Demand feeding and naps

leela02

Stupid FTM question here...For those who feed their LOs on demand, do you let them sleep long naps (more than 3 hrs) during the day or wake them up? My DD is 5 weeks old and slept almost 4hrs straight this morning. I woke her up to give her a bottle since I wasn't sure if it was ok to let her sleep that long. She usually drinks anywhere from 2-4oz a feeding, most often 3oz. She usually sleeps 2-3hr stretches during the day but occasionally she'll go past 3hrs and I wake her up.

leela02

@Priss08 She's 5wo and 1lb over her birth weight now. She initially lost weight because of BFing issues (low supply) so we had to feed her every 2-3hrs until she gained the weight back. She's been gaining weight normally since we switched to mostly FF. (I still nurse her for a few feedings but she'll usually drain a 3oz bottle right after, so I don't really know how much she gets from the boob). Our pedi isn't concerned about her weight anymore and said we can let her sleep long stretches at night (up to 6 hrs) if she wants to. He didn't say anything about relaxing her daytime feeding schedule though so I will just call to check. I'm just wondering what other FFers do - I read a bit about demand feeding, but mostly for EBF.

harmonicbabe26

My advice is a little different from others - this at least worked for my DD and for my sanity. She never slept as long as your LO is sleeping, but honestly, I'd rather wake the baby more during the day and serve them regular meals, so that they save their longest sleeps for the night. I'd rather have a baby sleep 4 hrs at night, instead of during the day. How often is she waking to eat at night?

leela02

Thanks for the responses! I called the pedi today and was told to feed her every 3 hrs during the day. My pedi also doesn't want her to nap for more than 2hrs at a time to help stop day/night confusion.

@harmonicbabe26 She wakes up around 3 times at night but usually feeds only once. Last night she slept for 4 and a half hours straight before having to feed. After that feeding she woke up a couple more times and fussed (once because she had spit up on herself), but got sleepy again after getting picked up or rocked for a bit. She possibly has reflux discomfort that's worse at night so the pedi suggested elevating her mattress and seeing if that would help her sleep longer after her middle of the night feeding.