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hmm. our doctor told us that as soon as they reach their birth weight, you can let them sleep however long they want. i think it might be assuming they are gaining weight properly. i believe that is the consensus here, based on what i've read in the past.

My pediatrician said we can stop waking my LO for feeding at her two week appt since she gained back her birth weight (she was only about 5.5 lbs at birth)

My OB at my certified baby friendly hospital said her daughter slept through the night at six weeks. I've never heard a medical professional say it's cruel.

I'm probably not the best person to ask...but LO started sleeping 8hrs at 5 weeks and 12hrs (proper STTN) at 8 weeks. As far as I'm aware, if the baby does it on their own (without being sleep trained not to wake up or cry for food) it's fine. I know lots of babies, some EBF, but mostly FF, who STTN from around 6-8 weeks and did just fine. Not sure whether you are EBF but I've heard a lot about most people needing to feed somewhere between 12am-6am to maintain supply.

DS started STTN at 12 weeks. Our pedi wasn't concerned, he had gone past birth wt weeks before and was growing on his scale as expected and having dipes/eating enough throughout the day.

My LOs were gaining steadily when they started STTN.

I stopped worrying about waking c as soon as she regained her birth weight. She didn't actually STTN for many many more months but I definitely wouldn't have woken her unless she was havin problem with weight gain and the ped told me to.

N has been STTN since 5 weeks. She eats every 1-2 hours all day though. Her ped said she was gaining so that was fine. I don't see how it would be cruel if the baby is content.

IDK, unless a baby is failure to thrive, I can't imagine waking them to eat. Generally hunger will wake a baby up. And formula is processed slower than BM, so he just may not be hungry. Sleep is really important to a baby's development.

I swear my son had a mechanism installed in him that woke him every 4 hours to eat, it was like clockwork. He was never a big gainer, so I kept it up as long as he was waking.

In your case, I'd probably try a dream feed, just to see what happens.

Our ped told us at their one month well check that usually she lets babies sleep as long as they will once they reach birth weight. However our babies were small (still 0 percentile) and took a while to get back to birth weight, so she wanted us to keep waking every 4 hrs at night (every 3 during day, although they never reached 3 hrs!). At two month well check she said let them go as long as they will at night (was usually 5 hrs at that point). Blake was still 0 percentile and Alice was only fifth percentile, but they were growing well on their own curves so we were given the ok. FWIW after our medical drama recently, Alice started sleeping through the night. I think she needed her rest because she was being tortured by medical staff during the day!

Cruel? Was she trying to scare you?

I agree with the other PP's that as long as they've reached their birth weight and are doing ok with weight, it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm sorry the nurse scared you. I don't think that's fair and if it IS a concern for your babe, I think there were plenty of other ways to bring it up with you. What a B!

The fact the nurse used the term "cruel" is a red flag that her comment was motivated by some personal opinion and not medical facts. If your doctor is ok with his weight gain and feeding, then just count your blessings on that awesome sleep!
--Signed the mom of an 11 week old who didn't go more than 4 hours last night.

At 5 weeks DD was STTN 8 hours, and at 8 weeks she was sleeping 10 hours at night.

Her weight gain was fine and I certainly didn't think it was cruel...we were all so much happier with sleep!!

If his weight gain has been ok overall, it's fine to let him sleep. FWIW my son gained weight very slowly at first and was in the lower percentiles for months. He slept through the night anyway starting at two months. He totally caught up with the eating during the day And once we started solids, he started gaining weight very nicely... although he'd lose a lot of weight the first few times he caught colds.

If lo was losing weight I'd def wake them up. If there was concern about weight gain I'd probably wake them up.

I was told that once they passed their birth weight and had a good bill of health ( no jaundice for example ) that you didn't need to wake them because they would wake up of they were hungry and needed to eat. My DD slept through starting at 2 months and I didn't worry about waking her.

We were given the okay to let her sleep at 5 weeks (about when she reached her birth weight) before that we had to wake her every 3-4 hours to feed. Next one, I will most likely let sleep babies know when they are hungry and it seems silly to wake them up.