Should I wake my baby to feed him?

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My baby is 5 weeks old and sleeps for quite long stretches between feeds - up to three hours during the day and 4 in the evening.

I feed him at about 6:30pm and he conks out until after 10. I've been gently waking him up to feed him again at 10:30 to make sure he doesn't get hungry - haven't tried the 'dream feed' as he's awake when I feed him then. This means I can get a good couple of hours or so sleep until he wakes up hungry again.

Usual night time pattern is feed at 10:30, 2ish, a not very successful one at 5 that doesn't seem to satisfy him and again at about 6:30.

Am I doing the wrong thing? My husband thinks I should leave him alone until he wakes up hungry after 10, but I really need those couple of hours sleep before he's awake again at 2.

Any thoughts?

I think you are doing brilliantly. I would keep going with waking him at 10 ish as he will get used to this. I presume he goes straight back to sleep after the feed and hence it's not really doing any harm. You could try a 'dream feed' and wake him up if it doesn't work. I always operated on 10/2/6 feeds - so its sounds about right to me.

Thank you so much! He does go straight back to sleep at nighttime after feeding - I do change his nappy first just in case before.

Was just a bit worried that I was being some kind of monster by waking a sleeping baby to feed him.

NO def not. You are trying to get him into a routine and I believe the earlier the better. One thing I would say though is that you will get a wide range of opinions and whilst I agree with you others might not. You need to be sure of what you are doing for yourself.

I woke my dd2 to feed her in the day. I did not do this with dd1 and I found that she fed a lot in the night to compensate. I have had a routine with dd2 from about 6 weeks. Every one is different and dont like routines but I found it really helped with dd2.....good luck!!

I to have a 5 week old - who feeds at about 7ish and then sleeps for a minimum of 6 hours and sometimes longer. I have tried to wake her at 10.30 - but whether I wake her or not there is still a 2-3 am feed. So I don't think it actually makes a difference. I decided to just leave her until she wakes in the night, However, didn't sleep a wink last night as she didn't wake up until 5am this morning. Is this normal? I don't know! But she has had a good feed and is now smiling away in her crib, and very contented. I run with the theory that she will scream if unhappy.

Hope helpful