50+ Ways to Stay Awake While Breastfeeding (From Experienced Moms)

Having trouble staying awake while nursing your baby? You aren’t alone! Here are 50+ ways to keep your eyes open while breastfeeding.

I absolutely love newborns.

Minus the sleep deprivation and frequent middle of the night feedings.

With Oliver, I felt like I was able to handle them a lot better than I did with Jack…but with Andrew, I REALLY struggled to keep my eyes awake during the early months of his life.

It felt like every time I close my eyes, it was time to wake up again.

As he’s gotten older, it’s gotten easier. But man, those newborn months were rough. And it was a little scary a few times to realize I had dozed off while I was trying to nurse him.

So I know I’m not the only mom to ask this.

“How can I stay awake while breastfeeding?!

I decided to pose this question in our breastfeeding support group on Facebook, and I got a lot of great responses.

I would love for you to share your ideas, too!

How to Stay Awake While Breastfeeding

Here are 50 ideas!

• Sing lullabies or other songs to your baby
• Sip on a cold glass of water
• Focus specifically on your baby’s eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
• Sit up straight in your chair or in your bed
• Watch a favorite TV show that you are only allowed to watch while breastfeeding
• Play Candy Crush on your phone
• Scroll Facebook, Instagram or TikTok – I especially find TikTok entertaining in the wee hours of the night.
• Online shop
• Take a breastfeeding course – shameless plug for our free breastfeeding course!
• Browse Amazon (though maybe turn off the 1-click buy setting…trust me. I have a few middle of the night purchases I don’t remember!)
• Read a book
• Read an Ebook
• Listen to an audiobook (I’m a big fan of Scribd)
• Keep snacks close by to munch on – here is a great list of snacks for breastfeeding moms
• Go to the bathroom before feeding to wake yourself up
• Ask your spouse to stay up and chat with you
• Sit on the floor to avoid getting too comfortable
• Play Clash of Clans on your phone
• Do a Sudoku
• Watch Netflix or Hulu on your phone – here is a list of my favorite binge-worthy TV shows
• Download the 1SE app on your phone and start a compilation of your baby’s first year
• Play a game of Solitaire on your phone
• Move to a different space to give yourself room to move around
• Turn on a lamp
• Meal plan for the week
• Skim mommy chat boards or groups online
• Turn on a movie
• Browse Pinterest
• Find new recipes to try
• Crossword app
• Journal – I love the Day One app for journaling
• Write your grocery list on your phone
• Look at pictures on your phone
• Edit photos
• Clean out your contact list of names you don’t need anymore
• Delete accounts you don’t want to follow anymore on Instagram
• Watch movie trailers for upcoming movies
• Read Reddit – there are tons of threads. I particularly like to read threads on TV shows I watch.

What would you add?

Don’t forget to signup for our FREE breastfeeding basics class! It’s available 24/7 online.