6 week old - should I be waking her to feed through the night?

[MayLu86]

Hello,

I have a 6 week old. She’s breastfed but has one expressed bottle early hours with husband. Everything you read says you should leave them 3-4 hours between feeds but I’m sat here now with her and she’s gone four hours and showing no signs of waking up 🤷‍♀️

Is she now at an age where the gaps between feeds may be getting wider? Should I just stop worrying and get some sleep myself?! 😂 or should I be making sure she’s feeding regularly still? Through the day she rarely goes longer than two hours.

Find this stage hard as there’s a big gap between visits from the Heath visitor otherwise I’d be asking her all these questions! Would be great to know other people’s experiences...

Thanks!

There is so much conflicting advice out there now but it's advice... All babies are different. If they get hungry they soon let you know about it. If your little one is feeding every couple hours during the day it's quite possible they're getting their fill until that expressed bottle in the early hours. Get your head down for some kip x

Leave her be, if she's sleeping longer she must be satisfied. Enjoy a bit more sleep.

As long as baby is putting on weight, healthy etc I definitely wouldn’t wake. And celebrate the long stretch! My baby did a 6 hour stretch at 6 weeks & I was so happy to have got a decent night of sleep!

Go with what your midwife/doctor recommends. IF your baby is healthy and putting on weight well then I really can't imagine why you'd need to wake them for a feed, but those are two very important ifs!

Personally I never wake a sleeping baby! The advice is really that if they are gaining weight then you don't need to wake but I know weigh clinics are off at the moment.

Look in your Red book, you should have either a number or email for your health visitor. I would email/call them and ask their advice. If it weren't for covid they would have weigh clinics where you could drop in and ask so they encourage you to contact them in other ways now.

I was the exact same as you ha my baby is mow 11 weeks old!

I was waking her every 3-4 hours until 7 weeks and asked health visitor and she said leave her. ! Since then she’s been sleeping 7-9 hours! Life changing - I didn’t know it was ok
She said once she’s putting on weight and plenty of wet and dirty nappies leave her sleep

Good luck x

Thanks so much for all your replies! I left her and she woke after 5 hours for a good feed. Then went 3 hours before the next. Definitely the best nights sleep I’ve had so far so it did me good.
Plenty of wet nappies so that’s a good sign!

Enjoy the longer stretch of sleep whilst it lasts!
Especially if she's gaining weight and doing lots of wet nappies.