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All the lactation consultants I've talked to say that the first two weeks you must wake and feed every two hours to keep their weight gain in check. After that, if and only if they are gaining appropriately and waking on their own, you may let them sleep longer.
nonsense...have these so-called consultants got any children of their own??....ask some women you know that already HAVE children...see what they say....I can almost guarantee it won't be the same.
nonsense...have these so-called consultants got any children of their own??....ask some women you know that already HAVE children...see what they say....I can almost guarantee it won't be the same.
when my dd first came home they told me to wake her every 3 hours to eat. BUT she was born premature so that is probably why. I think a full term healthy baby will wake on their own when they are ready to eat.
Heck yeh! He'll wake up when he's hungry and he will let you know he means business. All you're doing is instilling a habit in him to wake up every 3 hours--a habit you will not appreciate in a few months! If he's a healthy, growing baby then it is totally fine to wait until he wakes you, not the other way around. Get some sleep if you're the lucky parent of a baby who actually sleeps more than 3 hours at a time at that age!!
This!! It took us a few days to figure that out. Phew, never again. I do a "thank you Lord" dance every time mine goes to sleep.
Some babies sleep through the night at 3 weeks old (6 or 7 hours) and stay awake a lot more during the day, breastfed or not. My kids were breastfed and slept through the night, one at 3 weeks, one at about 5 or 6 weeks, and one at 4 or 5 weeks. They are all healthy, strong kids. Not one of them suffered ill effects.
You can read every book out there, and listen to everybody who has an opinion, but in the end, only you know how your baby is growing and his/her preferences. As long as your baby is gaining weight and checking out well at the doctor's, then do what works for you and your baby, no matter what anybody else says.
Your baby will not sleep so long at night they he starves. There's no need to worry about that.
So agree with you! I am so so happy I didn't listen to the "experts" as to how to raise my son. He was a preemie and breastfed.
I was told by nurses: do not accommodate for lights; do not change your household routine - he needs to get used to sounds; do not let him sleep with you, always let him sleep in his own space; wake him every 3 hours for feeding; etc etc etc. When I turned off the lights, pulled the basinette to my bedside, told everyone to get out of my way, disabled the phone, the doorbell and turned off the TV . . . everything went from fretful, stressed baby to serenity. And it all fell in place within minutes of my saying - "I am momma and I am taking charge of how things are gonna be handled with my baby."
If I wanted to feed him for an hour - guess what? When he was finished, he quit. If he fell asleep at my breast, good! Often I would just snuggle him for another hour, propped up in bed.
Do what you feel is best. We can read all the books and ask all the advice; then we have to do what we feel is best for our babies. YOU are the expert for YOUR child.
. . everything went from fretful, stressed baby to serenity. And it all fell in place within minutes of my saying - "I am momma and I am taking charge of how things are gonna be handled with my baby."
If I wanted to feed him for an hour - guess what? When he was finished, he quit. If he fell asleep at my breast, good! Often I would just snuggle him for another hour, propped up in bed.
Do what you feel is best. We can read all the books and ask all the advice; then we have to do what we feel is best for our babies. YOU are the expert for YOUR child.
Good for you! Great post and something for the younger mothers to learn from.
I believe there are two schools of thought.
The demand feeders who pull out a breast when the kid asks
and the schedule feeders who shove the breast in (the mouth) when the closk says so.
and then of course there are the formula feeders
oooo ahhh noooo we hate them and dont talk about aunt edna who used a bottle.
Personally I go for the demand feeder policy.
But as a man I know better than to give advice to a mom with a baby.
(I rely here on anonymity)
You let him/her sleep then feed him/her. The wailing will let you know. Many do try a schedule feeding. You will know as you go into Parenthood. Good luck mama. My son in the beginning 2 ounces he fell asleep then 2 more then fell asleep. Soon I tried for him to eat more so he would. Then the bottle wasn't filling him up closer to 6 months. I then love love adding the cereal to the bottle.
Once when my baby was only a couple weeks old, if that, I was trying to wake her because it had been about 4 or more hours since she ate, and that kid was out cold!!! Could not wake her up!!!
You're baby will ask to be fed. The longer he goes, the more sleep you can get, so take advantage. I wish my daughter had done that, especially as early as 5 weeks. At 6 months, I was still getting up at least once a night for her. It took her until she was at least a year old, maybe longer, before she slept through the night.
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