How do you wake up a sleeping baby?

[T16GEM]

Shelby is a very deep sleeper! Now when I say very deep I mean that you can feed her while she is asleep and she won't wake up! Our health visitor says that in order to get her to sleep for longer in the night we need to wake her more often for feeds during the day - i.e. every 3 hrs. The only trouble is that I can't for the life of me wake her if she doesn't want to be woken!

Has anyone got any ideas of how to wake her? I have tried all the usual things that the books tell you like tickleing their hands and feet and dabbing a bottle teat on the lip or cheek with no luck !!

oh having said that she has just woken up! Yipppyyyy!

 

[gilld]

Gently pinch the earlobe.

 

[florida sun]

Gem

I used to have this exact same problem with Vicki and the only thing that would wake her up, was to tickle the end of her nose


Sue

 

[Clare D]

Joe my DS (3 next week) was exactly the same. The only way we could wake him up was to strip him off to his nappy and blow on his face. I even had to once wipe his face with a tepid flannel

I was also a great follower of Gina Ford and her Contented Baby. I was like a drill Sargent for the first year but thankfully for me and Joe it seemed to work.

 

[AlanUK]

I was also a great follower of Gina Ford and her Contented Baby. I was like a drill Sargent for the first year but thankfully for me and Joe it seemed to work.

I've been reading this I have my clipboard and whistle ready for when BabyUK comes along

 

[T16GEM]

Just tried those!! No luck!

Alan - have you got the Baby Whisperer book? It is very good, she explains all about how to get your newborn into a routine from about 2 weeks old! So far we haven't managed it ........

 

[wilma-bride]

Can I just say one thing - every baby is different. What works for one will probably not work for another. Haveing had 3 kids and not used any textbooks to 'train' them, I don't think I've done too bad.

The trouble with trying to get them into too structured a routine is that, when you need to deviate from it (which you will), there will be hell to pay.

My youngest (DS, 3) was sleeping through the night at 2 weeks. It was more by luck than anything we did. My oldest, however, slept throught he night at 6 weeks but then stopped sleeping full stop when she was 6 months.

I don't think it really matters what you do but the main thing is not to put too much pressure on yourself to try and get your baby to do things that a book tells you - babies can't read so they don't know what they're supposed to be doing.

Not trying to start a fight or anything - just wanted to point out that being a parent of a new baby is hard enough without parents putting themselves under additional pressure to get the baby into a routine from Day 1.

Enjoy your babies while they are still young, sweet and don't answer you back

 

[AllyBri]

Gently pinch the earlobe.

please don't pinch the baby.

 

[T16GEM]

Can I just say one thing - every baby is different. What works for one will probably not work for another. Haveing had 3 kids and not used any textbooks to 'train' them, I don't think I've done too bad.

The trouble with trying to get them into too structured a routine is that, when you need to deviate from it (which you will), there will be hell to pay.

My youngest (DS, 3) was sleeping through the night at 2 weeks. It was more by luck than anything we did. My oldest, however, slept throught he night at 6 weeks but then stopped sleeping full stop when she was 6 months.

I don't think it really matters what you do but the main thing is not to put too much pressure on yourself to try and get your baby to do things that a book tells you - babies can't read so they don't know what they're supposed to be doing.

Not trying to start a fight or anything - just wanted to point out that being a parent of a new baby is hard enough without parents putting themselves under additional pressure to get the baby into a routine from Day 1.

Enjoy your babies while they are still young, sweet and don't answer you back

I've come to this conclusion now about the books! I am reading them but not taking it to heart and we are doing things to suit us - for example I am supplementing my feeds with formula as I don't think I am producing enough milk for her and she is always hungry, it works for us so that's what we are going with, this according to the books and the midwife will confuse the baby and she won't be able to suck properly?? She if fine!!

Alibri- I wouldn't pinch her! She is so sweet I couldn't do it! last night I found that singing to her woke her up - obviously my rendition of I will Survive during I'm a celeb didn't go down as well as I thought!

 

[gilld]

Alibri- I wouldn't pinch her! She is so sweet I couldn't do it! last night I found that singing to her woke her up - obviously my rendition of I will Survive during I'm a celeb didn't go down as well as I thought!

I was NOT suggesting pinching her so that it hurts! My post clearly says gently! It was a recognised way of waking a baby in hospital to feed them!

 

[Kaybee]

My MIL philosophy was....and she had 10 children...is NEVER wake a sleeping baby!!! The baby as they grow will develop their own sleep and awake time patterns...don't force it on your child. Enjoy your baby...throw the books away!!

 

[T16GEM]

I was NOT suggesting pinching her so that it hurts! My post clearly says gently! It was a recognised way of waking a baby in hospital to feed them!

I have tried tickleing her ears! I think she just enjoys eating while asleep! I know that you weren't suggesting to pinch her hard I was joking in response to AliBri's post.

 

[Goofyish]

I would say let her sleep and make the most of the peace and quiet. If she's hungry or wet she will soon wake up and let you know

I agree with Kaybee - ignore the books and trust your parental instincts and common sense

 

[disneyangel]

Personally I would ignore Gina Ford I found her routine excessively tying . I found the baby whisperer was more adaptable to each individual baby. For our DD we usually stripped her down and tickled her toes or wiped her face with the corner of a cold wipe !!

 

[Dimplenose]

I thought I'd perfected getting my son (now 15) to sleep as a baby - we'd let him cry for 10 minutes and then he'd just drop off (always bang on 10 minutes). I even used to give advice to my friends about how to get their baby into a perfect sleeping routine.

Then I had DD(now 12) and all my smugness vanished. I suspected something was different while she was still a bump. She never kicked during the day but from 11pm until 5am she was very active (she even kicked DH if he slept to close!). When she was born she was totally nocturnal, and nothing I did would change her. I tried leaving her for 10 minutes (which stretched to 90 minutes before she made herself vomit and we'd have to change her and the bed!!)

12 years later she still goes to sleep late - but at least she's no longer nocturnal (we used to joke about emigrating to get her sleep patterns sorted out!!)

So I totally agree with Kaybee. Throw the books away and go with the flow.

Libby