How often should I be waking my baby during the night to feed?

[LCP22]

At the hospital they said to feed baby every 3 hours. My little man's a month and 2 days old now and I've started to find that he doesn't want to settle again after I wake him up during the night for a feed. I wake him up every 3 hours but he doesn't always drink much and then he'll be hungry again in an hours time. So, what I'm wondering, is do I just let him wake for a feed whenever he wants it? Or do I try waking him up every 4 hours instead? He's good at letting me know when he's hungry but I'm worried about him getting dehydrated if I don't wake him every 3 hours during the night!! Thanks in advance.

[BonnieSeptember]

As long as his weight is on track and there are no other medical issues I'd would let him sleep. As you said, he'll let you know when he's hungry :)

[Celebelly]

I wouldn't be waking him now, providing he has no health issues and his weight gain is fine. I stopped waking my DD when she regained birth weight and was gaining well.

[dementedpixie]

If he's regained birth weight and has put on extra weight then I'd leave him to wake by himself

[newmammy2]

DC3 is the same age, generally sleeps 3-4 hours in the day with a stretch of 5 hours at night. I have never woken any of mine as I assume that they will wake when they're hungry. Obviously the advice is different if they were born early and or struggling to gain weight.

[Topseyt]

I never woke mine during the night for a feed. I fed them if they woke up for one, but I certainly didn't set out to wake them up if they were asleep.

I stuck to the routine of 3 or 4 hourly feeds during the day ( mine were formula fed) but night feeds were on demand only. I would give them a good feed between about 10.30 and 11.00pm, put them down and then hope that they would sleep for a number of hours.

[Pipandmum]

I tried to not wake the baby fully - if he went to bed at 7ish I'd give him a sleepy feed at 11 before I went to bed then hope he'd sleep till 5 or 6. By three months he did. Can't remember when I dropped the 11pm feed but probably around 6 months.

[Winterdaysarehere]

Ds slept through from 2 weeks.
Another from 5 weeks.
Wouldn't have occurred to me to wake them!!

[CherryPavlova]

I would not have waked a sleeping baby either.

[TheHuntingOfTheSarky]

I'm another that never woke either of mine if they were sleeping. I may just have been lucky but I am inclined to think that this attitude led to them both sleeping through from around 6 weeks old.

[stucknoue]

I never woke mine, unless they are very sickly there's just no need, they wake you! Many babies go 4-5 hours between some feeds (and only and hour for others) I just demand fed them for the first year, takes the guess work away (they are grown now)

[BubblesBuddy]

I too never woke mine. Both slept through from around 8 weeks. Both were quite late to bed though but we got 7-8 hours sleep.

[Disfordarkchocolate]

I never woke mine, some lucky parents get children that sleep at night. I can't imagine what that feels like.

[Lotus90]

You don't need to be waking him now if he's gaining weight at a steady rate

[Morgan12]

Don't do it unless you absolutely have to for medical reasons.

[Morgomargot]

I didn't wake either of mine. My ds slept through from 8 weeks, he was a gem. My dd didn't sleep through until 8 months. Both gained weight steadily so I didn't worry and went with their rhythms. I'd only wake him up if he isn't gaining weight, otherwise he will let you know when he needs feeding.

[MadeForThis]

Don't wake unless there's issues with weight gain.

[PracticallySpeaking]

Every 3 hours should just be an average. I’m sure if your baby is hungry he’ll let you know

[Bluerussian]

What everyone else has said. Don't wake up, he'll let you know when he's hungry.

[Abouttimemum]

Same, I didn’t wake mine either.

[Mammyloveswine]

I breastfed and never needed to wake mine 🤣

DS2 did miraculously sleep from 9 weeks! Until 6 months when I went back to work 🤣🤣

[iloveleeds]

I'm pretty sure they didn't mean your to wake him?

[iloveleeds]

He will wake and let u know when he is hungry don't worry , but don't disturb his sleep

[LittleLadysMama]

Having a similar dilemma with my 9 week old baby. Shes been taking a feed around 11pm and then sleeping through the night, waking anytime between 4.30am and 6.30am.
I was worried that it maybe was too long without a feed and HV has said it is, we need to wake her every 4 hours but I'm loath to... there must be some truth in the saying 'never wake a sleeping baby'

[LCP22]

Thanks everyone for the advice! Yeah, the midwifes at my hospital in Bath, UK said that they need to be woken every few hours to feed and not to just let them sleep if they're due a feed but I thought it was odd seeming as the saying is "never wake a sleeping baby!" I'll set an alarm for 4 hours after his feed and if he's still asleep I'll leave him be, just in case. Thanks everyone! ☺️

[iloveleeds]

Is there a medical reason maybe he is meant to be woken?