Just trying to pace myself for how much longer I'll be doing marathon feedings with all sorts of antics to wake up baby. thank you.
I think when you have great milk supply and let down there's not a lot of need to wake baby. For us who struggle with building our milk supply and don't have "gushers" for boobies, the babies simply needs to be kept awake for feeding. I can tell you when I give into the sleeping baby and just lay her down, shes begging for more food in 5-10 min. So it does me no good to just let her nod off. I'm a big believer in working towards full feedings, thats how you get your baby on a schedule. The thing that gets me most is that she is so inefficient I can spend two hours on a feeding. I have a two year old to take care of so I just need to mentally prepare how we are going to get through this. The baby is not the only person in this house who needs me right now. I find I'm having to let baby cry a lot because I'm totally tied up with my toddler and vice versa. I was hoping on some encouragement that I can get my feedings down to 40 min or an hour in the near future. I don't know if I can keep this up for months on end. For now I will continue on with my marathon all day feedings, and hope that at one month she'll be efficient enough to keep the feedings under an hour. I wasn't intending to start a debate on to wake or not to wake. My question was simply, when do newborns get more alert? Still waiting for someone to answer that question.
I had a sleeper... It would take 45-1 hr to get 10 solid minutes of feeding... so I started pumping and bottle feeding her. lol. When she was about 6 weeks old I put her back to breast, and she ate straight through like a champ. (Im not necessarily saying to pump... just that is what I did... lol.)
I never woke my daughter up. I fed her on demand. They really don't need to be fed every two hours, it's ridiculous! Let the baby sleep, and when he/she wakes up then feed him!
I always had to wake my daughter or she just wouldn't wake up to it. It was about 3 or 4 months before I was actually on a good schedual with my daughter and she was alert enough
Depends on the baby – a few start out as champion feeders, many take two or three weeks, some need as long as a month. They're all individuals.
I don't think there's much point it working at it for more than 15 minutes at a time in the first few weeks if the baby really can't stay awake. Just feed her when she does wake up. She is doing exactly what she needs to meet her newborn needs, and knows nothing of adults schedules.
As she stays awake longer, you can gradually try to extend the time between feedings if she hasn't started self-regulating by then (many babies will). But my baby girl couldn't keep down enough food to hold her for even an hour for her first month or so, or for much more than two hours between feedings for her first six months. I learned not to fight it, or it would have had me frantic.
In those days, pediatricians were saying not to feed more often than every 4 hours. Absurd – she would have been miserable, and wasted away. Every time I coaxed her to take a few more swallows, she always spit up a few extra swallows worth. Her little tummy knew how much it could hold.
You need to do your best to keep the baby awake! If she falls asleep too early, she will only get the watery milk that comes out first, and not ever get the rich, fatty milk that she needs to grow. Take off her clothes, change her diaper between sides, rub her face with a wet washcloth. Do what you need to so she eats a full meal. then you can get her on a 3 hour schedule and she will get the most from each feeding. It seems mean to do, but she really does need that fatty milk that only comes after she has eaten the watery milk. You can do it, mom!
It depends how old your baby is. I think it was about a month before my daughter started staying awake. Is she actually asleep, or just drowsing and eating? If it is the second, that is okay, she is getting fed. Also, depending how old she is, if you want to do a bit of a routine/schedule, it has helped me in having them eat instead of snack.
Depends. My baby was about 2 or 3 months old when she had a "fixed" routine of feeding every 3 hours. Middle of the night feedings will lessen as she starts to eat more solid food
I didn't know people woke babies up! I just fed my babies when they woke, but I NEVER disturbed them! "Let sleeping dogs lie!"
Mine was about two months. You mentioned you don't have 'gushers' are you drinking enough water? I had to drink 8-16 oz an hour to keep up with my daughter, she ate every hour for half an hour, then I would put her in her swing for 1/2 hour, then she would wake up and want to go again. Good luck! sounds like you have your hands full!
R.
I didn't wake either of my children up as I fed on demand. Maybe you should try that instead of stressing yourself out trying to keep the baby on a schedule.
GL!
