Did/do you guys wake the baby during the day to eat?

mmkaye

I keep going back and forth on whether I should wake him up if he goes longer than threeish hours during the day to eat.  I have been waking him between 3.5-4 hours because I am afraid that if I don't he will wake up more at night.

  Right now he is only waking up once in the middle of the night to eat and then once super early around 4:30-5:30.  He is really hard to get to sleep unless he is the swing and can be super hard to get to sleep during the night and I wonder if waking him to eat is making it worse.  What are your opinions?

war_eagle

Yes, every 3 hours if he doesn't wake up on his own (at least for the first several weeks).  I do the whole Babywise eat, play, sleep routine every three hours during the day (really more like 2.5 hours for feeding to get them all in during the day).

I credit this to mine STTN early on.  They get the ounces they need during the day so they can sleep all night. 

ludicrous

Yes, we did. But it was part of us keeping a schedule.

danlexi04

While the boys were in the NICU they were on a strict 3 hour schedule. We kept that schedule until they were a specific weight but I can't remember what the exact weight was. So every 3 hours we would wake them up. After we no longer had to do that, they woke up at the same time on their own. But if he's gaining weight I wouldn't keep waking him up.

ludicrous

I am going to modify my answer to what War said.

mmkaye

His weight gain is good.  He is gaining on average 6 oz per week thus far.  I just wonder because if I let him sleep as much as he wants he would probably only get 6ish feedings a day. 

Scout05

Cameron gained weight super fast (she was over her birth weight in one week) so I never did. Honestly, she never went more than an hour without wanting something (which would be WHY she gained weight, obviously) and even now is quick to let me know she wants food.

If his weight gain is good, I wouldn't wake him, personally.

armandos_girl

If he is awake, he wants to eat every 2.5-3 hours.  If he is asleep, I will let him sleep until 4 hours after he has eaten.  I don't follow a Babywise schedule, but I do want him to get the majority of his ounces in during the day so we can keep him to just one waking at night, especially now that I'm back to work.

TheOriginalSP

I never woke either of the girls to eat.  If they slept, they slept.  I figured they would wake up when they were hungry. 

jCamsquared

I've never woken to eat, and he first sttn on his one month birthday. Started doing it regularly at 6 weeks and was officially sttn by 2 mos.

*woken to feed, not eat. LOL.

magdalina.h

I had to wake to feed for the first month because of his jaundice. I still try not to let him go longer than 3 hours during the day due to his slow weight gain

pinkflipflops44

I did every 2-3 hours for the first week but she was a lazy eater and I was worried about her gaining/eating. Then she gained her birth weight and then some.  Now I let her do her own thing but if she goes to about 4 hours of sleep during the day I do things to start waking her up but I don't actually wake her.. just make it more conducive to her to wake.  At night she typically goes 4 hours and then 2 or 3 and then another 2 or3 and is up for awhile.. Last night she slept for 5 and then 3 woot woot.