Feeding at night....

[lynnshewan]

My friend has just had a baby, and he is now around six weeks old.

He is sleeping fine during the day, but he won't sleep at night. She has had quite a few friends tell her to feed her baby from tea times onwards very frequently and fill him to the point of bursting! They did give it a name but she couldn't remember. Then they said to stick him in a cot and let him sleep right through without a feed!!!

She is very concerned and i have never heard of this before, and by the sounds of it, can't be good for baby??

Anyone??

[Anna]

IMO a 6 week old baby still needs at least 1 feed per night, more if breastfeeding. Babies grow more when they are sleeping so will of course become hungry. Their stomachs still can't hold enough to get them through hours & hours without nourishment. All babies are different too, my eldest slept through from about 2 months whereas my youngest wanted feeds in the middle of the night until 6 mths and didn't sleep through the night until he was nearly 3 years old (both were breast fed).

These people telling her to treat the baby like a force fed foie gras duck and then ignoring a hungry crying infant, should be arrested for child neglect if that is how they treat their children. Sleepless nights are part of parenting unfortunately. It doesn't last that long and in a few years you wonder where your baby went!!
Just my opinion!!

[lynnshewan]

Thanks Anna,

I myself, have a two year old and her sleeping pattern has never been that great, only now sleeping right through.

Had never heard of this method before, as my little laydee needed feeding quite a lot ( she was breast fed), but i only gave her when she asked, despite what time of day or night it was.

[costaclaire]

Hi, I agree that this sounds terribly young to be getting concerned about baby waking. Unfortunately it seems to be the first thing people ask you when you have a young baby, how they are sleeping, and if they aren't making it through the night you get bombarded with well meaning advice....but at 6 weeks!

I would tell your friend not to let what other people say panic her or make her think her baby isn't doing what she should be. Of course routine is very important to little babies but we need to have realistic expectations, and appreciate that every child is different.

My little boy is 3 and still wakes up once in the night! That is not to say that your friend's baby won't fall into a great sleep pattern but 6 weeks is very very early days, and my opinion would be that feeding when she needs it is vital for her growth at such a young age.

C x

[julesb]

Hiya, to be honest - I think as 6 weeks you should still feeing on demand. If you force a baby to feed too much all you are doing is stretching the stomach..... which we all know is not good us and can lead to other problems later in life.
My first slept through from 10 weeks (bottle fed) and when I say slept through, I fed her awake at 7pm and then did a "dream feed" at 11pm and she then slept through until the morning. I did exactly the same with my second although I was able to breast feed with her - she slept through at the age of 16 weeks.
As a few people has already said - sleepless nights are all part of the wonders of parenthood.
IMO I think the most important gift you can give your child is to learn to sleep on their own. With both my 2 I put them down after winding rather than rocking etc and they were both happy to fall asleep on their own. They still do to this day without being frightened or the need for me to stay in the room with them.
Each child is different and needs different things - there is no right or wrong way of parenting - whatever your friend feels is right for her child is the way she should do things and not to feel pressurised by other "well intentioned" people.

[membles]

Hiya

6 weeks old - too young to expect to sleep through the night surely!
I agree with JulesB's post - excellent advice.

Mx

[lynnshewan]

Thank you laydees for all your advice.

I checked my friends fb page and the mothers are calling the weird style of feeding "Cluster feeding". Like i said never heard of it. But same mothers are stating that they put baby in cot at 2 weeks old, so guess it says it all!

I'm perhaps a soft touch, but i find it all a bit impersonal. Totally agree that sleepless nights are all part of the experience, and if thats the only problem they ever encounter, i can deal with that!

Thanks again everyone, i can now report back to said friend.

xx