Ana asks, “Every time I nurse my six-week-old baby girl, she falls asleep and seems happy. But five minutes later when I put her down, she wakes up and starts screaming and I end up repeating the process. Could she still be hungry? Also, the longest stretch of sleepshe gives me at night is four hours. Should I let her just cry a bit instead of always trying to feed and soothe her? Shouldn’t she be able to sleep longer since she is over ten pounds?”

Sleep is always a big issue with any newborn. It is natural for a baby to drift off into the light REM (rapid eye movement) sleep state with a feeding. This type of sleep state is one in which a baby can be easily awakened and want to be held or fed again. It is nature’s way of makingsure we keep them close, fed and protected. If your baby falls asleep during a feeding and she’s had at least 10 minutes of active sucking, you can swaddle her up and put her back on the breast for “dessert” until she falls asleep again. Then you can gently hold her for 15 to 20 minutesand wait for her body to get heavier and her movements to cease. At that point you will know that she has transitioned into a deeper sleep state, and you can gently put her down, if you wish.

At six weeks, most babies are going through a growth spurt and are at their fussiest. A four-hour stretch is wonderful at this point. It means she is actually sleeping through a feeding time. There is no magical weight or age a baby needs to reach to be able to sleep. I would not expect your baby to sleep long stretches. Their little bodies are not producing the hormones yet to help regulate sleep and they are still biologically wired to wake up often. Research has shown us that it is important to continue to listen to what your baby is telling you, and if that meansholding, soothing or feeding, it is best to meet her needs and reinforce the positive message that she is safe and loved.

Beth Anne asks, “I am returning to work after my maternity leave next week and have been practicing giving my nine-week-old son a bottle. He is doing great if my milk is fresh, but he refuses anything that has been frozen. Did my milk go bad already? What am I going to do if I can’t use any of my frozen milk?”

Beth Anne, you may have a very common issue of too much lipase in your milk. Lipase is an enzyme present in human milk that helps the baby digest the fats in the milk. It is quite impressive that your milk is that complete that it makes things easier for his little tummy. If your lipase levels are very high, it can make the milk smell almost soapy. Many people feel the milk is spoiled, but it is fine to drink and will not make the baby sick. Sometimes babies refuse to drink it and mothers may feel that the baby is refusing the bottle and/or hates the taste of her milk. The good news is there is a way to prevent this from happening to any future milk that is to be stored.

The trick is to pour the freshly pumped milk into a pot and gently heat it up until you see little bubbles forming around the edges. Once the bubbles are formed, take the pot off of the stove. When the milk has cooled, pour it into the bottle, label it with the date and freeze it. Byheating it up to over 118 degrees Fahrenheit, you have inactivated that enzyme, thus preventing it from breaking down the fat in the stored milk. After this, the milk will not be affected by the lipase and your baby should be fine with taking the milk. Many moms save any frozen milk that has not been treated this way for when their baby starts solids, as they can mix it in with the food.