Baby doesn’t give hunger cues at night?!

[Ellimac123]

My baby is now 9 weeks old.
He’s a quiet baby and has never really given off clear hunger cues at night so we’ve always had to set alarms and wake him/guess.

This isn’t ideal as we know it should be baby led and once we get him up to change him if we’ve left him with a gap of 3-4 hours he’s usually hungry (very hungry if we leave it 4 hours).

I worry that he’ll never get into a natural rhythm and we’ll never know when we can start leaving longer gaps between feeds. Also, that he might be giving off subtle hunger cues and I just sleep through them!!

Has anyone had this and how can we get him to wake us for feeds instead of the other way around? I should add, there are enough wet and dirty nappies. He’s 9th centile so on the smaller side but following the line.

Thank you!

Don’t wake him.

I had a small 1st born too and used to wake her for feeds until the health visitor told me to leave her.

Unless your baby is losing weight or you have been given medical advice to wake, then leave him to sleep.

He’s still very young. He really will start to give you the right cues. I’m assuming he is still in your room, so I’d be surprised if you do sleep through. Don’t rule out him being happy to sleep longer periods overnight yet.

What are his cues during the day?

Both my babies slept through the night without feeds at that age. As in, 10-12 hours. They feed 2-3 hourly through the day (and nonstop at witching hour!) to make up for it.

How's his overall intake in a 24hr period?

@Ellimac123 I have the same issue with my little boy - he’s 8 weeks old. Midwife drummed it into us at the start that fit the first 3 months he should be feeding every 2-3 hours during the night and we should be waking him to feed. Spoke to the health visitor at 5 weeks because some nights he’s really hard to wake...she said to try and wake him and feed after 3 hours but if he’s not easy to wake then set an alarm try again an hour later but leave it absolutely no more than 4-5 hours 😳😳

Some nights he wakes for it but he just lies and babbles away to himself until I pit him to the boob and then he acts like a wild beast that’s never been fed 😂 but other nights I’m sure he’d sleep right through if it wasn’t for me waking him 😓

To everyone saying leave them to sleep...did you do this from birth? I feel that’s what I should be doing by the HV and midwife are dead against it 🤔🤔 for context...baby was born at 8lb 11oz (75th centile), dropped to 8lb 2oz, gained it all back plus more by day 9/10, now has settled on 50th centile and been consistently there every week. Health visitor says his weight gain is “perfect” so I’m unsure why I’ve to keep forcing the feeds during the night 🤔😳

He doesn’t seem to have a witching hour anymore during the day (he used to) but he does feed every 2-3 hours.
His cues are pretty limited, just snacks on his hands but he always wants a feed after a nappy change. I think he’s a creature of habit...
I suppose my worry is that because he’s already so small, if he doesn’t eat much at night will he just start losing weight? It’s so hard with COVID to get him weighed, too

He’ll be fine! DD was in the 5th percentile when she was born, also didn’t show hunger cues and slept 10-12 hours at night around that age. She chubbed up to 65th percentile on day feeds alone. By that age he’ll let you know if he’s really hungry! As long as weight is tracking month to month he’s doing great!

@RWK29 I had a GP tell me to wake DD up at night (when she was gaining weight well) but pediatrician and several health visitors said that was utter nonsense and not necessary if weight gain is good and baby is weeing plenty. What would be the point of waking?!

@Happyhappyday That’s what I thought as well 🤷🏻‍♀️ Surely if he’s hungry he’ll wake and let me know? He’s pretty vocal 🙈🤣
It’s tough finding a balance between going with your own instincts and following the “professional” advice sometimes! I think especially as a first time Mum you’re worried that your instincts are wrong 😳

I’m not an expert and only a first time mum to one almost 6 month old boy...but in my limited experience, I went with my gut and left mine to sleep. He slept 8 hours the first night he was born and was not interested in eating at all. The midwives and health visitor told me to wake him up every 2-3 hours. At first, we tried, but he just wasn’t interested in feeding at night at all. He’s a lockdown baby so we weighed him at home and once we were sure he was gaining weight, we just let him sleep. If your LO was losing weight, or started too, I would wake them up. Otherwise, let them sleep! Mine did 7 hour stretches without feeding but now at almost 6 months wants two bottles a night 🙈

Let him sleep.

If he's hungry he will start to voice his displeasure and I'm sure you won't miss that!