Do your newborns wake for feeds or do you have to wake them?

Hi mamas,
My little one is 9 days old and I’ve noticed at night he doesn’t always wake himself for feeds. Sometimes he can go 4 hours between, and I end up having to wake him. In the day he feeds more often, but at night I feel like I’m dragging him out of sleep to keep on top of feeding.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Do your babies always wake themselves at night or do you have to wake them too? Would love to hear how others are handling it — feeling a bit unsure if this is just normal newborn sleepiness or if I should be doing something different. 💛

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If he's regained any weight he lost after birth they do not need waking every 4 hours x

I mostly have to lift mine and wake her up to feed but I’ll only be doing it until she’s back over birthweight, then I’ll leave her to sleep. I let her go 4 hours overnight before I wake her but 3 hours in the day!

I’m waking mine in the night after 4 hours too. Midwife said once they are back to birth weight it’s not so much of an issue xx

Thanks everyone!! ☺️ he was weighed at day 4 and only lost 5% of his birth weight. Day 10 currently but his next weigh in isn’t for another few days, so not 100% sure he’s back up, imagine he has regained that 5% though as he is feeding well. Do you all wake your babies after 4 hours then to feed or they naturally wake up before or around then?

I’ve been waking him every 3.5 hours as he seems to be in a good sleep. He does do a good feed though once on the boob!

My baby is 15 days now but he always wakes for feeds. He has only slept 4 hours a couple of times but I did let him due to him waking every 2-3 in the day. If he only lost 5% that’s amazing! Hopefully next weigh in he is back up to weight and you won’t have to worry about waking him over night 😊 xx

Yes, mine lost 10% birth weight was born at 37 weeks. They’ve just taken a bit longer to get to the stage where they wake themselves up for feeds, eat more etc. mine is slowly regaining weight. You’ll get there :)

I never wake her but usually she wakes up every 4h as max

Thanks so much everyone for the advice ♥️♥️ so so helpful!! xx

I asked the midwife about this today about my 11 day old and she said that as long as they are over their birth weight no need to wake them up at night but, does this apply to during the day as well?

Thats a good point about during the day. I started the last couple nights doing every 4 hours as he seemed like he didn’t need it. But I don’t know if he is up to his birth weight until next weighing, which is on Monday.

During the day I do a bit of on demand feeding whenever he wants it. But he usually wants a feed every 2 hours in the day

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This is such a ramble but I don’t know where else to put it all.

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