waking sleeping babies and feeding at exact times?!

[charlotte4161]

Hi all
This is my first post...so excited!! Lol
I've a 5 and half month gorgeous little boy who's a very happy content baby, thankfully!

I don't wake him up from naps in the day I just let him sleep till he's ready to wake up, apart from his last nap so I know he'll go down at bed time. Tbh he very rarely sleeps past the half hour mark anyway in the day.

I've stopped waking him up at a specific time of the morning too as I've not really seen any reason to wake him unless we're heading out in the morning. Plus he gets grumpy quickly when I do that.

Because I don't wake him in the morning feeding times change for the day, I tend to wait till he gives the signs of wanting food after he wakes up. So this morning he woke up at 8 with wind, back to sleep till 915 and he's just starting to getting grumpy for food now at around 10. (He still feeds in the night once at about 5am). I found feeding him as soon as he woke up he was always a little sick after. He's generally always had eyes bigger than the belly and will always eat if you go to feed him! He's a mix of formula and bf and we're starting a tiny bit of baby rice too.

So really my questions are is what does everyone else do in terms of waking and is there a benefit to it? Whats the benefits of always feeding at exactly the same time every day for the baby? Do they then just eat because it's there rather than realising they're actually hungry?

I always make sure he's fed every 3 to 4 hours so I can plan the feed roughly after his first one! He's always been a very good weight as well so nothing to worry about with that.

Appreciate any advice or thoughts!
Xx

Never wake a sleeping baby.

The end.

Also am feeling v jealous at the thought of a cuddly 5 month old! I think that's the best age for babies! They're all smiley and you're not faffing with food yet. Enjoy him x

I have a 6 month old. Ebf & recently weaned. I just went with the flow, didn't fix any sleep/wake/feed times except the final going to bed in the evening. Some days she slept less, some days longer. Fed when she wanted to, but I kept an eye on the clock & fed every 3 hours max. Sleep wise - she slept 3-4 naps in the day...of varying lengths. Never woke her (prayed every time that shed sleep longer!). But typically shed get sleepy 2-2.5 hours from waking up..so I'd put her to nap at that time rather than wait for her signals.

So we kept it baby led, but maintained a steady gap for feeds & sleep..but went with what she wanted if she didn't agree.

Thanks for the quick response and good know what others do. I think I just worry for that first morning feed as it's been a long time since his last feed!

What you're doing is fine and normal.

Absolutely no need to impose set sleep and feeding times on a tiny baby. Those will naturally come anyway when they drop naps and are weaned onto 3 meals a day.

I didn't stick to a routine - it just came naturally once weaning started. As for waking a sleeping baby - i just did what you do and woke mine in fear of it impacting on bedtime! Who knows what the right thing to do is - there'll always be people who do things differently to you. The fact that the sleep forum is so busy proves that no one knows - every baby is different. For now - I'd just feed when your baby wants a feed and once you wean you'll notice more of a routine appearing . Good luck!

I wake my ds in the day he's only 7 weeks old though. He feeds every 3/4 hrs in the day to get all his feeds in then he sleeps through the night. He tends to feed 6.30am -10 am -1.30pm - 5pm and again 8.30pm asleep for 9pm. He will generally wake himself around these times but if he's getting over the 4 hrs I always wake him I'd never contemplate waking In the night