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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Do you wake yr newborn for night feeds?

32 replies

titferbrains · 17/09/2011 23:03

Ds is 1wk old, we are topping up regularly with ebm as he has poss tongue tie. Doula says nor to let him gonfor longer than 3 hrs without a feed even at night. He was unsettled and hungry all morning when I let him sleep for 5 hrs the other night. Once he is feeding efficiently and not needing topups, I can just leave him to sleep till he wakes for a feed, right?

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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effingwotnots · 17/09/2011 23:08

I have never woken any of mine to feed. In fact I would lather poke my self in the eye than wake a sleeping baby
She'll wake when she's hungry.

effingwotnots · 17/09/2011 23:09

I meant he

Original poster

titferbrains · 17/09/2011 23:11

Yes That's what I thought. V painful waking him for feed but need to sort feeding and tie issues first. Just forgot what we did last time. Tks.

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colette · 17/09/2011 23:17

I was told to wake dd every 3 hours. It was really hard , but iIthink it was because she was 4lb 11oz . I had had pre-eclampsia
Was ds full term and a good weight ?

colette · 17/09/2011 23:17

I was told to wake dd every 3 hours. It was really hard , but iIthink it was because she was 4lb 11oz . I had had pre-eclampsia
Was ds full term and a good weight ?

Bunsouttheoven · 17/09/2011 23:23

A mw told me a newborn could in theory go without a feed for a five hour period in 24 hours if they fed every 2/3 hours the rest of the time.

Original poster

titferbrains · 17/09/2011 23:24

No forgot to say he's just under 6lb another reason for regular feeds.

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Original poster

titferbrains · 17/09/2011 23:24

Born at 38 wks

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HolyMolars · 17/09/2011 23:30

Could not ever consider the idea of waking a sleeping baby to feed, as the baby will let you know in no uncertain terms when it is necessary. the need for a pattern of more food in the day and a little less at night is a good pattern to establish, as long as the baby is content. If i got 5 hours I whooped and then got all worried! For absolutely no reason!

thisisyesterday · 17/09/2011 23:32

as well as getting him fat and healthy it's also to help ensure your supply is well-boosted. your long term supply can be affected by feeding in the early weeks, which is why it's good to feed as often as possible.

when is he having his tongue tie sorted?

thisisyesterday · 17/09/2011 23:35

holymolars, that's not strictly true. esp with a baby who was born early, is quite small and may have feeding difficulties

a baby who doesn't take enough milk gets sleepy. he sleeps and misses a feed here and there. that makes him more sleepy, he misses more feeds... it's a vicious circle and it's important not to let them go too long without a feed.

a full-term newborn ought to feed approx 8-12 times a day

scarlettsmummy2 · 17/09/2011 23:42

I breastfed and think I only ever woke my daughter once for a feed- and that was only because a midwife forced me too at a home visit. My daughter used to regularly go five hours between feeds and was a normal, healthy wait and there were never any issues with her development. I think this waking a baby to feed is a relatively new thing.

Original poster

titferbrains · 18/09/2011 00:10

Think my circs are particular and Note I am waking to feed till his issues are sorted. This is to avoid the him missing a feed due to hunger induced sleepiness.

Tongue tie clinic on Monday, will be a relief to get some answers :-)

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mrsbaffled · 18/09/2011 17:10

You don't need to wake the baby to feed it. Dream Feed....just lift him out and feed as normal. Pop down in cot still asleep. This is IDEAL! Then the baby doesn't wake properly and gets used to sleeping at night, rather than being properly awak in the night and finding it hard to drop off again.

I agree you shuold go no longer than 3 or 4 hours hours between any feed when newborn.

pleasethanks · 18/09/2011 20:49

I did have to get mine up to feed her as she wasn't a great feeder and struggling to gain weight. Once her weight sorted out we stopped waking her. They worry with my wee one was that she was too weak to wake and ask for food. Lovely

Sleepglorioussleep · 18/09/2011 21:14

I took advice on all three of mine when they started to wake less than three hourly. I think it depends on how big, how healthy and all sorts of things eg jaundice. If they feed more than every three hours in the day, that might give you an average of three hourly anyway. I think most midwives will not advise you to wake three hourly if baby doing fine.

sarahtigh · 18/09/2011 21:59

my DD was only 5lbs when born she also had tongue tie so could not breast feed properly I expressed breast milk for 6 weeks but I never woke her in night unless your baby is ill or not gaining any weight rather than just being small I would not wake they will let you know if hungry, she started sleeping 11pm -6pm when 8 weeks old was about 6.5lb then she still sleeps loads and is fit healthy 21 moth old

I would say unless a fire never wake sleeping baby at night but i would wake to feed in day so get enough food so they continue sleeping at night

SaffronCake · 20/09/2011 02:06

I am struggling to get my head round the idea of waking a baby to feed it. My little one is only 11 months and has slept for long periods since day 1. We had a lot of trouble with BF, she was tongue tied too amongst other things. No one ever suggested to us to wake her when she was sleeping. I find it hard to fathom why you would do that.
It seems to me like pushing extra meals onto a full-up person- you just wouldn't (unless you were deliberately feeding them up, which I suppose if they were weak, early or tiny you might have to, but otherwise just no). 6lb born just doesn't seem so shockingly little to me.
It doesn't seem natural to me either. If you think of our species as best suited to life in a cave/hut (which is what it evolved for and how it lived for almost all of it's existence) can you imagine those Mums waking baby artificially and regularly to feed? It's counter-intuitive. Some things that are counter-intuitive are good for us (cod liver oil springs to mind) but I'd need a bit more convincing I think.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's bad, I am just genuinely totally and utterly baffled. If anyone can show me a bit more information about why waking a sleeping baby to feed it is meant to be a good idea I'd be really keen to read it. This has me at a total loss to comprehend.

iskra · 20/09/2011 03:23

How was the clinic, titferbrains?

Am spending the night up every hour with 2 day old...

Sleepglorioussleep · 20/09/2011 05:50

I get what you mean saffron cake. The time I was advised to wake mine was when I hadn't got the heating right and she slept five hours basically because she was artificially too warm-unlikely to happen in cave man times. So generally, instinct good-but we have moved from our natural state so far that we can't always rely on it. Food I'd a hood example. We're programmed to get in as much as poss but my extra pounds are a testament to how readily available food is now compared to our ancestors time!

mrsbaffled · 20/09/2011 12:27

I think the 3-4 hours feeding only aplies to a tiny newborn. You need to make sure he feeds. Some babies are too sleepy and don't feed and get sleepier etc etc. it's not good for baby (they will end up ill if not getting enough milk) and is disatrous for the mother's milk supply.
I believe (can't remember where I read it) that night time feeds are the best for promoting milk supply, so a few night feeds early on can really help to establish supply.

SoupDragon · 20/09/2011 12:29

Holy crap no!

Having said that, mine were all porkers. I used to feed them to a rough 2.5 to 4 hr schedule in the day but at night they could sleep as long as they wished.

GeneralDisarray · 24/09/2011 23:09

Hmm my little one (2 weeks old) regularly sleeps for 5hrs at a time - I wake her in the day every 3hrs or so but at night I leave her to it - generally she goes to sleep at 11pm, wakes up at 3:30/4am then sleeps until 8:30/9am, she's over her birthweight so I presumed this was ok - is it not?

SurprisEs · 24/09/2011 23:26

I would never wake a sleeping baby unless there was a medical reason for it. It appears to be the case with your DC.

But as far as I can recall DD (now 2yrs) woke up every hour and feed. GED constantly for 2 months. So I prayed for her to sleep!

SurprisEs · 24/09/2011 23:31

FED not GED. Sorry

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