Should I keep waking one week old baby?

[hanflan]

My baby is one week old and being formula fed. Was advised to feed 70ml every 3 hours. Most of the time, esp at night, baby is still fast asleep so we wake her up to feed and change nappy. Some friends and relatives are horrified that we are waking a sleeping baby! What should I do? Keep waking or leave her to wake when she is hungry?

I personally never woke a sleeping baby.

I would leave her to wake up in her own time at night but maybe set an alarm for 5 hours or so as a maximum as she is so little right now.

Some babies just sleep through. My first dc would sleep through from about 11-7 from 6 weeks old. Although at 1 week old that could be too long due to blood sugars dropping.

^^ what maccie said.

DS is almost 7mo now and has been sleeping through 6.30pm-7.30am since 7 weeks. 1 week is too young to sleep through so long so you could leave baby a few hours but wouldn't all night

Ask the midwife, hanflan. It really depends on her weight, her overall well-being, and how well she is feeding, but generally speaking, babies of a week old should not be left without a feed for very long.

My mw said if no jaundice, lethargy or mega weight loss let sleeping babies lie! My dd was fine on this advice.

She's now a lively little so and so on 2 short naps a day!

Listen to tiktok.

Thanks ladies, I might keep doing as I am and then check with midwife when I go to baby clinic on Monday!

Even new newborn they are OK to go up to 6hrs without blood sugars being an issue. At 1 week it does depend on weight and health whether they can go longer or not.

I certainly wouldn't wake a sleeping baby every 3hrs but do set an alarm for 6hrs, then wake baby to feed if they haven't already.

My baby is now 5 weeks old and was 9lb 9.5oz and we had to wake her every two hours for feeds as she wasn't feeding well and because she was over the 91st centile she had a risk of low blood sugars (had to stay have her blood sugars monitored for the first 24 hrs). We were advised that when she began feeding well and as long as she was gaining at least 4oz a week then we could let her go for up to four hours max and checked with HV last week and she said still keep waking her every four hours to feed as young babies should not go any longer between feeds.

I've been told to wake every 2 to 3 hours too. last night I did 2 hours and it nearly killed us!
so confusing

I always lifted and fed 3hourly during 7am-7pm then lifted to feed (if not woken earlier) 4hourly between 7pm and 7am. Nly did that for a few weeks. Then I kept the 11pm feed til about five months but didnt wake dd after that (she woke me if she needed a feed) before 7am.

TMAC and MrsC unless there are medical problems or baby is of very low weight then it is perfectly safe from a blood sugars point of view to go up to 6hrs between feeds even in the first 24hrs of life. They advise to try feeding after 4hrs in the very early hours/days so that you have a 2hour window if they won't feed in which to get them to feed.

However if weight gain is poor they will often say about doing 2-3hrly feeds to try and maximise milk intake and thus improve weight gain.

DS was very sleepy for the first few weeks and we had to set an alarm at night to wake him for feeds. It didn't last, before long we were being woken up at all hours by screaming!

When they are really tiny it is important they feed regularly even if they are still 'hungover' from the birth and super-snoozy.

My twins were low birth weight and failed to put on weight resulting in re admission to a paed ward at 9 days. They could sleep for England due to being weak, low BMs and jaundice. The health professionals didn't pick up the jaundice, I had to push the point on that one. Having experienced sleepy babies and all of this I would definately wSke them, however if your situation is different and you have a fully thriving baby, we'll done!