why do some mothers (like american and french women) wake their babies at three in the morning to nurse them?

Question

no offense to any mom, but from where i come from we believe in "feed on demand", i don't think that waking babies up at three a.m. to eat is good for neither the baby or the mother, because sleeping is very important for BOTH of them.
so why do u do that? and who came up with this idea... i'm asking seriuosly... please tell me it's not a man who came up with this!

by the way our babies live a very happy baby life and grows up normally without the need of waking up at three am unless the baby wakes up by itself to eat...

Answer 1

when i gave birth to underweight twins, our pediatritian told me to feeed them every 2-3 hours. if they were sleeping i had to wake them up, with the understanding that they might not have the energy to wake themselves up later if they were not nourished enough.

he was right, my youngest lost so much weight he was just above 4lbs. he was born at 5.3lbs.

gradually, as they got larger i was able to go longer without feeding them, until they could sleep through the night unbothered.

for some babies it's not just good, it's vital. if a healthy baby sleeps through the night and is gaining weight properly, then of course, let them sleep.

Answer 2

If your baby is less than a couple months old they need to eat every three or four hours because their blood sugar can get too low and they can go into a coma. But when my baby was about 9 weeks old she started sleeping through the night, and by then she could handle not eating for more than 3 hours at night. I feed my 5 month old baby every 3 hours during the day and she will sleep from about 8 or 9 at night and wake up about 6 in the morning. I dont wake her up cause I need to sleep too. Its ok to wake them up to feed them, those moms are probably just being more protective which is normal.

Answer 3

I'd like to know where this came from too! I'm american, and when I was in the hospital I got YELLED AT by the nurses for not waking my baby up to feed him!! He WAS a preemie, and I did NOT wake him up to feed him every 2-3 hours, that's just crazy. He lost a little weight at first, but he certainly didn't starve, and I was a much saner person because of the extra sleep.
Ok, if there's some kind of medical reason, fine. But I think in general, let sleeping babies sleep!

Answer 4

I have no idea where you got this information. I've lived in America all my life and I know a lot of mothers and I don't know one who was waking her baby at 3am for a feeding. You are obviously not a mother, but some mothers who breastfeed do, now and then, wake their babies if their breasts are engorged. It's very painful and generally your breasts fill up with milk according to how much the baby nurses...so if they are engorged it's probably time to nurse the baby anyway. And that only happened maybe twice in all the months I breastfed.

As you'll find out when you actually become a mother - you are so frigging exhausted (unless your breasts are painfully engorged), you wouldn't dare wake the baby if he/she is sleeping unless the house is on fire.

Answer 5

The only reason I would wake a baby at 3 a.m. to eat would be if it was a newborn who wasn't feeding frequently enough. (6 weeks of age or younger and it had been too long since the last feeding.)

By the time they are 6 weeks old they should be waking up enough on their own to eat fine.

I prefer to call it "cue feeding" instead of "feeding on demand" because it's about responding to the baby's needs, not about the baby being bossy. ;-)

Answer 6

The only time that I believe it is necessary is when an infant is premature. My sister in-law had to do so, because the baby was so small when she came home from the hospital. I personally think doing so otherwise is punishing yourself. I feed on demand, and my daughter is happy and thriving.
(P.S. I'm American. But my mother is from Cuba, so I follow their ways of doing things more than the irritating Americans, which I find to work very well for my daughter and myself.)

Answer 7

Because a lot of times if your a breastfeeding mom, your baby will lose weight first before gaining. And most pedi's tell them to wake baby for a feeding, so your milk supply doesnt diminish and baby gains weight.
All my kids lost weight, I mean a good amount first before they gained it.
And I woke my babies every 4 hours at least to eat. When really depending on a lot of variations, infants should breastfeed every 2-3 hours.
And you said you were a breastfeeding mom? Maybe I missed that

Answer 8

anyone who does that is crazy, unless there is a health problem with the baby. some doctors say that even if the baby sleeps through the night the mother should wake them up to feed them so that their milk supply does not go down, those doctors must not have any kids. my thought on it is, if the baby sleeps through the night be thankful, the baby will tell you when they are hungry.

Answer 9

Sometimes if a baby is born early it has to be woken up every three hours to be fed. It could be also that the mother's breasts are engourged and she needs to feed the baby to empty her breasts. Using a pump does not always cause a let down and some mothers can not express the milk with a pump.

Answer 10

I did the whole "feed on demand" thing, too. Though the nurses in the hospital were pretty adamant about waking both of us up every 2-3 hours to nurse. When we got home, I nursed whenever he was ready.