how often to feed a newborn?

Question

i’m formula feeding, my baby is 2 weeks and 4 days. i was told every 2/3 hours but wake baby if past 4 hours. i’m feeding him every 2 hours and at night sometimes me waking him (majority time) and sometimes him waking me. should i just let him wake me up? or continue waking him every 2 hours? it’s killing me having no sleep, would you feed your newborn on demand or would you wake them to feed?

Answer

I never woke my kids but they were past birth weight quick. They slept 8 hours at night early on. If yours is already past weight they were born

Answer

I never woke my son at night. Only during the day. He never slept more than 3 hours during the day

Answer

I know people say “I’ve never woken my kids” and  what not I’m some what guilty of doing that too with my first. I didn’t with my 2nd though. 
Although letting baby sleep within the early weeks like that could cause blood sugars to drop and baby would become even more sleepy. Until 6wks ish I wouldn’t let babe sleep past 5hrs. Making sure babe is making adequate weight gains before letting him sleep for longer periods .

Answer

You should discuss this with your doctor or a lactation consultant to understand if you have been given this advice for a specific reason. i.e has your baby not put on enough weight yet?
Generally you just feed on demand unless there are issues with breastmilk supply or weight gain, in which case you might need to feed more frequently. You definitely should not have to wake a sleeping baby to feed moving forward but check in with your doc, good luck :)

Answer

Ive never waken at night to feed either of my kids. If they are hungry they will wake up to feed. If they are past birth weight i wouldnt worry about it

Answer

Talk to your doctor if you’ve been told to wake at night every 4 hours there may be a medical reason for that (premature baby, low birth weight, other medical issues, etc.). Usually the advice is to feed during the day every 2/3 hours and wake from day naps to feed but at night once they are past their birth weight of there are no other medical concerns it’s fine to let them sleep and feed them when they wake themselves in the night.

Answer

I believe the general rule is to wake your baby to feed at least until they are back up to their birth weight. We woke our daughter every 3 hours until she was back to her birth weight and now she’s been sleeping about 4 hours before waking us up.

how often to feed a newborn?

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