How long is too long? I've read places that no more than 5 hours, but my pediatrician said not to ever wake a sleeping baby. My daughter has just turned five weeks old and has now developed a sleeping pattern of sleeping for 5-6 hours at night. I am very grateful, however i have heard that if they go for longer than 5 hours with out eating, this can mess with their blood sugar levels. I have tried to start feeding her 5oz at the nightly feeding, as my pediatrician had also said they are to eat an ounce for every hour.
with that being said, do you start the count of hours, from when they first started to eat, or from when they are done with the last drop?
Yes and no, I think it really just depends. I've done both. I have a 3 month old and and I've let him sleep longer than 5 hrs w/o a bottle(the longest he's slept is 7 hrs) and sometimes when he's sleeping, I just put a bottle in his mouth w/o picking him up and he'll eat it w/o waking up. I think it just depends on how much they've eaten through out the day.
I'm breastfeeding, so I'm not sure it's the same with formula, but I've heard that formula stays in their stomach longer and because of that they can sleep longer without becoming hungry. Be careful not to feed her too much, as I've also been told that you can overfeed with formula. With breastfeeding they told me to count the hours from the time the feeding begins, I'm assuming that at least is the same with formula. As long as she continues to gain weight at a normal rate, feel lucky for having a good sleeper! You can always call and double check with your pediatrician for peace of mind. Good luck and congratulations on the new baby!
Your baby will wake up if she's hungry. Please let her sleep as long asshe will. You don't need to be concerned with blood sugar levels if she's a healthy baby because she will wake up before the level is so low as to be of concern.
You are so fortunate to have a baby who's able to sleep this long. I would do nothing to disturb that pattern. Not only for your baby's sake (sleep is important for her) but also for your own.
I am prediabetic and I can tell you from experience that a low blood sugar results in being uncomfortable. I feel hungry long before the blood sugar is very low.
I NEVER have woke any of my babies to eat. If it were me I would count from the time they are done eating. I have never heard that they should eat an ounce for every hour. My children were breastfed, but I pumped and at 5 weeks they never ate more than 3 or 4 ounces. Babies will let you know when they are hungry and if you try to feed them when they are not hungry they will only spit out the milk you are trying to give them.
I think the child will wake when hungry. You have a sleeper, so Did I and my son is fine. Every doc is different. But I do not believe in waking a child, because they are naturally going to get to sleep in longer sessions at night. My son went through phases where he would sleep through the night, and then wake once.. and then go back to sleeping through the night. I think their tummys do tell us when they need more food. If there seems to be a problem, then I would consider waking, but if there does not seem to be an issue than let it go.
My doctor had told me to wake my son every 2 hours- but only because it was an extreme situation where he was not gaining weight.
Hey! Don't worry! She is sleeping in-line with her age! Babies should be sleeping about the number of hours for each week old that she is. As long as she is growing and gaining weight in line with what your doctors say's is normal then don't worry! As a new Mom there is do much that we worry about, your daughter being a good sleeper shouldn't be one of them. I highly recommend a book called: "Healthly Sleep Habits, Happy Child: by Dr. Marc Weisbluth (sp?). It saved my life! by 6 to 8 weeks hold he was sleeping 9 hours at night and by 3 months he was sleeping 12 hours and that has been his routine since, he is 14 months old today. Good Luck!
One of my babies slept like this. The pedi told me to not wake a sleeping baby--it was the 80's and there may be a different opinion among doctors now. But I can tell you that even though my little guy would sleep for 7 hours between feedings (I was breastfeeding so don't know the amount he was eating), he did have small periods of active, awake times and continued to gain weight at a healthy pace. That "baby" is now a 6'3", very healthy, college grad! My advice is to not worry and to enjoy this precious baay who sleeps well.
If your daughter is hungry, she will wake up to eat. Do not worry about the time limits. Bless you for having a child that sleeps, because mine never did!
My daughter slept very well from 6mths to even now and she is 27. She would wake up at 5:30 am, eat, play, coo, etc until 8:00am, back to sleep until 12:00pm, eat, play coo, etc until 5:00pm. Back to sleep until 5:00am the next morn. It was a blessing, I never worried about blood sugar or anything, I just checked on her to make sure she was infact breathing. The only problem was when her father came home from work at 5:30pm she would be down for the nite and he would be jealous.
Let her sleep! :) Pediatricians are quick to tell you what is "normal" but what is "normal" for Susie Q's baby is not always normal for yours! If your baby seemed listless and never had a period where she was awake and "active" then that would be a different story. As long as she is gaining weight and seems to have active times, I would not worry!
If your baby is active and happy otherwise- DON'T wake her! She'll wake up when she's hungry. Go back to sleep yourself- there will be plenty of other things to lose sleep over in the coming years. (the teenage years for example!) Baby will be fine. Good luck.
