractions.
They may also feed better just before or after naps when they are drowsy.
Alternatively, you may want to include some different ways to keep them engaged during a feed. Sometimes offering a soft toy to baby to play with while feeding keeps them interested.Feeding while walking around can also work well.
Experimenting with different feeding positions can also help. I find a lot of parents love the koala position where baby is more upright, sitting facing you and straddling your leg.
For a baby separated from their parent:
It’s important to make sure your baby is comfortable with the bottle and that their caregivers are aware of appropriate feed amounts for breastfeeding babies.
You can try nursing right at drop off and at pick up to lessen the number of feeds they need while at childcare.
Spending extra time together in the evening may fit more feeds in while you are still awake and lessen the ones that are truly overnight. Spending time snuggling and skin to skin can encourage this as can babywearing.
When life gets busy:
If you think baby may be reverse cycling because days are full of distraction you might try some purposely calm, low activity days to see if that helps.
You may find reminders on your phone to stop and create a calmer feeding time helpful.
If your little has a reasonable rhythm to their sleeping and feeding patterns, you may also want to see if you can adjust your activities to better match your baby’s natural routines.
How can you support your own sleep while your baby is reverse cycling?
Keeping baby close to make night feeds easier can really reduce sleep disruption. Many families may choose to safely bedshare or keep their little one sleeping in close, easy reach. Side-lying nursing can be an amazing tool in these times. This is also a time to prioritize sleep by going to bed early and practicing good sleep hygiene.
What’s the take-away?
Reverse cycling is a normal pattern that many babies (and toddlers) may move through. There are lots of tricks to encourage more daytime feeds. Even with them, sometimes we have to give development and time their space to support things along. As with all things parenting, there isn’t one right answer, but having compassion for yourself and getting support can both go a long way.