Should I wake my five day old baby to feed him? I think he's going too long between feeds ...

[Miaou]

Ds2 is doing well, but has a touch of jaundice.

My milk has come in and he feeds beautifully

However, I'm a bit concerned that he's not feeding enough. Eg last night, he slept from 7pm to 11pm and I was on the verge of waking him for a feed. He then only fed once during the night (however he did feed for an hour!!). He's now been asleep since about 10.45am and it just seems like a long time to me.

If it wasn't for the jaundice I probably wouldn't worry really - plus also my others always fed far more frequently than this at this age.

if it is concerning u can u not ring the midwife who comes to ur home visit?????, im sure he is fine but just to reassure u really

I was always advised to wake Ds who was very jaundiced, he had to feed every 3 hours.

That was with ff though not bf so don't know if it's different.

I saw her yesterday and she said not to let him go more than 3 hours between feeds - so far he's not gone quite that long so I've not needed to wake him! But it's more that he's not just doing a three-hour gap between the odd feed, it's between every feed, IYSWIM.

I'm seeing her again tomorrow so will definitely ask her then - at the moment I'm not concerned enough to call her although she is very happy for me to do so. Just wondering about other people's experiences really.

DD had a touch of jaundice and was bf, I had to wake her every 3 hours for her feeds. She would have happily slept through so if she was very sleepy I would change her nappy to wake her up a bit so she would then have a good feed.

I think jaundiced babies are supposed to get as much colostrum as poss, as this helps them recover, so I would wake as the HV said, every 3 hours.

Newborn babies only feed and sleep, so don't worry about hin sleeping all the time for just now.

All the best with your new baby, lucky you! and congrats on breastfeeding so far!

My DD had Jaudice and not only did I have to wake her for feeds, I had to keep her awake long enought to feed, by undressing her or wiping her hands or feet with a cool wet cloth.

I would wake him if it was going to be more convenient for me to feed him now rather than later eg feed baby now, snooze until teatime. I thought the more hindmilk you can get into them during the day should mean shorter less frequent feeds at night.

I would - won't do any harm to wake him.

I would during the day, Miaou. Nothing would make me wake a sleeping baby during the night though!

Thanks guys. Went to wake ds to feed him and he does look like he's been St Tropez'd! I fed him on one side then changed him so he woke up a bit for the second side. Will keep a close eye and see how he goes on.