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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Denying feed if waking early?

12 replies

cocoachannel · 30/04/2011 16:01

DD (9 weeks) is EBF on demand. Her nighttime pattern is bed at 7pm, wake at around midnight for a very short feed of less than 5 mins (hoping she is about to drop this as it is getting shorter and shorter and later every night). Longer feed and change at 3ish, then up at 7am. However, every few days she wakes at 5.30am, at which point I usually give her a quick feed and she'll then sleep until 7am.

I have been advised by my HV to refuse the 5.30am feed if she wakes. She is swaddled so it could be that she just needs reswaddling as has normally broken loose!

Any thoughts? She is gaining weight well, but is 9th percentile so on the petite side.

OP posts:

RuthChan · 30/04/2011 16:18

9 weeks seems very early to start refusing feeds.
My DD was 9 months before I started refusing night feeds in an attempt to get her to sleep through.
At 9 weeks, I think they tend to ask for what they need.

Seona1973 · 30/04/2011 16:22

a bit young to be refusing feeds especially if she is on the small side. I didnt start to phase out night feeds till ds was 6 months old.

thisisyesterday · 30/04/2011 16:23

i think she is way too young for you to be considering refusing feeds tbh. she knows when she is hungry/needs comfort

nickelbabe · 30/04/2011 16:34

You shouldn't refuse feeds until about 6months - she's too young to know that you're tired, and all she wants is food and comfort.

the HV shouldn't have suggested that. :(

pozzled · 30/04/2011 16:35

I definitely wouldn't be refusing feeds at 9 weeks. TBH I don't think I would do so until at least 6 months. And the amount of night wakings sounds pretty reasonable at that age, even with the 5.30 one.

Tryharder · 30/04/2011 16:55

Eh? On what basis did the HV suggest that you deny her a feed?

So, she wakes up, you feed and she goes back to sleep very quickly. Don't see a problem [shrug]

Or, she wakes up, you deny her a feed and then spend the next 3 hours shush patting a frantic, screaming, hungry baby.

No brainer.

bibbitybobbityhat · 30/04/2011 16:56

How is denying a feed to a 9 week old going to result in more sleep for anybody?

Stupid hv.

moondog · 30/04/2011 16:59

'deny her a feed'???
FFS this is a tiny baby, with a tiny tiny stomach that needs filling frequently.
She's not a robot or a clockwork toy.
Your job and duty as a mother is to respnd to the immediate needs of tiny helpless babies.

Jesus, it's frightening to think that mad fuckers like this are about.

Tryharder · 30/04/2011 17:03

Exactly, moondog.

VeronicaCake · 30/04/2011 19:18

Definitely agree feed her is she wants it. What may be happening (although it is a little early) is that she has stopped sleeping like a newborn, cycling in and out of doziness through the day and begun to develop a sleep cycle more like yours. Which means she will have her longest stretches of deep sleep at the beginning of the night and her sleep cycles will get progressively shorter and shallower until she wakes up. My DD never slept at all between 5 and 7 unless she was on the boob, and even at one is usually awake for a quick feed at 6am and then has a bit of a snooze before breakfast.

Babies are not cars - they don't do a certain mileage on a certain amount of milk any more than you need to be refuelled with the same amount of food at precise intervals. So the fact that she can go for five hours without a feed at the beginning of the night does not mean she will necessarily be able to repeat the trick later on. If she wakes at 5:30 she may well be hungry, she may also just be waking because that is the end of a deep sleep cycle and she needs a cuddle and a feed to go off again or a bit of both. Either way I'd feed her.

Original poster

cocoachannel · 30/04/2011 19:21

Thanks all. You have confirmed that I am doing the right thing for DD- as a first time Mum I was under the misapprehension, however, that the health visitor would be better informed than me. My feeling is that I couldn't care less if I am up all night- if she's hungry, she gets fed.

Mind you this is the same HV who had a go at me for not having got DD a library card at 6 weeks. I kid you not. She was anxious that I expose DD to books from a young age. The fact that we have a house full of books for all ages was not enough...

OP posts:

farkthatforagameofsoldiers · 30/04/2011 19:25

I only did this after 6 months, more like 9 months actually. I knew she had enough because was also on solids then so I would offer water instead, dd soon got the message and stopped bothering to wake up!

9 weeks far, far too early. Your HV sounds like a tit quite frankly and her advice is dangerous and outdated.

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