Moms often ask: What’s wrong with the baby’s almost non-stop feeding? Does my baby always wake up at night? What’s wrong with your baby’s irritability when he or she is constantly sucking on and pulling away from the nipple while breastfeeding? In fact, these are all signs that your baby is in a fierce period! So what is the baby’s fierce period? I. What is the baby’s fierce period The growth of infants is not linear. Most babies go through multiple growth spurts in their first year. After each of these periods, you may find that your baby’s cute clothes have gotten smaller overnight. Yes, you feel right! When do babies go through the fierce period? Generally speaking, the fierce period is about a few days just after discharge from the hospital (7 to 10 days, 2 to 3 weeks, 4 to 6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months). There will be errors before and after. Babies don’t read the calendar, so your baby may not be quite the same. III. Signs of a fierce prolonged period The baby eats milk almost non-stop, wakes up more often at night, constantly takes on and pulls away from the nipple when feeding, and is very irritable. All these signs are telling the mother’s body to “produce more milk!” Our bodies are sensitive to these signals if we respond to our baby’s requests in a timely manner. These extra nursing sessions will stimulate your body to produce more milk for the mother. IV. What often happens after a fierce period The baby will sleep extra for a day or two, the mother will feel a slight increase in milk, and the baby will calm down when she gets milk. New mothers are often caught off guard by the surge period. Just as they begin to understand their baby’s signals, suddenly everything changes. The frequent need to breastfeed and the high frequency of the lactation period in the first few months can be confusing for mothers. V. How to deal with the long term? Feeding on demand. The more often your baby eats, the more milk he or she will get. Your milk supply will grow with it. It is not necessary or recommended to add formula during the fierce period. These practices, including nursing on time, can interfere with natural supply and demand and keep your body from producing milk on demand. A nursing mother may feel especially hungry or thirsty. Listen to your body’s demands. VI. Twilight crying It is common for babies to cry and nurse often at night, especially in the first few months. Doctors usually attribute twilight fussiness to a baby’s immature nervous system, and twilight fussiness does stop after three to four months. However, when Dr. Katherine Dettwyler did breast milk studies in Mali, West Africa and other traditional societies, she found that babies in these societies did not have twilight crying or colic. In these places, babies hang on to their mothers all day and breastfeed several times an hour. For many babies, the general need to nurse frequently when irritable, to feed small amounts at a time, and to be held, caressed, and walked around is not a sign of not getting enough to eat. Evidence of this is that babies who are bottle-fed with breast milk or formula, and who eat as much as they want, will also cry at dusk. It could be that the baby “remembers” when the mother was pregnant, when she was walking around a lot. It may also be that the baby just needs to suck more at this time, rather than drink more milk. Concentrated feeding: The time between feedings is very short. Concentrated feeding often coincides with your baby’s irritable time. Babies take a few minutes of milk, pull away, cry irritably, take another milk, pull away, cry irritably, and continue for hours. This is very frustrating. The mother may start to wonder if the baby is eating enough, if what she is eating is affecting the baby, if everything she is doing is affecting the baby. It can really ruin your confidence, especially with other people asking the same questions on the side (your mother, your husband, your mother-in-law) Eight, these are normal! It has nothing to do with your nurturing style or your milk. Don’t bother looking for the cause, just soothe your baby. Let your baby eat for as long as he or she wants, and eat whenever he or she wants. Never give your baby a bottle. Adding formula will only tell your body that it does not need to produce more milk and will not help matters! Remember, formula babies go through the same periods of twilight crying. It has nothing to do with the feeding method. Nine: More soothing methods A change of pace. Let the baby’s mother take a break to relax after a tiring day, and let the baby’s father spend some time with the baby. Get out of the house. You can go out a little before your baby starts to get irritable each day, take a walk, or just sit outside. Use your voice. Singing, humming, talking, murmuring, shushing, listening to music, using white noise. Try more different music and sounds. Use rhythmic movement to soothe your baby. Walking, rocking, dancing, are all good choices. Use physical contact to soothe. Hold your baby, or give him/her a bath and do touch. Change the nursing position, lie down to feed, or let your baby feed on his tummy. Don’t get hung up on schedules. Don’t schedule activities such as parties at night when your baby is irritable. Conclusion Holding or feeding your baby often will not spoil it. Quite the contrary, several studies have shown that babies who are held more and respond to their needs in a timely manner cry less and parents learn to understand their babies’ needs more quickly. Little babies are as desperate for their mothers as they are for milk. Please understand this. Your baby needs you. It is not trying to control you, and that is not something you can correct. Many times a baby is irritable simply because it wants more contact with its mother, and as long as that is met, the baby will be satisfied. Caring for an irritable baby can be very draining. Make sure you surround yourself with supportive people, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, and chores can be done without. Don’t think that the time you give to your baby is useless. Every moment you spend with your baby, soothing it, is telling it that “you are something it can depend on wholeheartedly and that you love it.” There is nothing more important than that.