My Baby Sleeps So Long. Should I Wake Him Up to Breastfeed?

Parenting has no fixed rule. Children in each age range have different milk requirements. Even children of the same age children have different milk requirements as well. Some children are easily hungry, eat milk a lot, and sleep for 3-4 hours straight. Some children have a small stomach and eat often but not much. They might get hungry every 2-3 hours.

Breast milk is easy to digest. The excretory system will be good. The baby might defecate 2-3 times a day. They also get hungry easier. However, the advantage of breastfeeding is that when the baby wakes to breastfeed, it stimulates the mother’s breast to produce more milk to meet the needed amount of the baby. The long sleep mostly happens in the first week after birth. Then, the baby will adapt and have a particular wake-up time, or stay awake longer.

You can estimate whether your baby has enough milk by…

1. From the skin. When pressing down and the skin is elastic.
2. The yellowish urine.
3. Feel lighter, or empty, after the breastfeeding. It shows that your baby should have enough milk.

If you are not sure whether your baby is full or not, or he/she might fall asleep during the feeding, encourage the baby to feed more by nudging his/her bottom lip lightly.

Does it necessary to wake the baby to eat?

- In the newborns, the first month is the beginning period of the milk creation. The baby will suck on mother’s breath every 2-3 hours which is good for their age.

- If the baby is 2-3 months old and hasn’t wake up to feed, you don’t have to wake him/her up. It may be the foundation for late night milk and bottle addict.

- In children aged 4-5 months old, the stomach becomes bigger. If they have enough milk during the day and gain a proper weight, most of them will sleep longer at night. Mothers might let the baby sleep for 4-5 hours without waking the baby up to feed.

- After aged one year old, the mother should train your baby to sleep long, without waking up for the late night milk. During the day, feed the baby 3 meals and feed milk 3-4 times a day, with the average amount of 24 ounces in total. At first, the baby may ask for milk from the usual routine. If they have enough food and milk during the day, it’s not necessary to feed them milk at night.

There are many ways to stop the late night milk, but you must do it gradually. If your child is still a baby, you should start to train him/her to sleep without sucking on milk. This way, your baby can stop the late night milk easier and sleep longer. Anyway, each child has different milk requirements. If you have any questions, please consult your pediatrician.