Is not waking them to eat bad for them?

[kittenpeak]

Hi - I have a 4 week old boy who weighed over 9lb at birth and I'm always in a conundrum about what to do with waking to eat. I'm breastfeeding but tend to give bottled formula at night:

So far, he is very "good" at sleeping at night, and I always have to set alarms and wake him
Up to feed him.

Firstly, would you wake them or let them sleep? I wake him because I'm worried he would go 12 hours without waking (and therefore feeding!)

Secondly, is it bad for them if they don't eat at the regular intervals? We are not in a routine yet, but last night he had a bottle at 22:45, and I set an alarm to wake him 4.5 hours later. (Tend to go a bit longer after formula) At this time he was fast asleep and looked peaceful so left it a bit, 30 mins later I started to dream feed him but he took hardly anything (tried both boob and bottle). I was trying to feed him for about 20 mins and he refused to eat / too sleepy to open his mouth. He probably had about 15ml of formula and was sucking on me for about 10 mins (as he was sleepy, unsure how much he actually had). He's now asleep again.

I suppose my question is, is this bad for a growing baby, eg not letting them eat properly and going hours without a proper feed? He isn't crying with hunger, and he is back at his birth weight (I'd assume he's heavier than that now).

Thanks

Never wake a sleeping baby. If he's hungry, he'll wake himself. Sounds like you have a good sleeper. Enjoy your sleep too. Don't worry about his weight. If he's feeding in the day he'll just grow at his own pace.

Although I would agree never wake a sleeping baby, 4 weeks is very young. If he is losing weight I would be concerned. Can you speak to your health visitor?

My baby wasn't putting on weight, so at 4/5 weeks I was advised to wake him for 3 hourly feeds. Like your baby he was often too sleepy, but I would turn a light on/change him/take out of sleeping bag to wake him. I hated doing it. Once he started gaining weight we stopped that.

What does your health visitor advise? Is your baby gaining weight?

I'm not sure re "never wake a sleeping baby" when they are very small and bf. You are mix feeding so that's probably why he's sleeping longer at night. The only thing I'd be concerned about is possibly causing issues with supply if you want to continue bf as going 12 hours without breastfeeding is very long and your body makes milk in response to a babies demands.
Also newborns can get milk really easily from a bottle so then get lazy about trying to feed from a breast. Maybe see how his weight is and if it's OK I guess that's the main thing but I know that leaving really long periods between bf at the start can cause issues with supply so that's the main thing I'd be concerned about as if he's getting lots of calories from formula thats probably less of a worry and why he's not waking.

You definitely need to wake him at night to feed, thats far to long for him to go without feeding. His blood sugar may get to low if not.

I found all my babies slept loads when new but around 6 weeks started to "wake up" so you need to have enough milk in supply to feed them. If he's only trying for 10 mins over night bf you could end up affecting your supply , I would be very careful of topping up with formula if you want bf to work.

When is your next health visitor visit? When my daughter was 6 weeks she had exceeded her birth weight so the health visitor told me that I didn't need to wake her and she has slept through the night since. (She is now 7 months and has a very healthy appetite!)

Could you call your health visitor and ask for him to be weighed so you know if he has exceeded his birth weight yet?

It really depends on whether a baby is bottle fed or bf , there's a big difference really with establishing feeding etc.

I think it's a bit young to not be having a feed.
I think DS was around 8 weeks when I stopped the night feeds as HV recommended I did as he was putting on weight nicely and sleeping through.
His jaundice had also gone by this point.

It depends if they have gone back to birth weight and are still gaining. If they haven't then you need to still wake them.

'Never wake a sleeping baby' is dangerous advice if the baby is not eating enough to gain weight.

It all depends on how much weight they've gained since birth and are they feeding very frequently during the day.

I had large babies that very quickly regained birth weight (within days) and carried on weight gain. couldn't dream feed them as they would not wake but I also ensured they fed lots during daytime.

Presumably there are no weigh in clinics art they moment to check weight gain though?