When did you stop waking baby to feed at night?

Hello! Looking to hear other NICU mum’s experiences of when you stopped waking baby for feeds overnight and moved onto more responsive feeding?

My twins were born at 36 weeks and we struggled with their weight when we were first discharged home, they are now 9 weeks old and gaining weight but I still feel a bit obsessed with the feeding schedule 😬. During the day they do generally ask for milk every 3 - 4 hours but overnight we most often have to wake them. We’ve pushed it to 5 hours overnight now but it still feels like they would sleep longer if we didn’t wake them.

Just wondering when others dropped the feeding schedules and if you were anxious about this too?!

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.

Add a comment

I stopped at 12 weeks (6 weeks corrected for my baby boy) but in hindsight I wish I’d stopped much earlier and allowed myself to enjoy the sleep before the 4 month sleep regression hit! No one told me to continue for that long, but as we had feeding issues at the start I was also anxious about it. You could consult your midwife or health visitor for reassurance but I’d imagine it’s safe for you to stop. Good luck and enjoy the extra sleep if you can get it ❤️

My twins were 12 weeks early, we woke them for feeds until they were 6 weeks corrected and then moved to more responsive feeding. One of my sons had a lot of difficulty gaining weight so we were under dietetics until 10 months, and she was happy with that approach

When they start showing cues and waking themselves is how my NICU nurse staff did it for us :) at a month and a half old he was feeding what he wanted when he wanted ! Going 3-5 hours between feeds :) he’s now still going 3-6.5 hours with anything between 100-180 ml

I always did responsive feeding, but if you feel like they need to wake up and feed then wake them up. You’re mum, and know the babies best. If it helps you can keep pushing the time between night feeds back 10ish minutes each time, to see how they do. And you can keep an eye on their weight and how long they’re feeding for, you never know, they might start waking up to feed by theirselves

The nicu told me i could do it at 4 months they were worried about her blood sugars dropping

in our community

Night time help!

Hi! My baby boy is nearly 6 months old and every night he wakes up anytime from 2am onwards and will be awake for well over two hours.
I’ve tried changing his naps during the day, changing his bedtimes and yet nothing seems to help!
Any tips that might help this exhausted mummy?
I don’t mind the wake ups if he would settle straight away but he views it as a whole wake window.

Should I wake baby up to feed?

First time mum here, my baby is 2 months old today. Should I be waking her for night feeds? During the day she feeds every 2–3 hours, but at night she usually sleeps from around 11pm to about 3am, and I’ve been waking her then. Is that okay, or should I let her sleep?

Newborn sleep for 9 hours

Hello mamas, my newborn is 6 weeks old. Last night she slept for 9 hours without waking up for a feed. The previous night she slept for 8 hours as well. During the day she had quite a lot awake periods and she was eating well. She also gained 1kg for a month which the midwife said it's very good. Is she okay like that and should I wake her up to feed her during the night?

Crazy MIL??

I’ve always found my mother in law tricky - she has a hideous nervous energy about her and finds everything absolutely hilarious which sets me right on edge. We’ve just had a baby and she came down to meet her. It was very soon after baby was born so we were pretty knackered and I’d suffered bad hypertension in hospital and had had to stay in for a week. She had wanted to come and see me there but I managed to get my husband to say no- she would have not made my blood pressure any better!
So she came to see the baby a couple of weeks after with her partner- who btw had a chest and they didn’t tell us.
My MIL was at her most hyper and difficult. She stayed hours and hours and held the baby all the way though- fed her her bottle (just took it off my husband) without asking and took photos and posted them without asking.
Then I was changing the babies nappy. Baby had terrible nappy rash at the time and was screaming with pain - making me want to cry. My MIL just sat there watching - hooting with laughter. 🫠
But the worst thing is she made these WEIRD comments - there was a photo of baby just wearing a vest and she said she “looked a hussy.” Then later when we were describing about the baby having phototherapy- which was horribly traumatic- my husband said how he tucked her into his denim jacket to keep warm - his mothers response was “ah so she likes a bit of rough???”
I think in her mind she was being really funny but I was appalled by her comments. In the end I made and excuse, went upstairs to have a shower and then sat there until they left. I used to feel fed up and weary at the thought of her but now I feel pure anger. It’s tricky as obviously she’s my husbands mum. She also gave us the deposit for our house and is generally generous in that way. She and my husband have a really odd relationship in my opinion- I’m super close to my fam and they all live nearby so we see them a lot
His mum lives in Devon and we’re in Kent which is something to be thankful for.
After they finally went she messaged my husband and asked to come and stay for a week. Thankfully he has the sense to say no. But Christ what is wrong with the women? Those comments have made me feel so hostile towards her. Should I just get over it??

Baby won’t sleep

Somebody please help me.
She’s crying, I’m crying. Idk what to do. Husband isn’t here rn and my mom’s asleep.
She’s not hungry, diapers freshly changed, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable in any way. She just seems tired but can’t fall asleep. She’s been doing this for a few days now, just fighting sleep. I refuse to let her cry it out and I’m doing everything I know and can do at this time. She’ll take the boob but keep stretching away every few seconds. She keeps chewing on her hand like she’s hungry but won’t eat cause she already did 30 minutes ago. I’m just at a loss and starting to get stressed. Nothing is helping.

Sex life postpartum

Hey hey!
Today I am five weeks postpartum. My husband has been counting down the days until I hit the six week mark so we can start our sex life again. Has anyone else been scared to get down and dirty again? Especially after a vaginal delivery. I’m worried that it’s going to hurt or reopen any wounds. And to be honest, I’ve never been a girl with high drive and isn’t something that I am overly excited about.

I have a six week checkup booked at the GP as per my midwife’s suggestion, in which I will organise birth control.

Has anyone else been in the same boat as me? Or am I being selfish by not wanting to have sex anytime soon?

Any advice would be appreciated xx