Forum home Babies Baby

should i of woken her up?

hey, rosalie is 7 days today, last night she slept from 11:30 until 6 this morning without a feed, i kept waking every hour to check on her but she seemed content. i feel really guilty as i think i should of woke her. what do you girls do? thanx

Replies

  • How much does she weigh?

    I ask that because although most people think it's best not to wake a sleeping baby, Sophie was 5lb 12oz at birth and I was advised that because of her low birth weight she should initially feed at least three hourly day and night and I had to wake her to feed if she did not wake herself, as smaller babies are less able to regulate their blood sugar. I think advice is different if you have a heavier baby.

    Obviously that has backfired a bit for me as she started waking out of habit as she got bigger and only in the last week has she started going through from her dreamfeed to about 6am, but still wakes at about 3am even though she isn't hungry. She's 16 weeks on Tuesday.
  • Is she bf or ff? And how big is she? My friend had a prem baby (he was 6lb though at 34 weeks) and apparently if the baby is small you should wake them every 4 hours if they don't wake themselves.
    My lo was 9lb 1 born and I never woke him at night and he slept 8 hours by 3 weeks. He fed every 2.5 hours in the day so I figured he was getting what he needed
    Congratulations xx
  • Depends how her weight is? I was told that there's no need to wake a sleeping baby but after ds lost 12% of his bw I was advised to wake him every 4 hours, when we first didn't wake him, he slept for 9 hours then wa a nightmare all the next day!
  • As others have said it depends on weight etc. Toby was a bit jaundiced when he was born so we were told to wake him for feeds but now I kind of wish I hadn't. Left to his own devices he slept from midnight to 6 but because we always woke him for feeds in the night he has woken from habit ever since and has never ever slept through (he is now nearly 8 months). He is HUGE now and I am pretty confident that he would have been fine having no feeds from midnight to 6 as he fed so often during the day.

    Obviously if your LO is not feeding well or not putting on weight or has some other medical issue then you should follow your MW's advice, but otherwise I would feed every 3 hours during the day and enjoy the sleep at night - it probably won't last anyway!!!

    Good luck whatever you decide and congratulations!

    C image
  • Hey, thanx for replys, Her birth weight was 7lb9oz and when she got weighed on friday she had lost 1 oz. She eats quite a lot during the day i think sometimes 4oz feeds, if that is a lot? im not sure i just worry
  • hi, ds was 6lb12oz and i was bf, and i was told by the mws to try to feed him every 4hours if he hadn't asked for it before then to try and keep milk supply up, i know they also say for smaller babies to wake them regularly for feeds. sorry not much help xx
  • I would say that if your LO feeds well and regularly during the day and is putting weight on fine (or in your case as she is so little, not losing much - which she hasn't, she's hardly lost any at all) then it's fine not to wake her at night. I have been lucky in that both of mine gained weight well, so I never deliberately woke them at night. I would have if their weight gain was worrying.

    I had two different midwives visit when my youngest was tiny, one of whom really pressed the point that I should be waking her regularly, the other who said that if she fed well during the day then there was no reason to give myself and her even more of a broken sleep at night.

    I think it depends on how by-the-book you want to be!
Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions