Baby showed feeding cues but fell back to sleep

[katerose2022]

Hi all, our 7 weeks old combi bottle fed baby usually would wake up and start screaming straight away for feeding, but lately he's doing more feeding cues, esp during the night, such as smacking his mouth, putting hands to mouth, moving head from side to side, etc. He also screams a bit but not continuously, and may not even open his eyes. After a few minutes he can fall back to sleep. We think he could still be hungry so would wake him up to feed but then he only takes a small drink and then falls asleep.

So the question is shall we just leave him to sleep despite all the feeding cues? And only feed him if he keeps screaming for a while? Thanks!

I'd top him up if hes hungry. He's tiny

He is probably dreaming about feeding. Let him sleep until he is very definitely awake. When he rouses a little and then drifts back to sleep he is learning to self settle, its one of the most important skills a baby can learn..so encourage it

all of this advice is dependent upon the baby gaining weight properly and not being ill

Thanks both for your comments! He's not taking in any more milk so we'll put him back to sleep and see what happens....

We think he's putting on weight fine (though overall percentile still on the low side, around 20th), and he usually fed quite a lot during the day (700-800ml).

I used to gently lay a hand in their tummy. If they drifted back off to sleep that was fine. If they were still stirring I'd feed them.