When do you stop waking to eat?

Juliebird8307 · September 2013

My LO reached her birth weight so we don't have to wake her at night to eat. But her dr said to wake her every 3 hours during the day to eat. Do you ever stop that and let them wake to eat?

jesstineharangozo · September 2013

I usually let DS tell me when he wants to eat unless my breasts start to feel really full before that. That doesn't happen often though, he usually lets me know every couple of hours. He's 10 weeks

mommabmb · September 2013

Per the pediatrician, once he is at birthweight he can sleep up to 6 hours uninterrupted.

NKF312 · September 2013

I continue to wake during day, to differentiate day and night

mamato3girls · September 2013

I only wake if they are having issues maintaining and gaining weight or if I am extremely uncomfortable. That point has been different for all my kids but generally by 3 weeks I let them eat when they want.

chiboo9 · September 2013

NKF312 said:
I continue to wake during day, to differentiate day and night

This. I wake during the day if it's been 3 hours since LO ate last.

JilllyBean · September 2013

I wake to differentiate day and night too, most tones I don't have to wake him. My pedi said to continue this as they need to eat a certain amount and ad they sleep more at night they need to make sure they eat during the day

LittleNugget93 · September 2013

I'm a little jealous that you had to wake her at night. My LO wakes me. It used to be every hour. Now, at 3 weeks, it is finally 2 hours.

malisaann · September 2013

My lo eats every 2-3 hours during he day so I don't worry about waking her. She lets me know when she's hungry.

At night, I wake her up every 3 hours but am hoping we get the ok to discontinue that after our appt tomorrow. She'll be 2 weeks.

Juliebird8307 · September 2013

Thanks everyone. It seems like there's no real rule on this. My LO reached her birth weight by her 5 day appt, and the dr said to wake every 3 hours during the day, but let her sleep at night. She rarely wakes in the day for her feedings. We don't go back to the dr until her 1 month appt so I can't ask until then. I did weigh her (just to make sure she was eating enough since I EBF) and she's up a lb already.

JilllyBean · September 2013

Juliebird8307 said:
Thanks everyone. It seems like there's no real rule on this. My LO reached her birth weight by her 5 day appt, and the dr said to wake every 3 hours during the day, but let her sleep at night. She rarely wakes in the day for her feedings. We don't go back to the dr until her 1 month appt so I can't ask until then. I did weigh her (just to make sure she was eating enough since I EBF) and she's up a lb already.

If that's what your doctor said, I'd listen to them

Juliebird8307 · September 2013

JilllyBean said:

Juliebird8307 said:
Thanks everyone. It seems like there's no real rule on this. My LO reached her birth weight by her 5 day appt, and the dr said to wake every 3 hours during the day, but let her sleep at night. She rarely wakes in the day for her feedings. We don't go back to the dr until her 1 month appt so I can't ask until then. I did weigh her (just to make sure she was eating enough since I EBF) and she's up a lb already.
If that's what your doctor said, I'd listen to them

I am, I was just curious for the future. Basically I was just wondering if she would say to change things at her next appt.

PrimRoseMama · September 2013

JilllyBean said:

Juliebird8307 said:
Thanks everyone. It seems like there's no real rule on this. My LO reached her birth weight by her 5 day appt, and the dr said to wake every 3 hours during the day, but let her sleep at night. She rarely wakes in the day for her feedings. We don't go back to the dr until her 1 month appt so I can't ask until then. I did weigh her (just to make sure she was eating enough since I EBF) and she's up a lb already.
If that's what your doctor said, I'd listen to them

Yup.

During the day I offer the breast every 3-4 hours.

sfeebs13 · October 2013

Juliebird8307 said:

Thanks everyone. It seems like there's no real rule on this. My LO reached her birth weight by her 5 day appt, and the dr said to wake every 3 hours during the day, but let her sleep at night. She rarely wakes in the day for her feedings. We don't go back to the dr until her 1 month appt so I can't ask until then. I did weigh her (just to make sure she was eating enough since I EBF) and she's up a lb already.

DD was like this too. But the older she got she stayed awake for longer periods and didn't sleep for such long stretches to where I would need to wake her.
I always wake her at least every 3-4hrs during the day so she knows day and night.

She is now 9w.

ETA you can always call them if you have questions.

bluegirl0429 · October 2013

JilllyBean said:

Thanks everyone. It seems like there's no real rule on this. My LO reached her birth weight by her 5 day appt, and the dr said to wake every 3 hours during the day, but let her sleep at night. She rarely wakes in the day for her feedings. We don't go back to the dr until her 1 month appt so I can't ask until then. I did weigh her (just to make sure she was eating enough since I EBF) and she's up a lb already.
If that's what your doctor said, I'd listen to them

I am glad you asked this because I was confused about this too. I always heard "Never wake a sleeping baby." For the first two weeks of LO's life, we woke him up every two to three hours per doctors orders. Once we received the okay from the Pedi to let him sleep through the night (at two weeks), we happily obliged. However, our Pediatrician said to continue waking him every three hours during the day (and the limit right now for sleeping is 6 hours).

I agree with the pp's. This will help differentiate between day and night among other things. It sounds like we are in a similar situation though. I would do what the doctor says.

jmo866 · October 2013

You don't have to "wake a sleeping baby" but chances are people who say this, whether don't mind being on demand 24-7, or, they have LOs who sleep well at night regardless. The truth is, babies need so many calories a day, like us. If they don't get enough food during the day, they will wake more. Now at this young age their tiny tummy's can't hold that much anyways, so that's why they will probably wake every 2-4 hours regardless, but as they get older, feeding them every 2-3 hours during the day should slowly help reduce the need to eat as much at night.

magdalina.h · October 2013

Now that she's gaining, we feed on demand.

When do you stop waking to eat?

Re: When do you stop waking to eat?

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