Waking an overtired baby for a feed?

[Moonstar4982]

Hello, ftm mum here and struggling with the usual trials and tribulations of sleep.
My 6 week old ds has had a rough couple of days sleep wise. He is taking hours to settle after a feed (formula) and becoming very overtired. After a lot of wrangling this morning we finally got him to sleep after 3 hours. He has napped for one hour but now he technically needs a feed again. This happened last night and we left him to sleep but just aware he hasn’t now eaten much over the past 12 hours. Do I wake him up or trust the old saying of never waking a sleeping baby? Would he just arise when he gets hungry again?
Thanks so much!

I wouldn’t wake him, but be alert for the first murmurs / stirrings with a bottle ready, so he has one immediately when he starts to wake up. You could also try a dream feed (see if he’ll drink milk while asleep) but many babies won’t do that, though I know some do.

Once a baby has reached birth weight unless on the advice of a paediatrician you don't need to wake a baby for a feed no.

I fed on demand. Just fed her when she was hungry. Worked well.

Keep an eye on nappies to check he isn’t getting dehydrated, as that would be a more pressing issue than waking him for a feed.

How much formula has he had in 24 hours?

I'd leave him be. He'll soon wake if he's hungry. Let him sleep while the going is good as he might be getting wind pain after feeding which will keep him awake again.

Have you tried feeding him sitting bolt upright and keeping him upright for 30 minutes afterwards?

It worked for me, little guy just had chronic indigestion bless him. I used to have to sit him up on my knee with thumb and finger supporting his head which was tipped back a bit so he could drink. Didn't look very comfortable but stopped him screaming his lungs out afterwards. Switching to goats milk formula helped too.

Thanks everyone. He did indeed wake 2 hours later and had a good long feed. He also did a massive poosplosion so I think that has been keeping him awake this morning. He is now on nap 2 of the day in the sling and went down with much less fuss.

I sleep feed my daughter even now as she is going through regression and don't want to wake her.You obviously know your baby better but I was told to be careful with waiting them to wake as sometimes when babies are dehydrated they can get sleepier and sleep longer and longer.