waking for feeds?

[leckershell]

I'm sure this has probably been asked loads of times before but I'll ask again as I only just started to fit into the babies part of the forum and haven't browsed it in the past!

My little one was feeding very badly for the first couple of days so we stayed in hospital and the midwifes told us to make sure we wake him 3 hourly for feeds as he was getting very jaundiced. So we have been doing that. Yesterday though he decided to wake every hour and a half after he goes to sleep, and feed again. I'm breastfeeding, or using expressed milk in a bottle, and he stays on for about 45 minutes or from the bottle drinks about 70ml - nearly 3 fl oz. Regardless of when he wakes he has near enough the same amount so we think at the moment he is having a growth spurt and therefore waking more often.

If he sleeps though, should we still be waking him every 3 hours, or letting him sleep? He seems to wake on his own when he needs feeds, but this morning he has been down since 8, and we're worrying if he should have eaten already, whether we should have woken him.

Not got midwife until Monday so thought would sound off on here... any advice welcome!

michelle x

 

[Tangerinedream]

hey hun

I had the same question for my HV and she said we shouldnt wake him for feeds, just wait until he wakes you!

Hopefully he will settle into a routine like Jake did. He now feeds like clockwork at night- 11pm then we go to bed, next feed around 3 am then wakes again at 6/7 am for breakfast.

How is little Ryan getting on anyway? keep meaning to txt you to see how you are but you know how it is

 

[Nicky_Jones]

I read somewhere that it is good to wake them for feed until they reach about 2 weeks old (assuming they are full term). My HV didn't seem to agree with this, but the book that I read was saying it was good to establish your milk supply. During the first 2 weeks I used to wake Ellie every 3hrs during the day and then every 4hrs during the night for feeds. After the 2 week mark, I still did the same thing, I just stopped waking her for the 3:30am feed and let her wake for that one, until she stopped waking at just under 8 weeks old (woohoo!).

 

[cloud9]

Dylan had to be woken every three hours as he had jaundice

the reason they do this is it helps to wash out the stuff causing the jaundice ( not very technical i know ) so I followed the m/w 's advic on when to cut down...I think once we could cut down he had got used to waking anyway and woke 3 hourly for feeds.

 

[trixipaws]

im BFing and i found the first few weeks the hardest. we were both learning and it felt like i was constantly feeding coz she'd be on for an hour at a time! id say if baby is sleeping they obviously not hungry so let them sleep enjoy the break! but im no expert so id follow ur MW/HV advice. r u keeping him in lots of natural daylight it helps clear jaundice.

 

[Nicky_Jones]

I read somewhere that it is good to wake them for feed until they reach about 2 weeks old (assuming they are full term). My HV didn't seem to agree with this, but the book that I read was saying it was good to establish your milk supply. During the first 2 weeks I used to wake Ellie every 3hrs during the day and then every 4hrs during the night for feeds. After the 2 week mark, I still did the same thing, I just stopped waking her for the 3:30am feed and let her wake for that one, until she stopped waking at just under 8 weeks old (woohoo!).

 

[cloud9]

Dylan had to be woken every three hours as he had jaundice

the reason they do this is it helps to wash out the stuff causing the jaundice ( not very technical i know ) so I followed the m/w 's advic on when to cut down...I think once we could cut down he had got used to waking anyway and woke 3 hourly for feeds.

 

[trixipaws]

im BFing and i found the first few weeks the hardest. we were both learning and it felt like i was constantly feeding coz she'd be on for an hour at a time! id say if baby is sleeping they obviously not hungry so let them sleep enjoy the break! but im no expert so id follow ur MW/HV advice. r u keeping him in lots of natural daylight it helps clear jaundice.

 

[Nicky_Jones]

I read somewhere that it is good to wake them for feed until they reach about 2 weeks old (assuming they are full term). My HV didn't seem to agree with this, but the book that I read was saying it was good to establish your milk supply. During the first 2 weeks I used to wake Ellie every 3hrs during the day and then every 4hrs during the night for feeds. After the 2 week mark, I still did the same thing, I just stopped waking her for the 3:30am feed and let her wake for that one, until she stopped waking at just under 8 weeks old (woohoo!).

 

[cloud9]

Dylan had to be woken every three hours as he had jaundice

the reason they do this is it helps to wash out the stuff causing the jaundice ( not very technical i know ) so I followed the m/w 's advic on when to cut down...I think once we could cut down he had got used to waking anyway and woke 3 hourly for feeds.

 

[trixipaws]

im BFing and i found the first few weeks the hardest. we were both learning and it felt like i was constantly feeding coz she'd be on for an hour at a time! id say if baby is sleeping they obviously not hungry so let them sleep enjoy the break! but im no expert so id follow ur MW/HV advice. r u keeping him in lots of natural daylight it helps clear jaundice.

 

[Redshoes]

Jaundice makes most babes sleepy, that's usually why they don't wake, as far as I know, most MW's will say wake them, most HV's will say let them sleep, I think do what you think is best, if you feel you should wake him and try him then do it and see how it goes, if he's not hungry he just won't eat. I think like Nicky_Jones said, for the first couple of weeks it may be a good thing to wake him, it's hard to know what to do for the best sometimes isn't it, but I'm sure it'll work itself out, and LO's don't feed lots when first born either

 

[little*red]

I agree that you should wake him up whilst he is still so young and also due to his jaundice. feeding him often will help keep him hydrated and flush out the jundice from his system.
Evie had jaundice too and she needed fed 3 hourly and as redshoes said she was very sleepy because of it, so we often had to wake her up to feed her .

when i was in the hospital the midwife got mad at me becaue i fell asleep for a few hours (obviously because i was knackered having given birth 5 hours before) and therefore couldnt wake her up to feed her , even though they are supposed to come around and check that your feeding them regularly, none of them thought to wake me up .

 

[Icecream]

Well none came to me when I was in hospital. they practically ignored me.

Anyway, Katie slept and slept when she was born and she ended up losing a lot of weight (much more than is normal). She had a little jaundice but not much. I was told to wake her and almost ended up back in hospital because we couldn't get her to wake, but as soon as her skin touched mine she was awake. Waking every three hours is crucial to a newborn as it enables them to survive in a strange new world and also to settle into a routine. Newborns don't know tese tings and we need to teach them. A little perseverence pays off in time.