Waking to feed

spin25

How long did you wake your sleeping babies to feed them? When we first brought them home, we were told to wake them every three hours to eat if they didn't wake on their own; they were less than 5 pounds then, so we were not surprised. At the last pedi appointment they said to let them sleep as long as they want at night for two stretches but to continue to feed them every three hours during the day if they were sleeping. (The long stretches aren't actually that long and don't always happen anyways.) Though they have awake time during the day (and at night, who are we kidding), we frequently have to wake them to eat. I thought this was supposed to help encourage sleeping at night but I don't know that it makes a difference. Our next pedi appointment isn't for 4 or 5 weeks, but in the meantime...what does GPM do? Also, I know that having preemies will probably make somewhat of a difference but would like to know what others do anyway. Thanks!

wiggyslilsis

We never woke to feed but she was also over 8 lbs and FF so I don't know how relevant that is.

I think a call into your pedi might be worthwhile just to ask and get a call back with an answer.

sgautschi

I've always just followed As lead. I don't know if that's possible for you with preemies or twins though. Could you maybe try a day of following their lead, write down the times they chose to eat, then you can decide whether or not that works for you? I wouldn't think a day would hurt.

Idk maybe this is no help.

MRads

We woke to feed till he was back up to birth weight. And then he started waking every three hours so it was a moot point. As much of a pain as it is, I still like to feed B every two hours, bc he sleeps better. I'm not sure how helpful I'm being.

How big are the twins now?

Edit: I like to feed every two hours during the day. He woke every three hours to eat until about 4.5 months. Now he wakes every 4-7 hours (so one or two wake ups a night.)

Whippet8

I would definitely say that having premies will change what to do. 

We woke to feed around the clock until she was back to birth weight. Once she was back to birth weight, we only woke every 3-4 hours in the day to encourage day vs. night. Then, at 6 weeks old she started STTN so we just let her do her own thing around the clock because it worked. 

botanicalbliss

We woke to feed overnight until he regained his birthweight and the pedi said we could stop - maybe when he was 2 weeks?  I woke him during the day at the 3 hr mark if he ever hit that so he wouldn't confuse days/nights until he started waking before the 3 hr mark on his own.

spin25

@MRads, DS is 9 lb 10 oz and DD is 7 lb 13oz. Im inclined to continue to wake during the day to encourage sleeping at night. DH is sort of on the fence, and ILs, who care for them a fair amount, give me some eye-rolling about waking them and sometimes won't do it if I'm not around. Thanks everyone for the input.

MRads

Oh, they are good weight! I mean, tiny for sure, but not dangerously tiny. I might feed every two hours that they are awake and wake every 3.5-4 hours if they sleep a lot. But I guess that depends on how they sleep at night bc you want to sleep longer than 3 hour stretches if at all possible.

cinderin

Once DS was back to birth weight we stopped waking. He usually woke on his own every 2 hours anyway!

I notice the better DS sleeps during the day, the better he sleeps at night, so I don't wake, even if the nap is getting long.

caseyandlizzie

I don't wake him to feed, but it no matter how frequent his feedings are during the day it seems to make no difference for his night time sleeping. There's no rhyme or reason to his sleep patterns, some nights he's up 3 or 4 times, others he's only up once.

I would just try letting them tell you when they're hungry and see how it goes. You can always go back to waking them if it isn't working.

smbenevides1989

I did what many other pps said. At night, I just let her sleep and when she woke up, I would feed her. During the day, I would wake her up to feed her simply for the reasons of the night vs. day.

bobcee

Once zack was back to his birth weight I just fed on demand at night and if he ever went more than a 3 he stretch of
sleep during the day, I'd typically wake him at around the 3 hr mark. I'd definitely wake him if he hadn't fed in four hours more so for my comfort. If I try to go much longer I get pretty uncomfortable and I've had mastitis three times now between the two kids and rather not get it again, so I try to do everything possible to prevent it.

spin25

Thanks guys.