Waking a Sleeping Baby to Eat

When my baby was that young, yes, I did wake him up b'c my Dr told me too. And it was exhausting deluxe! I think at about 5-6 wks he slept for 5 hrs at one stretch at night.

I woke mine up mine up for a little bit and then got really stressed out. I ended up straying from my doctor's advice. I read up on what was the longest stretch a newborn should sleep without feeding and there is so much conflicting information out there. So, I decided that my kiddo will tell me when he's hungry. He ended up gaining a pound in two weeks. I think it depends on the baby and their appetite. Mine didn't develop an appetite until 3 weeks old.

My philospohy is if you are lucky enough to have a baby who will sleep longer than 3 hours- LET THEM! I would absolutley LOVE to be in your position. Ignore your pedi and get your rest!

I did wake my daughter up to eat according to doctor's instructions. My daughter is a very good sleeper since very young. And she starts sleeping 6 hours at night at 6 weeks. I had to call the ped. to find out what's the longest stretch she should be sleeping at night without eating. And for the longest time, she sleeps longer that what the doctor says. Like the doctor will say no more than 6 hours, and she will actually sleep 8 hours. So we did wake her up at approximate time the doctor suggested, pushing it about 1 hour.

They told me the same thing when I had my son and we did it for about 2 weeks but shortly after we ditched that theory. He grew normally and did fine and he was 5 lb 13 oz (so much smaller than your baby). I would see what they say tomorrow and ask again about it but I don't see any reason to wake a sleeping baby :P

My three month old had trouble gaining weight and still contiues to struggle with weight gain. My Pedicatrician had me waking her every four hours to feed her until she was two months!! This was extremely tiring! Personally I think that as long as your baby is gaining weight steadily then letting her sleep is just fine. I'm a firm believer in Mother Knows Best! Just go with your motherly instinct.

I never woke up my son's or any babies that I have taken care of to feed Not even the preemie that I am a Night Nanny for which is 3 months and barely 8 pounds.
Her pedi and mine always have told us never wake up a sleeping baby. I have tried in the past but they tend to fall right back to sleep and not interested in eating. If and when they are hungry they will wake up on their own. I think if you wake them up that they are going to be more tired then hungry and will become upset cause you have disturbed their sleep.
I hope this helps.
M.

I was told not to wake my baby for feedings if she was sleeping!! Everyone will tell you something different...lol

Unless she had gone an excessive amount of time I never bothered my little girl.....they say to never wake a sleeping baby (old wives tale I suppose!)....ask your dr why? Babies will usually tell you if they are in need of something!!

Hi K C,
Congrats on your new wonderful bundle of joy! :)
Well I felt an urge to reply since my reply is a bit different than most on here.
Well here goes, just my two cents worth ;)
I had both of my boys on a schedule feeding from the moment we began and yes that meant waking every two hours in the beginning for feedings and then slowly stretching them out to three and then four and so on.
It was my hope that both would learn early on to depend on my feedings and not get to the point where they were so hungry that they were screaming for food. It also made since to me that they are used to of receiving a consent supply of food in the womb which in turn keeps their blood sugar level so why not continue after they are born? I don't want you to think that my theory was all for them though. lol
I wanted to get them to sleep through the night as quick as possiable. I would do alot of feedings a day with slowing dropping the the last evening feedings and then the middle of the night feedings. It worked. Both were sleeping through the night by 7 weeks of age. Yeah!! It also makes a baby much more content when they can trust that they will be fed in a timely manner. When you feed by demand, thats just what you'll be doing! They demand it and then you do it. It just didn't sound like a good deal to me :)
Anyway I got this idea from reading a book called Babywise. I didn't use all that was recommended in it but I got the basic idea and went with it. Some people think its not possiable to get babies to sleep through the night so early. But if you are willing to put in the extra effort now you will reap a good reward for later.
Best Regards,
C.

My son did this. He was 6lbs 10ozs when he was born and dropped to 5lbs 12 ozs. I did wake him up every 3 hours from 7am until 7am. Then, I woke him up before I went to bed around 10 or 11. But then I would only get up to feed him when he woke up in the middle of the night. That seemed to work for us.

My problem was that even though I would try to feed him he just wouldn't eat! He wouldn't take that much...at any feeding. We had to force feed him. Often taking all his clothes off, bouncing him to wake him up more, turning on alot of lights, and even putting a frozen bag of peas on his head (just for a few seconds). He was just a sleepy baby.

Good luck to you. I know that feeding every 3 hours during the day is setting up for a good schedule. Let the baby sleep at night though...that can be nice. :)

Good luck and congratulations on your new baby!

I have 3 kids and I'll tell you from experience, that if you wake them up at night to feed, it'll become a habit with them. During the day, yes, I think you should wake them up and feed them...keep them up a little, not a problem. At night, like you said, if she is hungry, she'll wake up, otherwise, why teach her to wake in the middle of the night? She maybe hungrier and cranky in the morning, but just be ready to feed her right away :o) But go with your instinct...you are her Mother, you'll know what's best for her!!

Good luck!!