BFmamas: waking to feed?

njkitty

my LO likes to sleep (no, i'm not complaining!) but that makes the 9-12 feedings nearly impossible... so i insist on waking him after 2.5-3 hrs and my mom thinks i'm being cruel.  if i let him make the schedule, he'd probably only nurse every 4 hrs or so.  do you wake your LO's to feed?  i let him sleep as long as he wants during the night though...

thanks!

 

Fish4Fun

Yes, you are supposed to wake newborns during the day about every 3 hrs to feed.  The first week I had to keep messing with her while feeding so she wouldn't fall asleep and stop sucking. 

freeburger16

I wish I had this problem - My LO wakes up every 2 hours around the clock to eat.  It's driving me batty!

If I were you, I would wake him during the day if it's been over 3 hours, and at night only if it's been more than 4.  You dont want to wait too long and mess with your milk supply.  

NicoleOSU

I'm pretty sure you're supposed to until they get back up to their birth weight. After that I probably wouldn't wake him.

Kyla Sisco

I pump (about to try latching on again) But no, I do not wake DS to eat. I feed him on demand. When he is ready to eat, I feed him until he is content.

DS is a cluster feeder. He will feed for about 2hrs, go to sleep for like 4-5hrs and wake up and repeat.

Pedi said this is normal.

cubsfan1

When my DD was that young I woke her every 2 or 3 hours to feed during the day. Once she made it back to her birth weight the pedi told me it was ok to let her go a longer stretch at night, so we did. The most she would ever go was 4 or 5 hours though. But we still woke her during the day.

vlahop

Your LO is still very young.  We had a hard time waking DD to feed at that age too. Now she is a little chunky demanding eater!  I think your LO will demand more soon

WIAgrrrr

I would wake my DD every 2 hrs during the day to feed, as she lost almost 10% of her birth weight and was slow to gain it back. I wanted to make sure she was eating often enough.

njkitty

thanks for the support!  my mom is staying with us for another week and a half and she's driving me batty. 

Quazel

You are doing the right thing.  My DS was born pretty small and lost a little over his 10%.  We had to wake him to feed every two hours.  Once he regained his birth weight we were allowed to go to every 2-3 hours.  When he hit 8 lbs. we were allowed to have a 4 hour stretch at night.  I think when he hit 9 lbs. maybe we were allowed to feed on demand.

My mom never questioned us but did find waking him weird.  When we were babies the mantra was "Never wake a sleeping baby."  The medical profession has changed its opinion over the years.

ncbelle

At that age, I fed him every 3 hours at least during the day - so I woke him if I needed to.

TheMRS0127

no, my pedi said never wake a sleeping baby and as long as he is having enough dirty diapers (which he is) that he is eating enough - my son has at least 10 wet diapers a day, all clear and smell free which my ped said is great, he also has enough bowel movements a day.