Breastfeeding help!

[Immycho]

Hi everyone,

So my newborn (4 weeks) tends to wake up fairly regularly on her own to breastfeed however there are the times when she might go for more than 3 hours between feeds during the day. She's already reached her birth weight. Should I be waking her to feed during the day? I know at night I can let her sleep if she wants to (not always the case as she wakes at night to feed anyway), it's more the daytime feeding I'm not sure about.

Thanks!

Don't wake her, let her sleep until she wakes!

In the day time, I think advice is to wake them. You want baby to get enough milk in the day so they can sleep better at night.

I too would wake a young baby if it was 3 hours since the beginning of their last feed and for exactly the same reason.

You want them to get used to feeding in the day and having longer stretches at night

No, don’t wake her, especially if she’s a good weight. You’re teaching her to sleep less deeply and interrupt her sleep cycles if you wake her.

Night feeds are important at this age for increasing milk supply though.

They are and I wasn’t suggesting night weaning just that the OP might want to not leave her baby for long stretches during the day

I never woke mine once birth weight was regained and they were putting on weight. Tried a few times but they would just feed back to sleep so it seemed rather pointless.

Thanks for the replies everyone!
@BunnyRuddington @DepressingMumLife234 what about times when baby won't wake to feed despite me trying? This is my 2nd baby but breastfeeding wasn't successful with my first hence why I want to understand to not make the same mistakes this time around!

@catsnore @LuluDelulu this is what I've heard too that once they're at their birth weight you can leave them to be in control of their feeds. But is there a maximum number of hours as to what is "acceptable" between feeds or do you just let baby lead the way? And did this affect your supply in any way?

I would recommend taking a look at the guidance on La Leche League website here as it will be evidence based 🙂

You mean you're trying to wake her and she won't wake up? Mine did that a few times, I'd unzip his PJs so he'd get hit by cool air and that would wake him enough to feed.

I wouldn't worry about night feeds, feed on demand and your supply will be fine. The worry around night feeds is when people are introducing a bottle of formula in the evening to get some more sleep. Then your supply really will tank. But a breastfed baby is not going to do an 8 hour sleep every single night at this point 😂

@DepressingMumLife234 oh yes no my question was regarding day time feedings. I certainly am not lucky like some who have a baby who sleeps for long stretches at night 😅

The article posted by Life is excellent. I’d also read this article from Kellymon as it gives some tips on Nursing a sleepy baby.

This article on BFing in the early weeks might also be helpful

I let them lead and it didn’t affect my supply.

How are you both getting on @Immycho

@BunnyRuddington much better thanks for asking 😊 she was weighed yesterday at her appointment too and I was told all is good so I'm feeling much better now.

That is good news!

I think when they are tiny the recommended feed window is three hours during the day. That’s what I have in my head anyway! However, once feeding is established you don’t need to clock watch, just follow the baby’s lead. They will cluster feed to increase your supply if they need more milk or are having a growth spurt.

You can guide them to feed when most convenient for you though. My first baby would randomly feed whenever she felt it, second followed more of a routine of wake up-feed-nappy-sleep but she was more laid back anyway 😂

Glad to hear things are going well!