Should I wake my baby?

[mamatoizzybee]

Hi
My baby is 6 weeks old.

For the last couple of nights she hasn't properly woken up to feed. I have heard her stir in the night , make a few noises - but not crying - and when I sit up to check on her, she's back to sleep again. I have then gone back to sleep myself . And then an hour later I hear her stir again, check on her , but again she is asleep. Sometimes when she stirs she makes the feeding cue with her mouth . But again, it's not for long as she goes back to sleep!

My question , is should I be waking her to feed or should I let her stir and sleep? Does anyone else have a similar thing with their little one!?

She is gaining weight really well, plenty of wet nappies and is a healthy baby, so I would only normally feed her in the night when she wakes anyway. She also feeds very well in the day every 2-3 hours and is a hungry baby in the day time (usually at night too, which is why this is a bit strange - but of course mama is happy as she is getting sleep!)

Thanks

I think if she is eating regularly in the day and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies then you don't need to wake her. What is the longest she has gone in the night without a feed? Babies routines change all the time and this might not (probably won't) last. So make the most of it.

Thank you for your reply @MrsL2016 .
Her last feed began at 9.30pm . She stirred about 2am but when I checked on her she was fast asleep again! So I went back to sleep. I then heard her stir at 3.30am and do the feeding cue so I picked her up to feed her even though she was still asleep!!

She is having loads of wet and dirty nappies all the time and feeding well in the day. So I have no concerns about her health at all

My instinct is telling me to let her sleep as she obviously needs it and she would wake if she was really that hungry.

I think you're right in that it's s phase and prob won't last as she always woke 2-3 hours in the night before!!

I used to have the same problem with my DS starting to stir and me thinking he was going to want a feed. I would go make a bottle and come back and he was fast asleep. I think it sounds like she is just going longer in the night which is great.

I would leave her asleep. Mine would have a dream feed about 10pm then sleep until about 6.30 at that age.
If you start waking her up when she's in a good routine then she might start having disturbed sleep. Not all babies wake up lots of times throughout the night!

Agree with PPs. I went through this exact same thing last year and wasted so much milk by making up bottles that weren't needed 😂 Make the most of the extra sleep and hope it's the start of her being a cracking sleeper! Get those zzzzZzzZzz in mamma!

If she is having enough feeds over 24 hours overall and plenty of wet and dirty nappies then roll with it and enjoy the longer stretches of sleep! My babies (breastfed) all slept about 8 hours stretches at night by 10 ish weeks... but then 4 month sleep regression hit.... uuuugh!

Yes I'm with the others and let her sleep. Two of mine started to sleep for longer stretches around this age, enjoy the sleep!

Yep, leave her be and enjoy your sleep!

Thank you everyone . I feel really bad for waking her up now to feed and should have trusted my instincts and left her to sleep.
Fingers crossed she does the same tonight so I won't wake her and get a full night myself. Wow what a treat that would be ☺️☺️

What were or are people's bedtime routines with babies of between 6-8weeks? I would be interested particularly to know what time you start the routine, what you do and when baby is asleep by ?
Thank you

They're too young to find a routine OP, mine is 10 weeks and has had random nights of sleeping through and some up for hours. Generally he'll feed at 9pm, 3am and 7am. Last night he fed at 10pm and was asleep until 8am!! Bliss!!

I'm grateful for a good baby but don't expect it, so when he doesn't have a good night I remind myself it's normal and in fact we're lucky to have long sleepers.

PS he started sleeping through on and off from 6 weeks, HV said it could be because they gave growth spurts at this age so sleep more to accommodate

@sirmione16 Thank you for your reply. I did wonder if it was something to do with the growth spurt. I hear from all sorts of people that it's a big one between 6-8 weeks. My daughter was feeding from me non stop in the day yesterday , and it made sense that this was due to growth etc . It would also make sense that they would need to sleep more during this time too :)

Regarding routines - I know at this age it's not possible to have a strict routine , but is there anything you would do to help for when a routine is out in place . E.g for us, we don't agree to have visitors over in the evening as from 7pm, I like to have my daughter settling down in our room , changing into pjs, feeding, playing soft music, bath time , etc all in the run up to actually going to sleep.
Or is that pointless doing all that? We have had friends invite us over to theirs after they finish work and we have declined as I was worried it would over stimulate our daughter before bedtime ?

Honestly stick with what works. For my eldest three I stuck to a strict routine, they were bath, boob, bed at 7pm, didn't take them out in the evenings although family complained it was what we needed. Last two (big age gap) haven't had a routine until 2 years old as I had to be out collecting older ones. Honestly just follow what suits your family and ignore everyone else. And if gaining weight do not wake a sleeping baby ☺

God no, leave her to sleep!

With my first he woke around 3 to feed and was generally quite hard to get back in his cot. The second never ever has had a night feed! He didn't wake and I didn't wake him

It is possible to have a routine. Both mine did and were sleeping through by 6 weeks. Routine was:

• bed time 7pm
• dream feed 10.30/11pm
• wake them up at 7 even if still sleeping
• 9-9.45/10 nap
• 12-2 nap

There was usually a late afternoon nap of about 40 mins However it is quite restrictive and lots of people don't like being tied down by nap times & feed times. I used to plan outings around nap times. I would usually be home for lunch naps and they would go up in their room. There will be people who say they prefer to keep baby with them 24-7 but it's then hard to break the pattern. Mine didn't cry in this routine btw - they get the right amount of sleep so don't get too worn out.

I did more of a loose routine at that age. Bedtime and naps were never at certain times, it was just dictated by feeds. Mine went into a 4 hour feeding cycle fairly early on with bigger feeds. I realised pretty quick how much hard work an overtired baby is so I was really minded to not overstimulate him and encourage sleeping as much as possible. At 6 weeks he was never awake for more than an hour which was enough time to feed/change/play. It got longer as time went on but I always stuck to that. I fed on waking instead of to sleep so never had that issue with feeding to sleep.

Mine needed a bedtime wind down routine from around 5 weeks but only because she’s a crap napper, and was getting too overstimulated by the evenings to stay downstairs with us.

I FF, so did three hourly (or sooner if she wanted it) at roughly 6.30, 9.30, 12.30, 3.30, then bath and 6.30 bottle in dark room with white noise ready for bed. She loved it! Generally self settles really well now at 4.5 months and only has one small night feed....

....BUT she is a bloody awful napper, and will only snatch half an hour cat naps in her pram, with LOUD white noise and Snoozeshade over it, so might be best to ignore me!

I stopped waking to feed when DD regained birth weight and was gaining weight and interested in feeding plenty during day. She's eight weeks now and sleeps anywhere from five hours to eight hours in a chunk overnight and has for the last few weeks (yes, I know we've been incredibly lucky.)

In terms of routines, our only routine is that we tend to go up to bed together about 9.30pm ish and follow the same kind of schedule of things - nappy change, baby massage, into sleeping sack, feed, into cot, lights out. The good thing about that is that it's usable when we're away and doesn't rely on being home.

During the day we have classes at different times each day and various things going on so we just kind of go with it at the moment. I'm not really a rigid routine kind of person so I think we'll just see how she does without one for now. So far it's going OK so until it isn't, I don't want to meddle!

My LO was the same and I never woke her up for a feed, if she is hungry she will let you know

I would never woke up DS after he'd regained his birth weight.

However I disagree it's too early for routine. I started a routine at 3 weeks, I was following it but DS wasn't! He got the hang of it at about 6 weeks. From about 10 weeks it was like clockwork and I am glad I put the effort in early.

It's not for everyone but if you like the structure & predictability it could work for you.

I started a bedtime routine around this age just to get into a habit. We do bath with the same music from the In The Night Garden playing, then I dry him and give him a short massage with Johnson’s bedtime stuff. Then I feed him in the bedroom with the lights dimmed right down and his white noise on: feed one side, then swaddle and feed the other side, then into his crib as soon as he dozes off. If he’s a bit fidgety I have a particular soothing song that I sing only at bedtime.

He’s 19 weeks now and we still follow the same routine and he goes down easily every night. I think it helped getting him into a bedtime routine early on.