Waking up Babies from Naps For Feeds - day or night?

[hasmib]

I currently have a 2week old baby girl whom weighs 6llbs 11oz. She feeds approx every 3 hours with 3 oz of formula. I am trying to follow the EASY plan but have a few questions.

Do you wake the baby every 3rd hour for a feed or feed her when she wakes up naturally? Also sometimes she naps and sometimes she doesnt. For example in the morning after her 7am feed she wont sleep at all till after the next feed 3 hours later. Should I be using the shush pat after her first feed to coax her in to a nap?

Also she currently feeds at 11pm - 1:30am and 4:30am during the night. Agian though oftne I am feeding her in her sleep as soon as I hear noises of her awakening.

Am I doing this correctly or should I be waiting for her to wake up fully at day and night and cry till I feed her ?

[Sydney]

Welcome and congratulations!

At her age, I would wake her for her feeds as they need to eat in order to put on weight and since she is so young, she would probably sleep though a lot of her feeds if you didn't wake her.

Yes, I would use shush/pat with her to try and get her down. I still struggle with my dd's naps and she is 4 months old.  It will take sometime, but it is great that you are starting her at such a young age.

When my dd was that young, my pediatrician had me feeding her every 2 hours to get some weight on her.  She was 6 lbs, 10 oz when born.  So, for the first couple of weeks, I woke her every 2 hours at night   I was bfeeding then.

Hope this helps.

[HeatherC]

I would wake her not only b/c it is important for her to get calories and nutrition, but it also helps her learn to differentiate between day and night sleep.  You can give a leway of 30 mins or so, but do try to get as many feeds in during the day.  My dd never woke up herself in those early days, even at night.  I had to wake her, then put her straight back down.  At 2 wo, feed her as many times as she wakes in the night, and she'll gradually stretch out her feedings as she gets older.
Shh/pat should be used if your child is crying when going down for a nap.  You can find much more info on that on the Sleep boards, probably under Naps.
HTH, and congrats on your new lo!

[hasmib]

Thankyouso much for your advice. I have come gradually to an understanding that my child is normal and hse has already fallen in to a routine - she has a df at 10:30ish wakes at 1:30 then 4;30 and then 7:30am so all in all not bad!

Just want to try and sort the day routineout.

Will happen I think of its own accord.