For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

Reasons Why Babies Wake Up At Night

All parents have but one complain that their baby wakes up in the middle of the night. It is extremely difficult to get the baby to sleep through the night. It is not so hard to find out why babies wake up at night. In most cases, they are hungry or cold or too warm. But it is difficult for first time parents to understand why babies wake up crying in the middle of the night.

If you want to know why babies wake up at night, then there is no absolute answer for it. You have to consider a lot of options to arrive at the right answer. Here is a list of reasons for which babies cry and wake up at night.

Reasons Why Babies Wake Up At Night

Hunger pangs
Babies have small stomachs. They eat or drink in small amounts and digest their food quickly. Especially, breastfed babies wake up many times during the night to get fed because breast milk gets digested very quickly.

Rolling Over
Most babies prefer to sleep on their sides. But sometimes, they roll over in their sleep and wake up due to discomfort. So, you have to roll them back on their side and lull them back to sleep.

Too warm or too cold
Babies are extremely sensitive to temperature. If your baby is feeling cold, he or she will wake up crying. Even when your baby feels too hot, the result will be the same. If your baby is feeling too hot, his/her head will be sweating.

Colic Pain
Babies go through colic pain when their guts are getting adjusted to digesting food. Colic pain makes them stay up at night due to discomfort. They are often gassy and stay up due to the pain.

Teething
When babies are teething, their gums hurt and itch as the teeth is breaking through. That is why; babies wake up at night crying when they are teething.

Sleep cycle
The sleep cycle of babies is quite unlike adults. They nap for a few hours at a stretch at most. Their body is not yet accustomed to sleeping for 8 hours at night.

These are some of the reasons why babies wake up at night and cry. Your baby may also give you sleepless nights when he or she is sick. So be prepared for that eventuality.

Story first published: Friday, August 1, 2014, 18:00 [IST]
Read more about: baby care parenting