mil vent

ak3627

my mother in law is watching my baby tomorrow for the first time, I wake him every three hours to eat she will let him sleep past 3 hours, I have asked her to wake him to help him sleep better at night time, I do not think she will wake him... am I right to get upset or should I let it go?

Gpwmom

There is no reason to be upset yet, she hasn't even watched him yet. Cross that bridge when you get to it.
Explain to her how you want the day handled and if she doesn't follow those guidelines then you can be upset if you feel it necessary. One day probably won't be a huge deal, but it is annoying when caregivers don't follow instructions.

rjeller32

IMO waking them doesn't help with STTN. It can sometiomes blow up in your face and cause an overtired LO, which is damn near impossible to put to sleep. After they show signs of weight gain, they don't need to be woken up to eat. I say let it go and let LO sleep. It's when their growth hormones are at the highest production, they really do need all that sleep!

smfdjo

You can get as upset as you want but that is only going to make tomorrow worse for you and I am sure it is going to be hard enough.

I am sure your MIL will make sure he is fed, happy and safe and that is all you can ask for.  Hopefully she will honor your wishes but the baby isn't being harmed by not eating exactly every 3 hours.

 Good Luck tomorrow.

JSS1002

ak3627:

my mother in law is watching my baby tomorrow for the first time, I wake him every three hours to eat she will let him sleep past 3 hours, I have asked her to wake him to help him sleep better at night time, I do not think she will wake him... am I right to get upset or should I let it go?

Well, how old is your LO and is he gaining weight?  If he has gotten abck to birth weight and is showing healthy weight gain, then there's no reason to wake him every 3 hours.  every medical profesional I've spoken to says that keeping them awake during the day does not help them sleep at night. 

Whether to be mad or not is up to you.  can't help ya there!

=Lee=B

Are you waking him to feed and he goes back to sleep or are you waking him, feeding and keeping him awake?

As the others have said I don't believe waking a baby will help with sleep later in night.

That said, my 10 week old goes to bed around 6:30pm and I go in and feed her at 8:30 and 10:30pm. But this is because she east every 2 hours during the day and she sleeps through a diaper change, feeding and burping in the late evening (I have no idea how).  She is starting to stir in her sleep at these times so I feed her before she's up and actively crying for food to help her sleep longer.  If she does wake up she just goes right back to sleep with a full belly. She sleeps 6:30pm-6:30am with 4-5 feedings but doesn't get up to play.  If your baby is doing the same during the day then I suppose it's no big deal to wake and feed.  But babies need sleep and interrupting it to keep them awake never really pays off in the long run in my opinion.

If you're truly not happy with how your MIL cares for your baby you'll need to find a new sitter.

mben1119

Why are you waking him to eat? If he's back up to his birth weight, let the kid sleep.

JenniD2

I would let it go. Unless LO is not back to his/her birth weight, you should let LO sleep. Babies need their rest, and they will wake up when they are hungry.