Am I ok to let bf dd sleep past normal feeding time?

[deaconblue]

She's 6 weeks old and I have been waking her to make sure she feeds at least 4 hourly during the day (obviously I let her sleep as long as she likes at night, I'm not crazy ) but she's heading towards 5 hours now and no signs of waking up yet. She's old enough to work out for herself when she needs feeding isn't she???

[ruty]

dd does this too some nights [5 weeks] i'd be interested to know the answer too!

[belgo]

as long as you have no reason to worry about her weight gain, and as long as she's not ill, I would let her sleep.

[Caz10]

i think it depends on weight etc? - i had to wake my dd 3hrly when she was tiny as she had slow weight gain issues and would sleep for ages, not feed enough etc

[deaconblue]

thanks. No, she's a total porker! She seems perfectly peaceful, will let her get on with it.

[Caz10]

BFC recommended AT LEAST 8 feeds in 24hrs, hopefully more, if that is any help

[deaconblue]

gosh 8 in 24 hours? She's been on 6 or 7 for the past couple of weeks as she does a 6 hour stint in the night. She's putting on 10 oz - 1 lb a week so far so good weight gain.

[katylou25]

I didn't ever wake either of mine to feed - as long as they're not unwell, are having good weight gain etc then they'll let you know if they're hungry! Ds1 was going 10 hours through the night by 8 weeks but I think because he was a porker (9lb 9 born) and huge weight gains! could take in more in one go and then would last him longer.

[VictorianSqualor]

As long as your milk isn't suffering because of it, and she is gaining well I'd say it's fine.


Ruty, 5 weeks already!! How is she???

[deaconblue]

I let her sleep for 5 hours then yanked her dummy out before my boob exploded! Knock on effect is that the other boob is now like a blardy bowling ball. So looking forward to a couple of months down the line when boobs can cope with changes in demand.

[Caz10]

wow that's a fab weight gain, pretty sure you have nothing to worry about then, enjoy the sleep!!

[ruty]

hi VS, she's ok except struggling a bit to get back to breast after doc told to bottlefeed expressed milk because she was very sleepy [sorry for hijack]