Wake to feed? I really need some perspective!

dojo1

Hank is in the 15th percntile for his weight.  Our pedi Has not recommended that I do anything in particular with his feedings.

 

My perpetual dilemma is whether to wake him to eat or not.   He usually eats at 5pm and then is asleep by 6:30..  Lately he has been sleeping through to at least 11, if not later.  I feel that if he was a bigger baby I would just let him sleep, but I don't want to do anything to slow his weight gain.  On the other hand, I don't want to screw up his sleep cycles either.

Would you wake him to eat or let him sleep? 

ETA, he is ebf. 

Mrs.Teddy

Let him sleep.

There is NOTHING wrong with the 15th percentile. Its not a grade. Out of a 100 babies 15 would be smaller then him. Thats OK. We don't want them all to be at the 100th! If he's reachign his milestones, peeing, pooping and sleeping well let that baby sleep hoenstly. As long as he's continuing on the curve and not dropping of it.

(So if he continues around the 15th or goes up slightly, it would be concerning only if he kept droping lower, one drop isn't even concerning). They need sleep to grow too!

dojo1

Thank you, I don't know why, but when I'm too close to a situation, I can't always see the forest for the trees!

HannahO28

I've never woken Rhett up to eat, even though he was below the 2nd percentile when we brought him home. He was just never interested in eating unless he was hungry and I didn't want to force him. 

He's grown seven pounds since we've brought him home and tripled his birth weight, so he's doing great with being fed on demand. I say always go with your gut--if you feel like he's not eating enough because he just wants to sleep, wake him. If you feel like he'll eat more on his own schedule, then let him sleep

Mrs.Teddy

DO-JO:

Thank you, I don't know why, but when I'm too close to a situation, I can't always see the forest for the trees!

Its different when its your own baby!

I'm a nurse and an LC and I call my nurse/LC friend for advice (that I could easily give to anyone else!) but when its your baby your the mama. Follow your gut and get reassurance when needed!

starbound6

Agree with PP.  Both my kids were 10th percentile when born, and I never woke them to feed, at night.  Now, during the day I did in the beginning, every 3 hours because they would sleep through feeds and I wanted them to tank up during the day rather than wake up 10x at night.  But only when they were little.  Now, I'm sure you're fine:))  It's our nature to 2nd guess things, don't feel bad! 

Luvmy2sons

Thank you for asking this. At DD's 2 m/o appt, she dropped from 75th (maybe 65th) to 55th percentile for weight. She weighed 8#6 at birth, 10#7 at 1 month, and 11#11 at 2 months. I just felt like she should have been over 12lbs. The doctor wasn't concerned at all, but I was.

mrs+harlow

Let him sleep. I don't remember what L's percentile for weight was ( I'm an awful mom), but it was towards the lower side of the spectrum. The pedi at that appt. even told me to let him sleep at night and wake to feed during the day only. So get some sleep Mommie!

huahualove

I would say that as long as he is healthy I would let him sleep. That may just be his perfect weight for right now.

TeamHayes

i wake ds but only bc we need to pick up ds at the train at 1 am. he is 20???prcntile so he can use the extra feeding. i feel bad but he goes right back down.

starshollow

Luvmy2sons:

Thank you for asking this. At DD's 2 m/o appt, she dropped from 75th (maybe 65th) to 55th percentile for weight. She weighed 8#6 at birth, 10#7 at 1 month, and 11#11 at 2 months. I just felt like she should have been over 12lbs. The doctor wasn't concerned at all, but I was.

Ds has almost exactly the same stats. I was worried because I really expected him to be over 12 pounds. Pedi was not concerned. He told me to keep BFing on demand during the day andlet him sleep at night.

AshleyC0117

My baby is 3rd percentile for both weight and height and I'm not concerned. Some people are smaller than others and me and my husband are both short and petite people. I wake her every 2 hours to feed during the day which is what my pedi recommends for all babies regardless of size (and I know not everyone would agree with that but it's been working for us). And then she sleeps 9pm until 5am....orrrr 4:15am like right now . I think you're doing fine!!

Unknown

This content has been removed.