Did You Wake Your Baby to Feed Them?

[MIGrandma]

Julie Chen was just on The Early Show for a visit. She had her baby, Charlie, on September 24th. She was talking about waking him up to feed him because the doctor said he needs to eat every 2-3 hours. She said he would probably sleep through the night if she didn't wake him.

So, did you wake your baby up to feed them?

I never did. My doctor said if they are sleeping, let them sleep. My son started sleeping through the night at a month old. My daughter was 3 months.

 

[mhsjax]

Julie Chen was just on The Early Show for a visit. She had her baby, Charlie, on September 24th. She was talking about waking him up to feed him because the doctor said he needs to eat every 2-3 hours. She said he would probably sleep through the night if she didn't wake him.

So, did you wake your baby up to feed them?

I never did. My doctor said if they are sleeping, let them sleep. My son started sleeping through the night at a month old. My daughter was 3 months.

NO WAY, let them sleep. My oldest slept through at 6 weeks and Daughter at 8 weeks. Youngest not until 9 months but he had sever reflux and ear infections.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

No.

Now if they were sleeping past 4 or 5 hours in the daytime, I might--but I don't really remember.

We nursed on demand though.

 

[java]

No but my babies were not a weight issue. Some health issues require you to wake up the babies-- so I'm told.
Personally I never had those issues so I never woke them up. Breastfed all 4 of my children and them sleeping through was never an issue

 

[JoiseyMom]

No way, I fed on demand. Waking a sleeping child to feed them? I would change doctors if I was her. And to listen to that...is insane .

I know some people do that to force the child to be on their schedule! I loved when my babies started sleeping through the night. A child needs to eat when they are hungry and will let you know by waking up and crying!!!

 

[Desnik]

I had to wake my DS up for his feedings. He had sever reflux, weight gaining issues, and was labeled "failure to thrive". He had many hospital stays as well. I had to feed him every 2 hours for about 7 months! We had to thicken his formula, add calories to it and keep him propped up after feedings. By the time the poor baby fell asleep it was time to wake him for another feeding. But you do what ever you can for your child. Maybe Julie Chen's baby has similar issues? My first child, DD I let sleep and did not wake her for feedings. She had no weight gaining issues.

 

[diznygirl]

No way, I fed on demand. Waking a sleeping child to feed them? I would change doctors if I was her. And to listen to that...is insane .

I know some people do that to force the child to be on their schedule! I loved when my babies started sleeping through the night. A child needs to eat when they are hungry and will let you know by waking up and crying!!!

Well, my babies were fed on a schedule, but the rule was to NEVER wake a sleeping baby.

 

[KimR]

I did. My youngest was less than 6 lbs when she was born and I was told to feed her every 2 hours. Even after the Dr. gave me to go-ahead to feed on demand, I still woke her up because I felt like she was going too long between feedings. I tried to wait it out, but she'd go up to 5 hours sometimes...I was nursing and was afraid my milk would dry up. I only woke her during the day though. At night, I fed on demand.

 

[Crystal0608]

No, not ever. My dd got up a couple times a night on her own and fell right back asleep. My ds had reflux until 6 mo old, so was up most of the night-feed 2 oz, prop up, spit-up/throw-up, clean, repeat...so if he would have wanted to sleep I would have let him.

 

[georgina]

No way, I fed on demand. Waking a sleeping child to feed them? I would change doctors if I was her. And to listen to that...is insane .

I know some people do that to force the child to be on their schedule! I loved when my babies started sleeping through the night. A child needs to eat when they are hungry and will let you know by waking up and crying!!!

If there is a medical issue, it is not insane at all. We had to wake my first child some in the first few months to feed her. I think it is insane for you to make a blanket statement like that about every child waking up to feed. It had nothing to do with being on my schedule, I don't generally get up in the middle of the night. Newborns should not be sleeping 8 hours at a time! Sometimes doctors actually know what they are talking about!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Julie Chen was just on The Early Show for a visit. She had her baby, Charlie, on September 24th. She was talking about waking him up to feed him because the doctor said he needs to eat every 2-3 hours. She said he would probably sleep through the night if she didn't wake him.

So, did you wake your baby up to feed them?

I never did. My doctor said if they are sleeping, let them sleep. My son started sleeping through the night at a month old. My daughter was 3 months.

Yes, because both of my kids were premies and my oldest had a heart defect and was unable to gain weight. She had her surgery at 4 mons and was able to finally eat and gain weight. She is in college now and is doing well.

My youngest was born SGA (small for gestational age). I nursed her on demand. She just could not eat much at one sitting because she was not growing normally. When she was in K we started to closely monitor her growth and by 1st grade she was on growth hormone shots until she was in 5th grade. She is now 5' and in 7th grade.

 

[AnnaS]

No, I did not wake them.

 

[*BTMRR*]

My baby lost quite a bit of his birthweight (more than the usual percentage) in the first few days so the pediatrician advised me to feed him every 2-3 hours around the clock (yes, waking him at night) until he showed good weight gain at his next appointment. I don't think that's terribly uncommon.

 

[Becky2005]

One does NOT wake up a sleeping baby unless absolutely required -- especially if the baby is sleeping at night.

I could see if they hadn't eaten at all during the day or something but umm...no..for that matter I don't even wake up sleeping teenagers unless I have to! They get to sleep in on the weekends.

 

[mjkacmom]

Only with the twins, and not all of the time. It was sometimes easier than going back to sleep, only to be woken 1/2 hour later. Sometimes we did this, when DH and I were assigned feeding times, and sometimes we did "pick your baby," so you only had to get up with one of them.

 

[mickeyboat]

I did for #1 because she was a premie. I usually didn't have to, though, most of the time because she would wake up hungry.

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter was only 5 pounds at birth but I did not wake her up to eat--she would certainly wake up and let me know when she was ready for some food---every 2-3 hours for 6 months as a matter of fact!!! I would not have woken her up to fed her though unless the Dr said it was medically necessary. She went in every few weeks for weight checks because she fell "off the chart" and they wanted to monitor her- they still never told me to wake her up to feed her though!

 

[kimmar067]

...I woke them during the day if they overslept, but not at night....that lasted during their first month or two of life - after that, they began to eat less frequently and ate more during their feedings....

 

[golfgal]

Never wake a sleeping baby-unless there is a good medical reason to do so obviously.

We fed on demand but that also rolled into a routine after a couple weeks where the kids all ate about every 3-4 hours. Babies naturally adapt to some kind of routine. I also found that if you woke them to eat, they never ate because they weren't hungry so what's the point?

 

[cheerful chickadee]

Sometimes there's a medical issue/reason for it. when my DD was first born she had a bad case of jaundice, not so bad that she needed to stay at the hospital under the billi lights but it was close. Our ped told us we needed to wake her up every 2-3 hours to feed her as the only way to get the jaundice out was to feed her so she'd have BM's and get it out. If we'd let her - she'd probably sleep through feeding after feeding, the jaundice makes them extremely sleepy. We had to get her blood taken every 3 days for a while, it was terrible.

At the 3 week mark she was all clear and we no longer had to wake her up to feed her BUT she was accustomed to eating every 3 hours at that point. I don't know if Julie Chen's baby has a medical issue of some sort but that's the only explanation I can think of for why you'd wake the baby to feed.