Waking up to feed.

[Ebony12]

Hi all,
First time Mum and looking for your opinions. My little is nearly 14weeks and sleeps now really well go down easily at 8/8:30. I'm a first time mum as well and bottle feed as unfortunately was unable to breastfeed. I go to bed at the same time and then naturally wake up between 11:30/12:30 and wake her to feed then she goes through to 6:30am were she wakes up and then at 7am requests her morning feed - so it's all starting to be a nice routine.
Now one of the reasons I do this is just so she gets that extra feed in as she's not a big baby compared to her peers. At last weigh in at 11wks she was 11lbs.6 and has on average 750ml a day so on the low side feed but in the recommended range (in one of my books your baby week by week) it's 720-1200ml 24-40oz a day. So part of my rationale is to ensure she gets an extra feed in as she takes about 90ml when I wake her for this feed and is clearly hungry as gets excited and can't wait to start the feed but does this semi sleeping. I then wind her and put her down she goes straight back to sleep so it's all very smooth. I'm worried though I'm messing with her circadian rhythm? And whether I should just let her wake me up to feed rather than the other way round? Do any of you adopt this method or have done in the past and have had no problems later on, it's basically a dream feed that I'm doing.

[arbrighton]

It's obviously working for you both, so as long as she's gaining ok, wet/dirty nappies etc, go with it

[isthistoonosy]

Google 'dream feed' loads of people do this from what I remember.
Congratulations on your baby

[isthistoonosy]

Sorry missed dreamfeed on your OP!
Routines change so often I would go with what works for now. Around six months try not waking her for a few nights and see what happens.

[Ebony12]

Thanks all and that's good advice about when she gets to 6 months see if she can then sleep right through!

[mindutopia]

I would dream feed rather than wake her. I don't think there's a problem with offering the extra feed, but I wouldn't start a pattern of intentionally waking her to feed her at this age (unless of course you were advised to because of weight issues). It's hard to know how much she is actually waking or if she is still sort of sleeping, but I would do it as much as possible with her still asleep. They will feed if hungry when pretty much asleep. So yes, keep the feed up, but I would 'wake' her as little as possible. You're lucky to be getting so much sleep and I would make the most of it!