At what age is it ok to let a breastfed baby sleep through the night? I know that when they are newborn, they need to be awakened. When can that stop?
2007-03-06 10:04:27 · 11 answers · asked by tiredbutwiredlove 4 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Generally under 4 weeks you can let them go 4-5 hours. Between 4-6 weeks they can go six hours
After 6 weeks you can stop waking them IF they are gaining well.
Obviously if they are not gaining well, cease making enough wet diapers in a day, etc, then you need to go back to waking them.
However these ages are based on being born at 40 weeks. I might wait slightly longer even if your baby was 38 weeks even though that is full term.
The reason for this is some babies do not have the ability to waken under 6 weeks when they are hungry. I am saying this mostly for the other answerers who didn't seem to understand your question. Which is weird, you are clearly asking when it is safe to not waken a baby to feed, and they are answering when it is ok to force them to sleep through. Totally different.
2007-03-06 10:27:58 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You don't ever need to wake a baby to feed him or her. I haven't heard that anywhere. Unless your baby is having a hard time gaining weight (you can check that by counting 6 or more dirty diapers) let him or her sleep as long as possible at night.
I am a breastfeeding mother. My baby is 3 1/2 months old and has slept through the night for 3 weeks now. She is 25 inches long and weighs about 13-14 lbs. I feed her a really big amount before and after sleep, and then normal amounts every 2-4 hours, depending on when she is hungry.
Check with your ped. but I think you can stop waking her tonight with no hesitation.
2007-03-06 10:53:07 · answer #2 · answered by sushishishi 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it just depends on the baby. Every baby is different. My first boy (now 7) slept thru the night at about 4 months old, my daughter (now 4) slept thru the night at 6 months, and my second boy (now 3 months) already sleeps thru the night. As long as the baby is gaining the weight needed and is sleeping for a good amount of time daily, I see no harm in letting them sleep longer than told to by drs. I'm not sure if the reasoning is sids or what, but maybe you should talk to your dr and see what he says about it. If there's really not a reason behind his advice other than he wouldn't recommend it, then I'd say make your own judgement. Drs are people just like us and they can make mistakes too. Nobody knows their baby better than the mommy!
Good luck. Congrats and enjoy your little one!
2007-03-06 10:15:06 · answer #3 · answered by impossiblemama 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At three months or 11 lbs. And by "sleeping through the night" I mean 5-7 hours straight. And I have never heard of the need to wake up a baby during the night. THe baby isnt going to starve if you let him/her sleep through a feeding. Shouldnt that be encouraged? Children need to learn that day time is day time and night time is night time. And night time- is when we sleep. For information about sleeping through the night and other infant questions I recommend this web site
http://www.babycenter.com
It is very informative and gives you information pertaining to your child's developement, what to expect, different studies, etc. I used to use this when my daughter was an infant and I even go back to it every once in a while and they tell me how old my daughter is and different activities that will stimulate her at this age. So try it out!
2007-03-06 10:20:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It will depend on the baby and how much the baby takes in at its last feeding for the night. I breastfed 3 chilred until their 1st birthdays, ages 16, 11, and 9. If my memory serves me correctly once they started on other foods like cereal, and pureed baby foods it helped a lot and they slept longer. No matter what enjoy this bond with you little one now.So many moms don't have that option.
2007-03-06 10:14:15 · answer #5 · answered by jbb 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They need to be awakened only if they are underweight. Otherwise just let them sleep!
Mine was sleeping 5 straight hours for the first 2 months, than started waking up every 2 hours, not because he was hungry, just because he need to be held even for 2 minutes... He is 6 months now and he is sleeping 5 hours again. So it's very different every month. Just enjoy your child and don't try to put him/her on a schedule.
2007-03-06 10:14:02 · answer #6 · answered by Just_Me 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My baby is two months old and I just let her wake up on her own. I think that the rule of thumb is if the baby is at least 10 lbs and about two months they can safely sleep through the night and not be too hungry in the morning, they have enough fat stored up to keep them through the night.
2007-03-06 10:13:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
my son is bottle fed, i feed him every 3 hours during the day and used to feed him ebery 4hours on the ot at night now he is almost 2months i still set my alarm every 4 hours but if he isnt awake i let him sleep he usually wakes up every 4-5 hours, hopfully by 3 months he'll only have 1 feed during the night and by 5 months ill try to see if he'll sleep thru
2007-03-06 14:31:16 · answer #8 · answered by jensxc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My son slept through the night (6 hrs or so) at around 6 weeks. I never woke him up to feed though, he always let me know when he was hungry.
2007-03-06 10:19:21 · answer #9 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is physically possible once a baby reaches approx 12 lbs. before that weight, they done not have enough body mass to sustain themselves for a "full night"
i have never heard that babies need to be woken up, if they are sleeping, let them be. otherwise you may run the chance of "training" them to awaken often.
2007-03-06 10:13:42 · answer #10 · answered by rcm1454 2 · 3⤊ 2⤋