WWYD - Nighttime feeding ?

Kmhsswim · May 2011

We introduced a bottle about a week ago so that my DH could do the 9-12 shift a couple of nights a week and I could head to bed after pumping. Usually, she will eat between 10 and 11 and he will put her to bed and she'll sleep until 3 or 4.

Last night, I fed her at 8:30, pumped at 9:30 and went to bed. DH swaddled her and she fell asleep in the Pnp in our living room. She ended up not waking back up, so he brought her in and put her to sleep in the bassinet and she slept until 2:30. My question is, do you wake her up at 11 or so and give her the bottle to get that one last feeding in so that she will sleep a bit later? Last night this worked because she still slept til 2:30, but other nights that he skips it, she is up at 12 or just after.

cynnnabun · May 2011

I'm sort of having this issue and I'm torn. DD does a 6 hour stretch either 9-3 or like 12-6. (This could vary an hour or so either way.) I prefer the 12-6, because I'm just not ready for bed at 9. So if she goes 9-3, and I go to sleep at 12, I'm up at 3 to feed her. Where if she eats first, I get to sleep til 6.

I, unfortunately, have no advice. Part of me really wants to wake her around 11:30 and feed her every day so she'll do her long stretch later, but I'm afraid it will backfire. Last night, I didn't wake her, but, I didn't exactly try to keep her sleeping, either. So when she stirred, I jumped and changed her and fed her at 11:30. And it pretty much backfired. She was up to eat at like 4 and miserable. And she's never miserable, she sleeps great.

I think I might have to adjust my time clock and try going to sleep around 10 or man up and sleep less.

katlizabeth · May 2011

I wouldn't wake her, because, IMO, that's teaching her that she should wake up at that time and be hungry. My dd is almost 7 weeks and started sleeping from about 9-2 many nights. She has occasionally done 9-3:30 or 4 too. I think (I hope!) it's her stretching out when she needs to eat. Maybe your LO will do the same?

GHBEA · May 2011

I feed on demand and I have never wake her to nurse. Her longest sleeping time was 8 hours.

LadyXaverian · May 2011

I sometimes deal with the same issue, and I don't wake her.

jarjules8208 · May 2011

I've thought the same thing, but I've never gotten DS up to nurse him. We've gone 8 hours (one time), so I'm hoping we can start to make these longer stretches of sleep a habit and not teach DS to wake up every few hours.

RunningGal900 · May 2011

I never wake him. Last night he ate at 8 then woke to eat around 10. By some strange miracle he slept until 5 am. He's eating right now, so we can only hope we get the same luck tonight!

handsonthewheel · May 2011

'Dream feeds' are quite popular and many books will tell you to try to feed the baby without waking them but I find it is impossible to execute. I did try waking my LO to feed her around midnight once when she fell asleep earlier than normal, thinking she could then go until 5 or 6 but it backfired and she ended up back awake at 3am. I swore I would never wake her again and would let her work her sleep patterns out on her own and it seems to have worked. She now usually goes from 10pm to 5am and then 5:30am to 8:30am. On the nights she falls asleep earlier, I just let her take the lead and wake up when she's hungry...sometimes this means I am up at 3 or 4, but often, she will just throw an extra hour or two in and sleep until 5 anyways!

ilovejud · May 2011

Unless your baby is not gaining enough weight and needs to medically be woken up to eat.... DO NOT wake a sleeping baby! I learned this the hard way with DD... it only teaches them to wake up to eat.... let the baby sleep!

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