With LO1 we woke her every 2-3 hours to feed her since thats what the doctor told us to do. I'm wondering if this is actually necessary. My neighbor told me she never woke her babies to feed them and they would just eat as much as they needed when they woke on their own.
I'm due withe LO2 any day now, and I would love not to wake her if I don't have to. Did you wake your newborns to feed them?
pear / 1955 posts
Just until they reached their birth weight again - after that second week or so, I didn't wake them at all.
pomelo / 5228 posts
Yes, BUT my newborn wasn't gaining well and we needed to make sure he ate enough. I'd say if baby is gaining well (.5-1lb/week) and has gotten back to birth weight, let him/her sleep!
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
I did for two reasons. First, as a SIDS precaution since deep sleep is a factor. Second, when I was BFing I needed LO's help with engorgement. For the first 6-8 weeks the longest stretches we would allow were 4-5 hours. ETA: pediatrician was concerned about weight gain too.
honeydew / 7968 posts
Only with my twins. When one woke up, I woke the other to keep them on the same schedule.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I did, every 2 hours with DD1... My milk wasn't in at the hospital, so she dropped some weight so I was told to feed her every 2 hours till she gained it back. After she exceeded her birth weight I let her sleep.
clementine / 828 posts
My first I did just for the first few days, until the first pediatrician's appointment after being discharged, because the pediatrician said not to, because he was gaining well (but not at birth weight yet, he was still at his discharge weight). He did 4-6 hour stretches right away, and never had problems with weight gain.
My second I kept it up for two weeks, because he was slightly jaundiced. He continued to wake every three hours (pretty much around the clock). I also woke him for about a week when he had RSV at 4 weeks.
kiwi / 556 posts
I did it until the doctor said it was fine to stop (which was only one week). Part of it was just because my engorgement was so bad I was needing nursing every couple of hours.
pomegranate / 3983 posts
In the beginning yes during the day. This was mostly to get days and night straight.
pomelo / 5326 posts
@Pumpkin Pie: no I never woke DD and she was a great sleeper. She regained her birth weight within a short time. I have a 5 week old and I don't need to wake him because he's up every 2-3 hours anyways!
pomelo / 5573 posts
Nope. B woke up every 2-3 hours by himself for the first 5 months. W woke up twice a night himself, and since he was gaining weight and nursing well during the day the midwives said that was fine.
coconut / 8472 posts
With DS I didn't need to, he was up anyway. With DD I did not. She was even a little slow to get back to her birth weight but I did not. I thought it was important to encourage long stretches of sleep at night. I would've only woken her up if she was having health problems.
nectarine / 2173 posts
Yes until her jaundice resolved and was back up to birthweight. It's individualized for each baby - recommebd listening to your ped for your child's situation.
eggplant / 11861 posts
Yes, until they reached birth weight and looked good at 1 month check up
persimmon / 1367 posts
Yes, doctor's orders due to a birth weight on the low side. Pretty sure that ended somewhere between weeks two and three.
nectarine / 2018 posts
Yes - DD was born a month early and was jaundiced. Then it was to help keep her figure out day vs. night and to help with my crazy engorgement.
apricot / 271 posts
Yup, every 3 hours during day and every 4 hours at night. He wasn't gaining enough and it took almost 4 weeks to get back to birth weight. Once he was back at birth weight and gaining well, we stopped waking him up at night.
persimmon / 1431 posts
For those that did not wake to feed, how did you handle the engorgement?
pear / 1718 posts
@Pumpkin Pie: no, I did not and DD was a slow gainer. The Dr. did not advise me to wake her up. I pumped if I had engorement issues (I also ended up with oversupply issues). I would do it all the same again.
persimmon / 1270 posts
LO1 we did every 2 hours for the first week because he was jaundice. LO2 not really, he woke pretty often on his own, but we let him sleep 3-4 hours when he wanted to.
Both babies were at their birthweight again almost right away and my milk came in easily.
pomegranate / 3658 posts
@Pumpkin Pie: Reusable nursing pads. Life was very very damp for a while.
clementine / 778 posts
Nope. DS has always been a good sleeper, so I never woke him. At the beginning, he woke up once. By the time he was 4 months, he slept though the night.
pomegranate / 3438 posts
We had to wake every 90 minutes because he lost so much weight in the hospital. We did this for about two weeks and then stretched it to two hours.
It's hard to say whether or not you will need to, every baby is different. I would get advice from your pediatrician once LO is here.
persimmon / 1431 posts
@SweetCaroline: if you didn't wake her, did she eat more when she woke up? Wondering how they make up the calorie intake if you don't wake them.
clementine / 856 posts
I never woke my LO up but he naturally woke up every 3 hrs or so anyway. On the rare occasion he slept longer, I didn't wake him up. I didn't have a great supply anyway so I never got uncomfortable.
persimmon / 1364 posts
No never. But DD was a good sleeper and a good eater. We didn't have problems with her gaining weight.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I did in the hospital. She was back at her birth weight on day 3 so her pediatrician said we didn't need to wake her. She woke plenty on her own.
eggplant / 11716 posts
We did for LO1, but didn't for LO2. Having said that, LO2 woke up pretty frequently on her own until around 6 weeks when she started having slightly longer stretches. The first 6 weeks, I think she would wake about every 4 hours on her own. So I remember feeding her around 11 pm, then again around 3 am, then again around 7 am.
That's pretty good though. I was able to sleep 11:15-7 am with just 1 3 am feed.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
I did for both. With my oldest, he was a little jaundiced, so I had to wake him every 2-3 hours to feed him. Once he reached his birth weight, I stopped waking him overnight, but I would wake him during the day if it got to be around ~4 hours since his last feeding. I think it helped to prevent him from confusing days/nights. And I did the same thing with my youngest.
squash / 13199 posts
@Pumpkin Pie: the rule I follow is wake them up to eat until the get back to their birth weight.
pomegranate / 3601 posts
I didn't wake them and both gained fine. My boobs leaked a bit in the beginning but then adjusted.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
With both kids I woke every 4 hours at night mainly to help establish my supply.
persimmon / 1431 posts
Thanks for the tips. If I'm remembering correctly, we woke up LO1 for a long time. I think like 4 months during the day, and during the night we tried to let her sleep. I was wondering whether my constantly waking her up to get her on a schedule totally messed with her sleep because we had long episodes of her waking up every hour or so when she was a newborn.
honeydew / 7622 posts
Yes but DD was admitted to PICU for dehydration at 5 days. So we woke to feed for the first 6-8 weeks. Whatever the LC recommended. If I did not have a babe with similar issues I would let them sleep
nectarine / 2173 posts
@Pumpkin Pie: wow, waking for months is a long time. We only woke to feed for a max of two weeks and only at night. She was a great sleeper even despite that, fully sleeping through the night by 8 weeks.
coconut / 8854 posts
Yes, I think I woke DD up for the 1st week. But then after that I let her sleep!!
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