To wake, or not to wake for a feed, that is the question.....

[Coolmama]

DD is 9 weeks old and nearly 11 lbs - she is currently sleeping from 7pm (last feed) to between 2 and 3 am for the next one. She then sleeps happily until around 7am the next morning. So here is the dilemma - should I wake her at 11 or midnight for a feed ? She hates being woken up and will take very little milk if woken and so will generally wake again at around 5am - so should I wake her up anyway or let her lead?

if she's gaining weight i wouldn't!

leave her be.
7-2 is fab at this age!

That was my inital thought, but I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't being silly in letting her sleep. I felt awful waking her and then trying to get her to feed - can you imagine if you got woken up at 2am and made to eat dinner while half asleep?
Thanks for the replies - I will let her lead then.

I've always done a dream feed around 11pm with the babies I have looked after though if you are only doing one night feed then she is doing really well. I hope you are getting an early night too.

Am not too sleep-deprived at the moment although I am looking forward to the "sleeping through" stage - I remember the blissful feeling after DS1 started going all night - can't wait!!

well, it looks like the decision to leave her to sleep was the best one - I put her down just after her 7pm feed and she woke up at 6 am - perfectly happy but certainly a bit peckish.....

My personal rule was never to wake a sleeping baby at night. Let them make their own pattern as you want them to learn to sleep through by themselves.

Never wake a sleeping baby

She sounds like she's doing fab!!

Same as the others, as long as she is alert and happy and feeding during the day I say let her sleep and enjoy it.

I had a similar dilema and was forcing a reluctant 11 wk dd to take a dream feed at 11 and then she would wake at 4ish for a bf.

Last 2 nights I have skipped the dream feed and she went from 7 until 3 and then last night from 7 until almost 5. Guess the dream feed was a bit pointless. Fingers crossed she will keep it up.

As my mum said - what the hell is a dream feed? They didn't have them when you were a baby, I just fed you when you woke up hungry. Sometimes the old ways are the best.