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Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

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Original poster

Do you wake a sleeping baby for a feed

27 replies

Anniemarie · 16/03/2009 20:57

Hi there

Could do with a bit of advice. I have a 4 mth old boy he has a last feed and goes to bed at 7pm every night and he naturally wakes at 2-3am in the morning for a feed and then goes back to sleep until 6am. The question i have is do i wake him before i go to bed at 11-12pm for a feed in the hope he sleeps through until 6am or do i leave his natural pattern in place. Not sure what to do for the best

Thanks

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rubyslippers · 16/03/2009 20:58

i never woke DS or gave him a dream feed

he sounds like he is doing very well - one night feed at 16 weeks is brill

ilovetochat · 16/03/2009 20:59

personally i would leave him to wake when hungry and he will eventually move his last feed back and sleep through

ScorpiowithabigS · 16/03/2009 20:59

No i wouldn't wwake at this age, he will know

bellaboobum · 16/03/2009 21:00

I used to feed mine at 11o'c, and they didn't wake up. Picked them up in their sleeping bag, put bottle in their mouth and they drank it in their sleep and then slept until 6. Not sure if breast-fed would be different.

traceybath · 16/03/2009 21:01

Both mine did that - they just dropped the late evening feed first.

To be honest i preferred that as meant i got a decentish run of sleep.

I did try the whole dream-feed thing but it never worked for me - they just woke at 3am as well.

neenztwinz · 16/03/2009 21:03

Lots of people do a dream feed (basically feed in his sleep) at 10/11pm and it works well. But I think at 4m don't mess with his routine, he will probably still wake at 3/4am anyway.

But you could try it for a couple of nights and see.

bellaboobum · 16/03/2009 21:09

He's obviously OK to go 7 hours without a feed though, so by feeding at 11, you get a chunk of sleep after that, rather than him having his seven hours while you are still up and doing. My first child slept through without a feed from younger than 16wks (although the next two were not like that at all!!) so I wouldn't be too worried about trying to manipulate his routine.

Original poster

Anniemarie · 16/03/2009 21:14

that was my thoughts as not really getting a good nights sleep at moment, but did not want to harm his routine or be impatient if he might surprise me one night soon and just sleep through, not sure what age this happens as 1st time mum and i know all babies are different.

OP posts:

kd73 · 16/03/2009 21:20

I recently tried this a couple of weeks ago as DS (now 12 wks) would go to bed at 10pm then wake between 3 & 4am for another feed. We tried unsuccesfully to do a dream feed at 11pm, hoping he would sleep thru, however he wouldn't suckle either on boob or with bottle, so we eventually ended up waking him for the feed. The result... he woke at 2pm for the next feed and we were more tired than ever!

bellaboobum · 16/03/2009 21:30

Annemarie, there's no way of knowing when they'll sleep through, my first slept from 10 weeks without a feed, my second was still waking for food if we didn't dream feed at 13 months. But so long as he's naturally able to go 7 hours, and you are not forcing him to wait for longer than he can, it may be worth a try. And you might have night feeds for many moths yet (sorry!) so best at least get them to a time that suits you!

Original poster

Anniemarie · 16/03/2009 21:34

thanks for all the messages.

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SomeMightSay · 16/03/2009 21:38

With ds1, like you we fed him at 7 and he went to bed, we went to bed not long after and waited for him to wake me which he did somewhere between 11 and 2 and 4 and 6. I didn't dream feed him because I was so exhausted I didn't want to commit to another set feed and was happy to follow his lead.
Ds2 is 6 weeks and I have been staying up until 11ish to feed him before I got to bed and he wakes at about 3am. I have been waking him for the 11pm feed but am now thinking of doing the 7pm and leaving it til he wakes me like I did with ds1 but then it means probably having to get up twice in the night and I don't want to do that, so I also don't know what to do for the best.
At 4 months, I definitely wouldn't be waking him, he'll know why you're waking him so he will continue to wake for this reason. it was at this age that I weaned ds1 off that middle of the night feed and he started sleeping through after 3 nights.

thumbwitch · 16/03/2009 21:40

God, no. I never wake DS - he always wakes up when he needs a feed, I feed him and he (mostly) goes back to sleep. If I woke him he'd have a fit! (grumpy when woken, like his mum ). However, he does mostly still wake around 2am for a feed, even tho he's 15mo and I'm sure some people will think I should have stopped that by now...

Original poster

Anniemarie · 16/03/2009 21:43

i think that is good advice. hopefully he will just naturally start to wake later and later after all he is still a baby. i think other mums from my antenatal make me paranoid i am doing something wrong as they all say their babies sleep through the night at the same age as my baby.

OP posts:

thumbwitch · 16/03/2009 21:46

Anniemarie - come join this thread to see how not-alone you are! even though the title suggests it is for those with DC over 6mo, I hope you will benefit from seeing that others are in the same boat as you...

Original poster

Anniemarie · 16/03/2009 21:58

thanks

OP posts:

SomeMightSay · 17/03/2009 07:24

Anneiemarie Can I just say, and I'm sure many will agree that when a mum says her baby sleeps through at 6 weeks or something like that, majority of the time, they are lying. Especially at things like ante-natal groups where everything's a big competition IME anyway. Don't listen to them, it's probably an exagerastion of the truth anyweay

pavlovthecat · 17/03/2009 07:27

personally, his sleep pattern sounds fine to me. I used to 'dream feed' DD at about 11pm, but not to get her to sleep through. She was a small bf baby and I was afraid of her missing out on the milk, but I think I started dropping that one at about this age too.

TracyK · 17/03/2009 07:31

My ds slept through most nights at this age - but his weight suffered as he was missing out on a feed. It didn't last long though - by about 5 months he started waking himself from hunger - so I expressed at 10pm - went to bed and dh fed him without waking him at 11pm and that helped. He didn't even lift him - just put the bottle to his lips and he suckled.

SomeMightSay · 17/03/2009 07:41

So is the thing that I'm doing 'wrong' changing the nappy at the late feed?

neenztwinz · 17/03/2009 08:21

My DTs only did 7pm till 7am after they started on solids. They did 11pm till 7am at 12 weeks but they always had a 10pm feed from when they were born. I think cos your LO has never had that 10/11pm feed it might not work as you want. But then again it might! You can try it but then you risk it all going horribly wrong

TracyK · 17/03/2009 16:45

Is the reasoning behind changing the nappy at the late feed - to wake the baby up sufficiently to take on a decent amount of milk? Rather than sleepily take a fewmouthfuls which won't fill them?

SomeMightSay · 17/03/2009 18:10

Tracy The reason I change the nappy at the late feed is so he doesn't wake up wet through. His nappy's seem to get full very quickly. So am I the only person on the planet that does this?

TracyK · 18/03/2009 17:04

Could you move up a size of nappy - or get the reusable ones and have thicker linings in them?

SomeMightSay · 18/03/2009 17:22

We moved onto size 2, but yeah think when this pack's finished I may try size 3 but he's only 6 weeks old. I changed ds1 throughout the night whenever I fed him too. Am I really mad?

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