waking 3 wk at nite for a feed?

J

joannek

Registered User
My baby is 3 weeks old. 3 days ago she started sleeping for 5 hrs stretch at night. She's fully breastfed. At night she used to take 3oz EBM every 3-4 hrs. During the day, i nurse her at a feed or sometimes 2-3oz EBM on demand. She stays for 3-4 hrs stretch awake during the day. While she's awake, she would take milk every hour (sometimes 2oz/ sometimes 3 oz/ 15mins on the breast). 3 nights ago, she cried (or whimpered) once (2 hrs after she's fallen asleep) for about a min. I was too tired to get up to carry her, and then she quiet down & went back to sleep. She woke 3 hrs later, this time she really cried & woke up, so i gave her 3 oz EBM but she only took 2oz. That continued for 3 nights in a row.

I'm happy that she's sleeping longer stretch, but my confinement nanny said I should wake her up to give her a feed or at least carry her at the first whimper to feed her, cos her body needs that milk to grow at night (??). I figured if she's hungry, & she cant continue sleeping & she won't quiet down, and she would continue crying.

My confinement nanny has never taken care of fully breastfed babies. Mine is the first. I understand that breastfed babies cluster feed during the day & that mom's milk is creamiest & most filling around dusk, so if baby is getting enough creamy milk before night time, she's fine for the night.

P.S. My first child woke every 3 hrs for a feed until she was 3 yrs old! I'm petrified that if I wake the new baby every 3hrs then we have conditioned her to waking every 3 hrs, then history will repeat itself.
 
As long as your baby is growing well you do not need to wake her at night to feed her (some babies if you are lucky will sleep up to 8 hours - not mine though) - you should enjoy the time with a longer sleep. She sounds similiar to my fully breastfed babies. Go with your instinct. Good luck.
 
I would agree with your confinement nanny. You should really feed your baby whenever she needs it especially at such a young age, and three hourly is the longest you should go. It's not only a 'needs' thing (they have such tiny stomachs they need to feed constantly) but also a trust thing. Your baby needs to know she is safe and loved and her needs will be met.

I know it's really hard with a newborn. You are so, so tired but you must sleep whenever you can at any time of the day or night so you can respond when your baby needs you. I have a one week old, (my third child) and have found that if you consider each 'day' as being a 24 hour period with no defined day or night, then it is a lot easier. My goal each day is to sleep 8-10 hours, even if it's 6 hours at night and 4 hours during the day.

Your helper will simply have to do as much with your first child as possible so you can rest whenever you need to. Don't let your experience with your first child cloud your judgement with your next child. Each of mine have been so completely different. The child I responded quickest to, who I never let cry is the best sleeper and slept through from a young age. The one I let cry more took a lot longer to sleep through. For other friends it was the opposite so you just never know!

Is there any reason you are not breastfeeding but instead giving EBM? I'm not expressing at all this time, only breastfeeding and it makes things so much easier. I just dreaded hearing the sound of the machine going on and on hour after hour!
 
as long as she is gaining weight well and has frequent feeds during the day - as you say she is - then i wouldn't especially wake her during the night after 3 hrs. At 3 weeks old she could be having a growth spurt which would explain the cluster feeding. A lot of babies sleep more when they are going through a growth spurt. they obviously need it!
enjoy and congratulations!
 
If she only woke for a minute, whimpered and went back to sleep, I don't think it's necessary to feed her. She'll cry when she's hungry and won't fall asleep again after a minute or two.
 
i agree, i would not wake a baby to feed unless the baby was not gaining enough.

hunger is a primal instinct and your baby will not disappoint in letting you know when she's hungry.
 
I have read that why newborns need to be woken up every 3 or 4 hours is cos if they went for long stretches of sleep and not taking in the milk, they may get dehydrated. Don't think it's cos they will starve.
 
yeah, my confinement nanny said she'll get dehydrated with so many hours without a feed.

o, & btw, she is full term plus 5 days overdue, born 8lbs 11oz, so she's big & technically she turned 4 weeks today. she's gaining weight well & as of 2 weeks ago, she was already 4 kgs. she's also outgrowing her newborn clothes. so i guess she's gaining weight well.

aussiegal, thanks for your advice. i wish i didn't have to express. i love the feeling of nursing directly. but with my breast problem history (every problem you have in the book plus more)(it's a very long story), my lactation consultant & I agree it's best expressing every 4 hrs to avoid more problems. so yes, altho my bb sleeps for 5 hrs stretch, i still have to get up to express. =( if not, i can't sleep cos my stone hard painful breasts wake me anyway.
 
well my doc advised me not to wake up our baby in the night if he is sleeping at a strech. he has been sleeping 5-6 hrs at a strech from 4/5th week and his fully bf too.

in the morning he feeds after every 3 hours... and i did wake him up to feed him in the mornings. he is now 10 weeks and his rythm is set.

there is a lot of advice going around... why not ask your doc ? if it doesnt harm the baby (dyhdration etc) ... then no point mking night feeds a habit.
 
Most babies between birth and three months of age need to have between 8 and 14 feeds every 24 hours. If your baby is:
  • having at least six wet nappies every 24 hours,
  • at least two dirty nappies,
  • is gaining weight (we are looking for an average of 170 grams every week) and
  • the required number of feeds
then it doesn't matter if she wants to sleep for four or five hours at a stretch.

Most babies are not regular in their eating habits. They tend to have three styles of feeding every day:
  • a regular pattern - where they wake up and ask for feeds, say at 7:00 am, then at 9:30 am and then at 12: 00 noon
  • a longer sleeping stretch - where they sleep for three, four or maybe five hours in one go
  • a pattern where they are making up for the feeds they missed while asleep - this is officially called cluster feeding but I always think of it as a Chinese banquet. (Usually they make up for the feeds before they have the longer sleep).

The only time to worry about a longer sleep stretch is when the baby is doing it after every feed. When this happens the baby will only be getting 5 or 6 feeds in the 24 hours and that is not enough.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Thanks, Sarah. That is as informative as all your other posts =)

I was just waiting for you to help out ;p

makes me feel so much better about not waking my baby.

so this works for on demand breastfed babies only, i guess? cos for formula feeding you have to feed them every 3-4 hrs?
 
I see you're getting lots of advice. I won't give any since I myself heard and received so many conflicting advice about this subject. For my baby (now 11 weeks), I was pretty paranoid about making sure he ate every 3 hrs at least in the beginning. Now I wish I was a bit more easygoing, bc he gained weight almost too well (despite being 2 weeks early and solely BF). He rarely will sleep for those stretches of time even now. Consider yourself lucky - it's just a shame that you have to wake up anyway to pump, but I'm sure that will fix itself within a couple of months.
I would just listen to your mother's intuition. You know your baby best, and you are already an experienced mother. Second, I'd then listen to the LCs.
 
Every baby is completely different. I would agree with Sarah - that if everything else is going OK, there's no need to worry about longer sleeps at night.

Having breastfed two premmie babies, one of whom had a low birthweight, I hve always taken the approach that if you wake them to feed during the day as necessary, and leave them to sleep at night, then your baby starts to learn from day 1 that night is for sleep. As long as the weight gain is good, then you're OK. As long as the baby is alert, you're OK. And quite frankly, Sarah's advice will be more informed in regards to breastfeeding than most doctors or confinement 'nurses' - seeing as the vast majority of their clients would be formula feeding, whereas Sarah's focus is on BF babies.

Sarah , as always, great post. :)
 
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