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Parenting

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Original poster

Midwife feeding guidelines question

17 replies

IndecisivePramBuyer81 · 20/07/2013 20:38

You know how the midwives tell you your baby shouldn't go longer than 3-4 hrs during the day without food and no more than 5 hrs during the night... how long should you be following that guidance? DS is 3 wks on Monday and wants feeding every 3 hrs fairly consistently anyway but I was reading up on dream feeding and wondered when we could think about starting... (I know not yet, but I'm a lady who likes to plan ahead!)

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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janey1234 · 20/07/2013 20:53

I don't know but also have a 3 week old DS so marking place! Sorry!

hardboiledpossum · 20/07/2013 22:22

Why wouldn't you start a dream feed now? I think I started after a week, at the same time I started a bedtime routine. just because you have a dream feed doesn't mean you don't feed at other times too, so I'm not sure I completely understand the question

AmandaCooper · 20/07/2013 22:25

I'm no expert but I would suggese you feed your baby on demand and dream feed whenever you like.

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Thesebootsweremadeforwalking · 20/07/2013 22:43

DD is 7 weeks old and has occasionally slept through the night. She is EBF and I got a bit freaked as she'd slept 6 hours, two nights running, by 10 days old. Midwife visited next day and said I should have maybe woken her, but changed her mind and said not to worry about it and just let her sleep after she'd weighed DD as she'd had a really big weight gain. So, as far as I can tell it seems to be ok to let them sleep longer if they seem to be getting enough milk?

Original poster

IndecisivePramBuyer81 · 20/07/2013 23:17

I keep being told to demand feed while he's this young so thought it might be frowned upon in some way.

I don't expect him to sleep through even with a dream feed tbh but I wondered if it worked and he slept 6, 7hrs for example, would this be ok or should we still wake him after 5 as per midwife instructions as he's still so young? he's not struggling with gaining weight!

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mrscog · 21/07/2013 12:17

The 2am feed is very important to your supply until your supply is well established which varies for everyone. I would say to try and keep up a 2am feed (or whatever time it is for your baby!) for a few weeks longer - maybe try a dream feed around 6 weeks. It never worked for my DS though - he used to wake for a feed at 11pm then wake at 3am anyway!

Original poster

IndecisivePramBuyer81 · 21/07/2013 14:53

Should prob have mentioned I'm formula feeding..Couldn't get on with breastfeeding at all!

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/07/2013 15:38

If Lo is feeding every 3 hours and you want to start a dream feed I can't see a problem with it at all. Whether you are ffing or bfing the advice is to feed on demand anyway, so if Lo is asking for the bottle every 3 hours you could aim for

7, 10, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm and see how it goes

mrscog · 21/07/2013 15:40

Oh sorry indecisive in that case I'd definitely do what JiltedJohnsJulie has suggested above :)

Original poster

IndecisivePramBuyer81 · 21/07/2013 18:51

And a (hypothetical) 9hr sleep in overnight would be ok?

OP posts:

mrscog · 21/07/2013 19:31

Oh, I don't know... could you set an alarm for 5.30/6am for a couple more weeks until your DS is slightly more 'robust'? I'd have thought it would be fine by 6 weeks. The thing is, if he's hungry/thirsty before the first feed of the morning he'll wake up. Maybe you could try the dream feed at 11pm to start off with then set an alarm for 5.30am. That gives you an amazing potential run of sleep with a newborn but equally not that long really without a feed.

If in doubt check with a midwife or someone more official though :)

Original poster

IndecisivePramBuyer81 · 21/07/2013 20:23

thanks sorry, ftm and all that!

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/07/2013 20:30

Sorry should have said, that is something you could aim for if you wish. I don't think any newborn would sleep overnight for that long and you should be fed on demand

Shellywelly1973 · 21/07/2013 22:06

After having 5 dc over 24 years, there arn't many things i will worry about when my 6 th baby arrives.

Young babies be they bf or ff will generally wake when they need to be fed. If by any miracle Thats longer then 3 hours, then your very lucky.

I have & never ever will set an alarm to wake to feed a baby. Few babies will sleep more then 4/5 hrs in any 24 hours & if they do its because they arn't hungry.

Its just commen sense.

maja00 · 21/07/2013 22:09

Once your baby is asking for feeds, has reached their birthweight and is gaining weight then it is ok to demand feed and let them sleep at night.

Some babies will be doing this at 1 or 2 weeks, some will still need to be woken for feeds at 6 weeks+

maja00 · 21/07/2013 22:10

Some very little babies don't wake when they are hungry though Shelly those babies need to be woken for feeds until they are stronger.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 23/07/2013 18:34

That is true maja. Some babies can simply be too hungry to cry. Its important to look at things like weight gain, nappy output and whether your baby is bright and alert at times.

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