Do you ever wake a sleeping baby?

CJJ1016 · May 2012

I've been told not to wake a baby when they're sleeping, and I pretty much never do. But on the rare occasion (like tonight) when she falls asleep around 7:00 I'm afraid she's not going to sleep well thru the night 'cause she normally goes down around 9:30 and sleeps til about 4 or 5. Should I just let her keep sleeping and see what happens?

kacelle · May 2012

DD has gone to bed at 7 since she was 2 weeks old. She sleeps 7 to 6:30, although there were a few nights early on where it meant she woke at 4:30 in the morning.

Rochell · May 2012

If it were me, I'd let LO sleep - they are going through so many changes and I cannot tell you how many times me LO has changed his bedtime (on his own) from one day to the next. Around this time they are going through a growth spurt (3mo) so I'd just let baby sleep - and if s/he wakes up earlier than usual, then maybe you can adjust something the next day (i.e. try to keep LO up a bit later)

pixieprincss · May 2012

In this case, I would let baby sleep. I've found that DS's nature is smarter than my plans and maybe he crashed early because he's fighting off an illness, is teething, etc. In terms of the adage "never wake a sleeping baby," I ignore that when I have things to do. For example, if DS is still napping and I have a meeting I need to get to (he's with me during work 2 days a week), then I put him in the car with no qualms even though that tends to wake him up.

pepomntpat · May 2012

I have tried it both ways. Almost always if I wake DD (which I did mostly for breast comfort) she will be more restless through the night. I'd let LO sleep.

kcisthebombdotcom · May 2012

I think when you wake a sleeping baby, it never ends well. Youll likely wake her, she'll get fussy, then she won't go to bed at the time you wanted and her schedule will be thrown off even worse.

as a PP mentioned, I would if it were absolutely necessary, like if you have to go to work or something. Otherwise let a sleeping baby sleep IMO

celiabwatson · May 2012

The only time I wake a sleeping baby is if we have something going on and have to leave the house. Otherwise I leave them alone. My daughter is an amazing sleeper and would sometimes fall asleep at 5 and STTN. The first few times I worried because my son was a terrible sleeper and I thought she'd be up for the day at 3 am, but she wasn't. I'm glad I let her sleep.