How long should I let my 11 week old go without a feed at night?

[pinkie93]

My little boy has started to sleep through the night, he's exclusively breastfed and has been gaining about 2lb a month. How long is it ok for him to go without a feed? Should I be waking him up for a feed? I'm worried that my milk supply will reduce or he'll stop gaining because he used to feed a lot at night. Plus at the parenting class we went to they said that it's not always a good thing for baby to sleep through the night early on, should I be concerned? Thank you!

[MissSaoPaulo]

My girl's 11 weeks today and I think she'd sleep right through if I let her. I asked my pediatrician and she said it was ok to let her sleep and she'd let us know if she was hungry but it seems like a long time to leave her without and I usually find my breasts feel really full by about 2am so as I'm getting up anyway to express I wake her up for a feed.

Sorry, I don't think this helped at all, but it's nice to compare notes with someone in a similar situation!!

[pinkie93 in reply to MissSaoPaulo]

Thanks for your reply

It does feel like a really long time, when he wakes up I find myself feeling a real sense of urgency to get milk in his belly and my boobs are like boulders! haha

I was thinking of starting to express some milk, how have you found it? Any recommendations? Thank you

[MissSaoPaulo in reply to pinkie93]

I had to start expressing when she was about 10 days old. She was really rubbish at breastfeeding - just falling asleep straight away. She still sleeps really quickly on the breast so I feed her for a bit then use the electric pump to empty my breasts and she gets that in her next feed. It's working for us. I'm renting an electric pump. It's pretty quiet and doesn't hurt. It usually takes around half an hour to 40 minutes to do both breasts, which is a pain in the middle of the night but her Dad gets up with her in the morning and gives her the expressed milk and I get another hour or so in bed. Have a look into renting - there's usually a deal for 2 weeks for you to try it out. I have a manual pump too, but I've never used it. Let me know how it goes xxx

[pinkie93 in reply to MissSaoPaulo]

Ah thank you, I didn't know you could rent a pump!

My boy was like that in the beginning, he would go right off to sleep, then he started cluster feeding and everything changed. For a while he would feed for 6 hours non stop!

I'm a bit worried that I've left it too late and he won't take a bottle, but it's worth a try. Would be lovely if my hubby could do some feeds, he's just got the hang of changing nappies haha xxx

[Annh17]

Never wake a sleeping baby, your baby will let you know when hungry. My LG slept through from 6 weeks x

[MissEd in reply to Annh17]

No one can ever tell me why your not meant to wake a sleeping baby? I always wake my baby, weather its to feed or go out!

However, he will wake up himself if hungry, so i would try and enjoy the rest! My son slept through from 11 weeks

[Annh17 in reply to MissEd]

I have never been told why not too wake a sleeping baby also. We used too wake our baby during the day for feeds, but not at night.

Yes I agree definitely enjoy the rest, as when he gets older, naps during the day will get less and less and also the sleep regression and teething kicks in 🙈 x

[MissEd in reply to Annh17]

No sleep regression here but teething deffo! Although he did have his first 4 come within 3 weeks so i can understand why he was grumpy! Lol

[Annh17 in reply to MissEd]

We have had the 7 month sleep regression escaped the others 🙏 7 month one was so hard though as teething at same time. Still no teeth though x

[claire16c]

Hi! I’m a bf peer supporter as your baby is gaining weight and feeding well it’s ok to let them sleep. Your boobs will adjust but if you are worried about getting engorged and it’s waking you, you could always hand express a bit in the night x