Sleeping baby and feeding

[Ciara04Siobhan]

I have a 5 day old little girl and she sleeps a lot, mainly in the day.. I'm just wondering whether I should wake her for a feed, her last feed was probably about 5 hours ago. I had midwife today and she said to just let her sleep and she'll wake for a feed, and she has put on weight since being born. I'm just worrying she isn't getting enough?!

Any advice much appreciated x

Is she back to birth weight yet?

If not - wake her at least every 4h for a feed. If she is, and is gaining weight well, leave her to ask for a feed when ready.

Honestly during the day I’d wake 3 hourly to feed- especially if breast feeding as you’ll need to do that to establish supply.

Baby should get at least 8 feeds a day. Getting most done during the day may mean she’s up less at night!!

How are you feeding? If BF I'd try to feed more frequently.

I did when mine was a newborn. People will tell you not to and “never wake a sleeping baby” but that’s just not how it is until they’re back to their birth weight, and even then I did.

She was 7.8 when she was born and is now 8.2, so she is putting on weight 😊

I formula feed her - I just don't want her to not get enough, but I also don't want to wake her if not needed..

Go with your instinct. You know best. I had one midwife tell me to wake every 3 hours, another told me never to wake a sleeping baby, the health visitor told me every 4 hours.... so even the professionals don’t have an official line.

Formula fed is easier as at least you can be confident about how much your LO is eating. Also - congratulations!

Between 7am and 7pm I lifted to feed every 3 hours if they hadn't woke before then. They would drink a bit while sleeping, stir, I'd do a bum change halfway through which would wake them enough to take the rest of the feed.

After 7pm I left it to them to wake and shout for a meal.

My little one is 8 weeks old, when I had her the midwives in the hospital said I should be waking her every 3 hours for food. I think once they get bigger it’s ok to leave them a little longer :)

I woke DS through the day every 3 hours to feed. At night it was up to him. I can't really remember when we stopped that it just happened gradually. He's a good sleeper at night though and I was worried he wouldn't be getting enough milk if I didn't wake him through the day.

My theory was she would wake if she was hungry so I never (and still don’t) wake her.

If she is putting on weight you have nothing to worry about.

She will wake when she is hungry. Its human nature.

Thanks everyone.. it seems it's very mixed reviews, and like someone said even midwives have different views..

She seems to eat well enough, if it gets silly amount of time between feeds then I'll wake her.

I would wake her every 3 hours during the day until she has regained her birth weight.

@Thatwentbadly

she said baby is over birthweight already.
TWICE

@Harrysmummy246 I do apologise to you. I hope that coming on the OP’s thread and ignoring her but telling me off has fulfilled whatever it is you needed.

Personally, if her overall formula intake for the day is sufficient and if she’s back to her birth weight and gaining (as you’ve said she is), I’d leave her to sleep and assume she’ll wake when she’s hungry. As long as she keeps gaining, I think it’s fine. Obviously if the weight gain slows, you might need to reassess. Equally if she’s waking a lot at night, you might want to try getting a bit more into her during the day.