How old was LO when you stopped having to wake to feed?

Vegasbb

So we EBF and he's a newborn, so we're supposed to wake him to feed at night every 3-5 hours. He's only 10 days old, but so far he has yet to wake himself to eat. I'm wondering when he will start understanding hunger feelings and wake himself up vs me just randomly picking his feeding times. 

AngieB90

DS1 had to be woken up every few hours to eat, I did that until he was about 2 1/2months old. Only because he wasnt gaining weight like he should have been. But DS2 would wake up about every 2hrs. Now I just let him sleep until he is hungry, he is almost 2month.

 

mb314

I would talk to your pediatrician.  If he's gaining weight, I don't know if it's necessary to wake him for feedings.

kpearse99

mb314:

I would talk to your pediatrician.  If he's gaining weight, I don't know if it's necessary to wake him for feedings.

This!  If he's gaining weight, there is NO need to wake him!  Let him sleep for as long as he wants, (esp. at night time) he will wake up when he is hungry!!

DavidStamps

We only woke our LO up to feed for the first two weeks, once he was back to birth weight our ped said we didn't need to wake him anymore and to just follow his cues. He's now several pounds past his birth weight and he wakes us when he is ready to eat, it's usually every 2-3 hours.

Jams1002

MW gave us clear to not have to wake DS at 2 weeks, as he had gained a lb by then. Once it is confirmed that LO is gaining weight, there is no need to wake for feedings at all.

g8trkim

Our pediatrician told us that once he got to his birth weight we didn't have to wake him to eat. He was back to his birth weight at his 2 day old appointment so we never needed to wake him. This is the norm from what other ladies have said on TB.

poison489

I haven't had to wake my LO.  She is 2 weeks old.  She only lost a 3 ounces after birth though, so the doc said it wasn't necessary after she reached her birth weight.  I think it also helped that I had a milk supply before she was even born due to nursing my son still.  She was getting plenty of milk and didn't have to wake as often to get it.

CLLDLL

klasala318:

mb314:

I would talk to your pediatrician.  If he's gaining weight, I don't know if it's necessary to wake him for feedings.

This!  If he's gaining weight, there is NO need to wake him!  Let him sleep for as long as he wants, (esp. at night time) he will wake up when he is hungry!!

I second this.  We waited till the 2 week appointment when he was weighed, and we found out he was back to birth weight.  Pedi said to not let him go longer than 5 hours, but so far he's been consistently waking after 3-4 hours since 2 weeks old.

juliane2004

At 11 weeks old, we still wake to feed for some feedings. We want her to eat every 3-3.5 hrs in the day, so we wake her. If I let her go however long she wanted, I'm sure she'd be waking in the night. As of right now, she eats at 10:30 pm, then 8 am, so, I like that STTN.

numberonemama

I stopped at one week old when DD had gained almost to her birth weight...I figured she was doing good since that was the two week goal! She wake every 3-5.5 hours but our of wanted every 3-4 since she was little! 

bearkatjen

DavidStamps:

We only woke our LO up to feed for the first two weeks, once he was back to birth weight our ped said we didn't need to wake him anymore and to just follow his cues. He's now several pounds past his birth weight and he wakes us when he is ready to eat, it's usually every 2-3 hours.

This. Once baby is back to birth weight, you can stop waking him/her for feedings. 

hilsy85

We just had our first drs appt, and LO is only 2oz under his birth weight (he;s 4 days old). We were told we no longer need to wake him at night, and just make sure he's eating every 2-3 hours during the day.