Saturday, June 21, 2008

To let sleep or not to sleep.....

Quick question for those moms who breastfed and may be reading my blog.....

Did you wake up your child from a nap to feed them?
Chloe wakes up on her own during the night to eat, but she does not seem to wake up from her naps. I am trying to make sure I feed her every 2.5-3 hours, but sometimes she is sleeping so soundly, I hate to wake her.

I'm afraid that if I don't wake her, we won't get the recommended 8-12 feedings in every day. Sometimes we are barely getting in 8 feedings as it is.

I tried to call the lactation consultant today, but think I waited too long and they are gone for the weekend.

So, let me know what you did. Please?!?!?!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Corie! When Natalie was a newborn I fed her every 2-3 hours if she was awake. If she was sleeping, then I would let her go as long as 4 hours during the day. She sure was right on schedule at night though. By the time she was 7 weeks old, she was only waking up once a night. Believe it or not, the doctors are right when they tell you that if she is gaining weight then she is eating fine. Natalie never got in her 10-12 feedings a day like the lactation consultant said. Sometimes I think they can be a little extreme. If you are worried, you can take Chloe to the hospital to visit the lactation consultant and they will weigh her for you. If she is hungry she'll wake up. It's hard I know but,it DOES get easier!!!

Love,
Sarah

Jennifer said...

Hey Little Mama!

Well, this is her way of setting her schedule, and setting your milk to her needs..please don't fall under the "what the books say" because she is not "every child" they are ALL different!

With all 4 kids of mine(breastfeed all of them, I desperately need a boob job:), they went through LONG periods of sleep..and I mean SLEEP like 4-6 hours...she will wake when hungry don't worry about that. When they sleep their growing..next week she may wake up every 2 hours to eat, and maybe not, she may be a child that don't need as much as Joey down the street.

I learned after the second child that every child eats, poops, sleeps, burps etc all different! I learned to just listen to my motherly instinct and did what worked for me... hard with the first though, everything is trial and error.
Just know Corey this being your first YOUR DOING GREAT with the breastfeeding.

All my babies slept long periods at this age..and gained weight like they were suppose to...my son Christian was the biggest sleeper out of all of them and gained the most! This will pass, so enjoy your rest, everything changes at 3 months, you will feel like a milk machine then...you will find her eating a lot to speed the milk production up she will eat a lot in one sitting but this will pass as well.

the ? about engorgement...I did for 1 day with my first, but I know allot of woman that never did and with the other 3 kids I never did!

You will notice soon...a thing called LET DOWN...you will be at a store and you will get a tingly feeling in the breast they will get hard, and that's your clue the Cloe will be up soon for a feeding...AMAZING how God made our bodies..you may even notice this when another baby starts to cry near by...I wore allot of black until this got better because you will leak allot during this phase.

Please don't ever hestiate to call, Val has my number if you ever have ? or concerns. I have 4 babies mow 9, 6, 4, and 2..but I'm also a nurse...so I now a little but I'm also learning daily about all this mommy stuff myself.

you can email me too..

Hope this helps....

Blessing~
Jennifer
www.woodcreekprimitives.com

Lilypad Mom said...

I never woke LP if she was sleeping. She was a cluster feeder in the evenings for a while, she would sleep for 3-4 hour stretches in during the day, but then from about 5 until midnight she'd eat every 1-2 hours. It took a little bit of time for her to readjust to day and night and start eating more during the day and less at night, but she was gaining the entire time so she was obviously getting enough.

I'm sure you are doing a wonderful job and she is growing and gaining just fine.

R.A.M. head on! said...

you know the saying "never wake a sleeping baby" I swear by it! She will wake if she is hungry she seems like she is growing just wonderfully. I know it is nerve racking but one day you will think wow I can't beleive I worried that much! i will call you this week about getting together I would love for ry and chloe to meet soon! I am off on thurs. so think about that...just when you guys are ready no rush!

Greta said...

Looks like I'm the oddball out here...but I'll tell you what I did anyway.
I did wake up Sam to feed him. In fact, we had him on a schedule from the first day, as much as we could.
By that, I mean I fed him every 2.5 - 3 hours, did my best to keep him awake for 30-45 minutes (later it was an hour) after he started eating and then he would nap. That all helped get his days and nights straight.

He was sleeping through the night at 6 1/2 weeks so it obviously worked well for us. Jennifer is right though...they are ALL different and what works well for one may just not fit with the next.

You are doing awesome though! Breastfeeding is such a wonderful thing, for baby and mama. Rest easy knowing that her diaper output is an excellent gauge of what she's getting and if she weren't getting enough, your doc will let you know at your next appointment. Keep it up - it gets easier and so much more fun!

Laura said...

With Deeder I was told to not worry about him not waking routinely during the day to eat when he was brandnew. That he was still "resting up" from birth. Babies naturally do become every to to three hour feeders, then later nurse every four hours...and so on.
Do talk to the nurse though, if you're worried, just like you said you might. :) They're supposed to be the pros!

Thanks for stopping by Waking Early. :) I'll have to write again.

Sarah said...

My two cents (and you can give me my change if you want to)...

Before I had Jaylee, I gleaned a lot of info from a mama of seven (now 8) and she told me a baby will wake when she's hungry and that you don't have to live by what a doctor tells you.

Chloe is doing great, you're doing great. Do what comes natural for you and don't stress.

There's all my amazing insight. You know, coming from a mama who is sleep deprived at the moment. :)

Unknown said...

No, do not wake her! Don't!! When she wakes she will drink plenty. She will drink till she is full. That's all that matters. The more she sleeps at once, the sooner you'll have her to sleeping nice full nights. :)

xo

Alexis Jacobs said...

Coming in late but my rule of thumb is never wake a baby. sleeping baby=happy baby=happy mommy