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when to "let" LO STTN/feed on demand...

amyinaustinamyinaustin
in Austin Babies

I seem to remember that w/ DD1 we could feed her on demand overnight once she hit her birth weight again.  Now DD2 is 1oz over her birth weight and the pedi said to not let her go more than 4 hours overnight w/o waking her to nurse (before that it was every 3 hours).

Just curious what other pedis might be saying for this.  I'm getting a lot of unsolicited advice from the ILs that I should "never wake a sleeping baby", etc - but I've always been one to follow the pedi's advice on this stuff.

I feel selfish even asking, but w/ me being so sick, a "full" night of sleep (even if it is only 5 or 6 hours in one stretch) would really do me a lot of good right now :)

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Re: when to "let" LO STTN/feed on demand...

  • Duckie07Duckie07
    DD#2 had a lot of issues with weight loss/gain and jaundice.  Initially we were told that she needed to eat every two hours.  Once she had gained weight and was back to where she started and her jaundice cleared up, the pedi gave us the OK to let her sleep.  Does your pedi have some concerns with letting your baby go as long as she wants overnight without a feeding?  Honestly, I would think four hours might be the longest she might go.  I know there was no way DD#2 was going longer than four hours at night once we stopped waking her. 
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  • ec3under4ec3under4
    Personally, I just let them sleep through the night as long as I was confident that they were getting enough food during the day and that I had an adequate supply. I am in the "when they are hungry, they will wake up" camp unless of course, you have a preemie or a baby with some other issues. 
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  • Mrs.PurdueMrs.Purdue

    our pedi told us the same thing.  not to go over 3 hours before she was 2 weeks, then she was back to her birth weight, but not to go over 4 or 5 hours, etc.  by 1 month, I decided that she was eating just fine and would tell me when she was hungry, so I let her sleep at that point. 

    Looking back, I can't say whether I'll do it the same again, but my DH decided that we should follow pedi's advice over all of our parents, especially since I wasn't working during that time (obviously). 

    FWIW, I always stretched it out as much as possible, so at her 2 week appointment, when he said "she really shouldn't go more than 4-5 hours without food", I took that to mean, "set your alarm for 5 hours and wake her up then".  

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  • el_twirpoel_twirpo member
    we were told every 3 hours, but honestly, i never looked at a clock or set an alarm. my kid woke ME up every 3 hours (or less) to eat. every once in a while, he'd stretch a night time feeding out by 4 hours. he didn't start sleeping longer stretches until 5 weeks or so.
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  • L L CGL L CG

    When she regained her birth weight I stopped waking her.  She did a very good job of waking me when she was hungry, so I didn't worry about it.  I think if there is a next time I will do the same- once she regains birth weight just let her take the lead as long as she is gaining at a good pace.

    Some babies just don't wake although they should eat more, and if that's the case then certainly wake baby. 

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  • rssnlvrrssnlvr

    I think it depends on the baby. Once DD regained her birth weight, our pedi said we could stop waking her. I was like, "at ALL???" and she was like, "well, I mean, wake her if she goes more than 5-6 hours," which she DID and we had to wake her at the 6-hr mark until 2 months, when we stopped waking her and she started sleeping even longer.

    With DS, we let him sleep and he woke us after about 5 hours. (and he often still wakes us after about 5 hours. HA!)

    So, if you think your 2-wk-old would really sleep more than 5-6 hours, I'd set my alarm for that time. If not, I'd let her go as long as she will on her own.

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  • JJ&BB1146JJ&BB1146
    imageL L CG:

    When she regained her birth weight I stopped waking her.  She did a very good job of waking me when she was hungry, so I didn't worry about it.  I think if there is a next time I will do the same- once she regains birth weight just let her take the lead as long as she is gaining at a good pace.

    Some babies just don't wake although they should eat more, and if that's the case then certainly wake baby. 

    This fits me exactly. And she regained her birth weight by 10 days old. She always woke when she was hungry. In fact, she nursed 2-3x a night until 9 months when we sleep trained due to my sheer exhaustion. My pedi never even gave me an advice on this-I just knew I had read that after they gained their birth weight back they could sleep, so that's what I did. 

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