Hate waking baby - tell me it's not mean!

[Bumperlicious]

I'm having to wake dd2 a bit (2 weeks old today) partly because she is dd2 & we don't have a routine or even a pattern of sleep yet, & dd1 has to go to nursery. But also because dd2 sleeps a lot during the day & often needs to be woken for a feed (trying to feed every 2-3 hours). But waking her goes against every fibre of my being! She looks so peaceful & I feel really bad. I try & do it gently, unsaddle her then let her stretch. Tell me I'm not mean & this will create a lovely flexible baby!

[curlyLJ]

I don't think you're mean, but maybe a bit crazy for waking a sleeping baby

If you have to wake her to get dd1 to nursery that is one thing, but as for waking her to feed, is that really necessary? She knows what she needs and will wake up and let you know when she is hungry, so I would leave her in peace (and enjoy the peace yourself) tbh!

[Bumperlicious]

Well, it's still such early days and kellymom.com recommended feeding every 2 hours or so. I want to make sure she is getting enough during the day so she will go longer at night.

[Bumperlicious]

This is an article linked from kellymom. DD2 has been jaundiced and certainly in the first week she would have slept through feeds. She's only 2 weeks now and I just want to make sure she is getting enough. I suppose I can stop waking her soon.

The problem with putting her in the carseat without waking means that again she will be going even longer without a feed, by the time I have done nursery drop off and gone to whatever it is that I am going to next.

[PussinJimmyChoos]

Can you do a sort of dream feed but in the day?

[MoonUnitAlpha]

My ds was jaundiced and sleepy too, so I was waking him every two hours to feed at first. Once he regained his birthweight at about 10 days I stopped though.

After reading No Cry Sleep Solution I didn't let him sleep for more than 3 hours in one go in the day though, and his longest stretch of sleep has always been at night. Didn't feel bad about waking him though!

[theowlwhowasafraidofthedark]

I had to wake my (underweight & jaundice) baby for feeds when she was tiny. It broke my heart at the time. But give it a few more weeks and she'll be giving you hell and you'll be looking fondly back at the times when you didn't having her screaming at you for food all the time!

[DilysPrice]

No, do it.
The more you can shove down their throats in the daytime the less they will wake hungry at night, and the sooner they will learn the difference between day and night.
It made my life so much easier with DS than DD following this rule.
I wouldn't necessarily force a newborn awake though - just pick it up and wave it in the direction of the nipple - if it's been 2 1/2 hours between feeds then it will almost certainly think that this is a good idea and lunge for it. After 3 hours I might pick it up and change its nappy to encourage waking.

[ethelina]

But... but... all the info out there seems to say little babies shouldnt go more than 3 hours in the day or 4 hours at night without a feed. I'm now. At what age is it ok to let them sleep on through without feeding then? What is the maximum length of time its ok to do that? Will there be any problem with babies less than a month old regularly going more than 4 hours between feeds?

[MoonUnitAlpha]

If they've got no health problems then a little baby is unlikely to go 4 hours between feeds more than once or twice a day, surely?

[HelenLG]

When I was in hospital the midwifes said it was ok to let DS to go up to 6 hours at night between feeds as long as he'd had between 6-10 feeds during the day.

Again, he was jaundice so I would wake him every couple of hours to feed. Just changing his nappy was normally enough to rouse him to take a feed.

[MrsGangly]

Not crazy at all. We had to initially because of DS's jaundice. Now I do it so he'll get a good amount of milk during the day and he now sleeps 2 sets of 3.5 hours overnight with a short feed in between, with a well rested mummy and daddy to amuse him during the day. Works for us.