What is reverse cycling?

Is reverse cycling a thing? It absolutely can be! Reverse cycling refers to when a child takes in more calories/ounces overnight than they do during the day. 

What are the most common reasons for reverse cycling? 

• Bottle refusals

• Newborns may reverse cycle from day/night confusion

• Distractible babies/toddlers may nurse more at night to make up for missed/shortened feedings during the day

• Oral Dysfunction

• Feeding for every waking during the 4 month regression

Bottle Refusals 

I find this to be the most common scenario: when a breastfeeding child refuses a bottle during the day when nursing isn’t an option/doesn’t take a bottle well and will then make up for those missed feedings overnight… which makes them less hungry the next day… and the cycle continues. 

Bottle refusals are frustrating and stressful-- we went through it with our daughter. She was introduced to a bottle early on with no issues and then all of a sudden she decided she did NOT like any of the bottles we had at home.

We ended up buying several options and found the ONLY bottle she would take (and she also wanted her milk WARM-- not freshly pumped warm, warmer than that).

It can definitely be trial and error, both finding a way to get ounces into your little one during the day and making sure they’re actually motivated to eat during the day again.

Newborns with Day/Night Confusion

This happens because babies would love to sleep all day and party all night. A lot of parents will feel “bad” waking their newborn during the day and they end up skipping feedings/going longer between feedings and make up for it at night.

Distracted Babies/Distracted Eaters

As babies get older, like around 6+ months, they become WAY more interested in the world around them. That can make feeding more difficult (whether that’s bottle or nursing) because they’re constantly trying to see what’s going on behind them as opposed to wanting to stay latched and finish their meal.

Oral Dysfunction

When babies have a difficult time with feedings, they start taking in more ounces when they’re sleepy/sleeping. Their brains begin to recognize the struggle they’re having with eating and limit day feeds more to increase being fed while it’s “easier” for their bodies and less work/motor function. These are the sleepy/drowsy eaters.

Frequent Night Wakings After the 4 Month Regression

Another scenario I see with reverse cycling happens around the 4 month regression. This happens because wakings become more frequent, parents feed for every single waking thus increasing their intake overnight, baby feeds less the next day, eats more overnight, and so on.

Why would we want to correct reverse cycling?

The body’s awareness for sleep vs awake is controlled by more than just light/dark.

Feeding and digestion play a huge role in the body’s understanding of being awake/asleep. Creating a routine where babies get most of their feeds during the night confuses the body’s natural rhythms.

Over time, the fullness cues from feeding and constant start of digestion will lead to nutrition needs only being met during the night.

Then, sleep may increase during the day/decrease at night (which limits the benefits of restorative sleep). As feeds increase throughout the night, their bodies naturally confuse day/night again leading to hormonal imbalances.

You can read more about circadian rhythms and digestion here: https://www.dovepress.com/circadian-rhythm-and-sleep-influences-on-digestive-physiology-and-diso-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-CPT 

How do I stop reverse cycling?

First, let’s look again at the reasons reverse cycling may happen and break down solutions that way!

Bottle refusals: If your child is refusing bottles when they’re typically breastfed, you can try other ways of feeding like syringes, spoons, or open cups if they have great head control. This can help to at least get a few more ounces in during the day so you can slowly reduce at night and continue shifting the cycle to mostly day/less at night.

Day/night confusion: If you have a newborn with day/night confusion, it’s really important to wake for feedings every 2-3 hours during the day to ensure they’re getting enough feedings in during the day. That’s the best way, even if it’s painful to wake a sleeping baby, to ensure they don’t eat all.night.long.

Distracted eaters: Distracted babies are *so fun* (sarcasm); real talk, it’s my least favorite phase. I have DMER and so when they pop off/pop on while eating, I physically want to crawl out of my skin. The best strategies I’ve found for feeding distracted babies is to go into a darker room, away from distractions, turn on white noise, and feed them. You can also use a paci clip on your shift with a fun toy to engage them with while feeding.

Oral dysfunction: If you suspect oral dysfunction is causing issues with feeding, definitely reach out to a professional! You’ll know it because you find they *only* eat when they’re drowsy or you’re doing dream feedings all.night.long. That isn’t normal and absolutely should be addressed!

Frequent wakings overnight: The 4 month regression is a huge disrupter for sleep and yes, even feedings. If your child is usually fed to sleep and they start waking more and more overnight, it’s likely that you’ll feed them to get them back to sleep. This is tough because they’ll decide they're not hungry all day when they ate all night (they’re only going to take in so many calories in 24 hours) and will want to be fed all night again.

My best advice would be to:

• Try sleep training at bedtime so they can fall asleep independently and therefore go back to sleep independently (yes you can still keep some night feedings, but they don’t need to eat 6x a night).

• If you don’t want to sleep train, send in a partner to rock them back to sleep instead of feeding.

• If you’re already feeding for all wakings, try to alternate feeding at wakings with rocking at wakings. That way you can slowly cut back on how many times they’re fed.

• Gradually increase the time between feedings by 30 minutes every other night. This can eliminate a feeding every few nights while getting in extra ones during the day.

• Offer a lot of feedings during the day for your peace of mind to start

Believe it or not, sleep training can be a tool that we use in breaking feed to sleep associations and reverse cycling. If this is where you’re struggling, we can create a very detailed plan based on your specific situation while working on sleep and natural circadian rhythms at the same time! Set up a time to chat or view the 1:1 options with the button below.