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Infant feeding

11wk old going 9+ hrs without feed overnight. Is this ok??

17 replies

u32ng · 22/04/2013 03:52

So my 11wk old DS was fed at 6.40pm & here I am at 3.45am heating his bottle because I'm thinking surely he must be starving! (Last night was the first time he slept this long)

But now I'm thinking I should maybe just let him sleep?

I think I just have this paranoia still from the earlier days when the midwives/HV said that they shouldn't go X amount of hrs overnight without a feed.

Help! Am torn between wondering if he's ok & needs me to wake him, or just letting him sleep!

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Namechangedespeciallyforthis · 22/04/2013 04:03

Only know from a bf point of view, but my friend who is a mw told me at 11/12 weeks that 8hrs was perfectly fine, so would assume that, as ff is supposed to take longer to digest, then that should be fine. My ds has only done it four or so times out of ten days, but better than my three older boys who never slept longer than 90 min at a time until 9mths or so. :)

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butterfliesinmytummy · 22/04/2013 04:22

My paediatrician told me never to wake a sleeping baby for a feed, apparently hunger is one of the strongest human instincts and will wake a baby. You're just lucky Grin

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Longdistance · 22/04/2013 04:27

My dd2 was like this from 9 wks.
She's 22 mo now, and loves her sleep :)

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shouldibecrossaboutthis · 22/04/2013 07:38

another one whose 8 week old went 8-12 hrs without a feed! Just go with it for now as it soon changes, my 6 month old now wakes us at 5am for a chat!

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u32ng · 22/04/2013 08:20

Well here's hoping this is him starting to sleep through (for now anyway haha!) I know that I've been really lucky with him as he only wakes once in the night for a feed.

Yeah I think I'll leave him tonight & see how long he goes. He's definitely a hungry Horace so I suppose if he's not waking then he must be fine!

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MortifiedAdams · 22/04/2013 08:28

Should be fine. By 11wks dd had dropped her 3am feed so would get a dream feed at 10pm then wake at 7am. It wasnt much longer she stopped needing the dreamfeed.

She is a bloody bugger now at 16mo though and wakes at 4am for a feed every single bloody night.

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pmgkt · 22/04/2013 08:44

If he is maintaining his weight and has gained weight nicely then fine. If he is underweight or struggling to gain then I would would wake as they can sleep to save energy. As I say if his weight is fine then yes he is fine to sleep. Well done.

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BluddyNora · 22/04/2013 09:09

I wish I had this problem, my 10wk old has me up 5 times between 8pm-8am Sad

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PogoBob · 22/04/2013 09:16

16wo DS goes 7 - 8 hours between feed (breastfed) and has done for the last 6 weeks and it hasn't affected his growth.

If I could just stop his older sister waking every 3 hour I'd be laughing!!

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islasmummy2013 · 22/04/2013 11:51

My daughter is 11 weeks old and feeds every 3 hours, 5 times a day then goes 12 hours at night. She developed this routine herself and we just went with it, she is formula fed by the way xx

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LadyMacbethIsBored · 22/04/2013 12:02

My breastfed DD was sleeping from 7:30 - 6am ish at 11 weeks. She would feed three times between 4pm and 7pm and then sleep through. I did feel very lucky as all my friends with babies were exhausted and we were all getting a decent nights sleep.

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SchroSawMargeryDaw · 22/04/2013 12:11

DS went 7-7 at that point and much earlier, I was told not to wake a sleeping baby and he was fine.

When he was born and in SCBU for observation, they wouldn't wake him unless it had been more than 5 hours so I think at 11 weeks that amount of time is totally fine.

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SchroSawMargeryDaw · 22/04/2013 12:11

Should add that the MWs on the PN ward went nuts if you didn't wake after 3 hours. Hmm I thought I would trust SCBU over them though.

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MajaBiene · 22/04/2013 12:14

In the first couple of weeks it is important to wake a baby to feed if they don't wake themselves, as they don't always demand even if hungry, and a weak baby might sleep to conserve energy.

Once they are a couple of weeks old, have regained birth weight/are gaining weight and are demanding feeds, then it is fine to let them sleep.

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Passmethecrisps · 22/04/2013 12:16

My DD started doing this at 5 weeks. She had actually just been on hospital for refusing to eat to we were concerned obviously. Paediatrician was quite happy echoing the advice above of not waking a sleeping baby. He told us that after 4 weeks a healthy baby should be left alone to sleep as they wish.

Nice one!

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u32ng · 22/04/2013 20:26

Well that's DS fast asleep for the last hour & after settling himself too which I always think leads to a better sleep. So fingers crossed he sleeps as late again - I will relish the time in bed instead of fretting about him!!

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u32ng · 23/04/2013 01:55

Bottle heating. DS awake at usual-ish time for feed.

Ah well, the 4am waking was fun while it lasted! (All of 2 days...)

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