Waking your baby during the night to feed

[bouncingblob]

We recently had an antenatal class in which the midwives said you should be waking your baby every 2-3 hours during the night for a feed.

We asked how long this was to continue for and they said at LEAST six months!

Can this really be true? Obviously if they wake up themselves then you feed them, but the midwives said if they didn't wake up, you had to wake them up and make them feed.

I woke my baby every 3 hours until he had regained his birth weight plus 1kg, so roughly for the first 4 weeks. I do think it can be dangerous not to wake a newborn, they might not be strong enough to wake by themselves and ask for a feed, but I don’t think this is necessary from 1+ months onwards unless there is a medical reason or concern with weight gain.

Nonsense unless there’s a specific reason to. I had to for the first week or so with one of mine because he was jaundiced and sleepy but never did after that. Babies are normally very good at telling you they’re hungry!

We had to do this. No issues with weight gain but when she was born she wouldn't wake for a feed day or night. Her first night she slept for 8h and wouldn't wake up until I stripped her down to a nappy. For the first week we did this every 3h day and night otherwise she would have just stayed asleep. For the second week we did it if she went longer than 3h during the day and 2.5-3h over night. The third week we did alarms at 3 -3.5 h over night but she usually woke around 3h. The fourth week I had an alarm set at 4h but this wasn't necessary. She lost 5% at 5 days and gained half back by day 10 and the rest by day 15 she was following the 9th percentile so whilst gain was good she was small.

You might need to wake for feeds but you would looking at a week or two certainly not 6 months!

Never had to do this. You can usually let them sleep their age in weeks plus one hour between feeds for one stretch in the night. I think by four weeks my LO would do a five hour stretch on some nights and four on others. She always woke me to feed her!

As others say - only wake them if you are medically directed to do so. A lot of (maybe all?) breastfed babies will cluster feed in the evening and first part of the night, and tank up on calories to help them sleep longer. Exhausting but useful!

good grief no don’t do that.

Literally what everyone else says, it’s bonkers advice unless there is a medical need to do it!! If they are hungry they will wake up,

I breastfed and mine slept through the night from 9wks! I would never wake them, not at that age, and especially not at 6 months!! They’re on solids at 6 months!! Would you wake them for a midnight feast of breadsticks and hummus?! I’ve no idea why they would say that, our NCT midwife said never to wake unless advised for medical reasons.

Just to clarify a few points - this was official advice given by trained NHS midwives to a full room full of soon to be first time Mums. The midwives were, I would say, in their late 20s/early 30s and stated this was the official advice...

I agree with the general points made here though, it sounds insane to be doing this until weaning starts.

Not unless they are struggling to gain weight.

Mine slept 7-7 from 8 weeks, 6 weeks & 6 weeks.

If they’re under a certain weight, you’ll be advised to wake them every 2-3 hours. But otherwise no.
both DC2 & DC3 slept from 7-7 from 3 months.

I was never told this so never did it. But I did wake them to feed etc if they slept too long during the day as I wanted them to sleep longer at night. I was told not to by the mw but it worked for me & saved my sanity

If tiny babies do not feed every 3 hours of whatever the recommendation is, they can become hypoglycemic. This can cause brain damage. Which is not reversible

Hence the advice, it’s not old fashioned, it’s relatively new.

I wasn’t told about it when I had my children 20 or so years ago. But I have had a case of it across my desk, the child is now profoundly disabled. I am a clinical negligence lawyer

You'd go crazy doing that for 6 months! I know as my first did wake up more often than that! My second slept through the night almost immediately and as she was a healthy weight, gaining weight and feeding well in the day I was all for it!

In the absence of medical advice its bonkers

I did however wake my babies to feed during the day..I was working on the basis that they needed a certain amount of calories and fluid in a 24 hr period and I wanted to get as much of it in as possible during the day, so I would wouldnt let them go more that 3 hrs without a feed during the day, and then did a dream feed at 10pm and let them regulate through the night from then on. Since mine all slept through from 4 months, it seemed to work well for them

From memory we fed DD every 3.5hrs until around the 6 month mark. The current school of thinking with our health board is as long as they are having plenty wet / dirty nappies and have regained birth weight then no need to waken through the night 😵‍💫 FWIW we were and still are quite regimented with routine from the early days which is probably old school

Absolutely not. As soon as they're back to their birth weight if that's normal you don't have to. But your midwives will confirm.

I was told I could let them go 5-6 hours once in 24 hours

No. Only if they're small or struggling to gain. Otherwise let them wake you.

One of mine slept through once, had to wake them up to feed because my boobs were going to explode. Only other time was the jaundice at the beginning, after that they kindly woke me up regularly during the night 😆

Should be waking them when very little if not waking naturally and breastfeeding, but if gaining weight well after about 6-8 weeks and supply fully established then nope!
I've had 2 children (youngest is 3) definitely wasn't told 6 months! DS1 woke every hour DS2 did 3-4 hour stretches so would just let him and he was an effective feeder who took about 10 mins!

The OP has been medically ally advised to, by ante natal midwives. Who I would imagine are knowledgeable on the subject.

It’s only relatively recently that the risk of hypoglycemia in young babies has been understood. Hence the advice

It’s rare, but can be devastating. A tiny baby may not get strong enough hunger signals to wake them. If they go long enough they will get too weak to wake

No way. My eldest slept through the night from 6 weeks old. I never woke him for food and it didnt cause him any problems.

I've got 4 that have all slept through the night from between 2 and 3 months from around 9-10pm to 7-8am.

However, before you start thinking I'm a total smug arsehole, they don't nap during the day very well at all and with each child it's just got worse. The most recent one is 3 months and does not nap. Well, maybe for 10 minutes and seems totally out of it then is suddenly wide awake. Child no 3 stopped napping completely at 18 months and wasn't even that good at it before then. An hour long nap has always been considered a really good length of time. Oh and I get nothing done at all because it's not a content awake. Nah even fed and changed and whatnot, this baby just fancies a whinge and to be held or otherwise entertained.