Infants

how often and how much are newborns supposed to feed?

the nurse kept having me try to feed her ever 3-4 hrs however my baby would be dead asleep and wont wake up to eat, so do i let my baby sleep and feed her when she wakes up or do i pester her every 3-4 hrs and make her eat

Public Comments

1. Don't wake her up, feed her as much as she wants. But don't make a bottle that's over 8 ounces, especially if she's a newborn. But be sure to wake her up in the morning to feed her.
2. You should pester her to eat every 3-4 hours if bottle fed and every 2-3 hours if breast fed. Tickle her feet or tap them lightly, that usually works to help wake a sleeping baby enough for them to continue to suck.
3. If she is gaining weight, let her sleep. She'll be fine. If she does not gain weight, then you will need to wake her for feeds. Just ensure that she is getting her sleep at night and not during the day. During the day, try to wake her - naps are good but 8-9 hours of sleep are not because then she'll be up at night.
4. During the day pester her to eat every 3-4 hours but at night she should be ok until she wakes up hungry on her own. its a great way to try to get them on a schedule early.
5. I would let her sleep, as long as she eats every 5 hours, then I would wake her up and attempt to feed her. But there might be a reason why the nurse told you 3-4 I was told 5...
6. As long as there no health/weight issues....if you want baby on a somewhat reliable schedule, I would try to rouse her at regular intervals...however, dealing with new-mommy exhaustion takes precedence in my opinion...so you may want to sleep while baby is! Baby will let you know when she's hungry, so don't worry about that. I fed more "on demand" ...worked well for me but may not be for everyone. (I also nursed [no bottles], which makes a difference too, since I was on-call for all feedings and needed to produce/reduce breast milk regularly!) Good luck!
7. if your baby eat alot befor want to sleep then lert the baby sleep soon she get hungry she ll wake up
8. A newborn should be eating 8-10 times a day. So if you must wake her do so.
9. Generally no more than 4 ounces. Let the baby sleep and when she wakes up, feed her.
10. dont listen to foolish people. you NEED to wake your baby up to eat and a pediatrician will tell you this. it is likely that someone who says not to wake them is too selfish to wake their baby to feed them and sacrifice their time. it is kinda tough, but is necessary. babies have very little tummies. if you go to a newborn information site im sure you can find out information from experts. babies do NOT always let us know when they are hungry. blessings
11. If your baby is not gaining wieght you need to wake her up in the 4 hour period to feed her. If her growth is going along fine you need not to wake her up. Infants need 2-3 oz to start with then you can slowly move up to four if she is finishing her bottle and wanting to eat every hour. Your nurse is right to feed her every 3-4 hours. I personally set my alarm for every 4 hours at night to feed my son, however he was growing fine and I probably didnt have to. He is 5 months now and has started baby cereal :) Good luck and best wishes!
12. If your nursing it should be every 2 hours. If its formula then it should be every 3-4. You supposed to wake them for feedings even if you dont want to. It didnt make sense to me either but the nurses at the hospital when I gave birth told me it was important to wake them so that the get on a schedule. As they get older they will choose when they are hungry and wake u when they are ready. If you had the bbay recently and had a Csection the baby wont wake because of the drugs they gave you to have the baby.
13. You do well, if the baby is hungry it will tell you. All babies are different, for mine the nurse and the doctor in the hospital told me to feed him last at 10 pm and then feed him next at 6 am in the morning, result - he screamed the whole night. When I was back home I fed him on demand (also during the night for about three weeks) and he was ok. Gradually the rythm of his meals went normal.
14. she wouldnt sleep if she was hungry so leave her i never woke my son up for a feed yet he would seem to make up on his own every 4-5 hours for a feed she will tell you what she want and when she wants you have just got to learn and that comes everyday. do what you think and feels right for you though at the end of the day mums know best.
15. If the baby is breastfed, she should eat every 2-3 hours. She should eat 10-15 minutes on each breast. If she is formula fed, she should eat every 3-4 hours, but I don't know for sure how much because mine's not formula fed. That being said, while in the hospital I had a very hard time getting my son to wake up to feed. Sometimes he was going 5-8 hours without eating. I was very concerned about it, but both the nurse and the pediatrician assured me that it was okay in the first couple of days because he had been through so much. I took him home, and he was eating more frequently, but occasionally would still go up to 5 hours without eating. I had a doctor's appointment on Friday (my son was 5 days old) and I talked to his pediatrician about this. The pediatrician assured me that my son was gaining weight faster than average so it was okay that he was going so long between feedings sometimes. The pediatrician advised me to feed on-demand (wait for him to wake up) since he was gaining weight so well. Some babies are just like that, and it is NOT necessarily selfish. I was not selfish for not waking my baby. I tried and the nurse's tried to wake him. I was worried out of my mind, so I can't believe another answerer would automatically assume that a person is selfish if their baby doesn't wake every 2 hours to feed... Anyway, best of luck to you!
16. How new? If she is a few days old, I would wake her up to feed her. Try taking her clothes off and feeding her naked.
17. If you are breastfeeding, you should be feeding every 2-3 hours, formula feeding every 3-4 hours. Yes, the nurse is CORRECT that you should wake up the baby to feed. Birth affects babies differently. As a result some just sleep and can oftentimes get repeated bouts of dehydration because of those long sleeps. Wake her up to feed. Once she is 5 or 6 weeks old, this is typically less of a problem. As far as what she eats, a baby's tummy is pretty darn small. I seem to recall hearing that once released from hospital, a baby should take no less than 2 oz. in any 4 hour period. Otherwise, feed to desire of baby. More details below. Also, as with anything else, this is very generalized advice. For instance, Mikey'sMommy above had specific advice that addressed her specific infant (who was ahead on the weight charts).
18. its up to you. she isn't going to starve if she is sleeping. the reason the nurse wanted you to do that was to get her on a schedule probably. and to make sure she is eating enough. maybe you can get to know what kind of schedule she wants and work with her. but i would definately reccomend having some kind of schedule. to make one yourself instead of the 3-4 hrs. try writing down every feeding, every diaper change, all that she does. then you can look at that after a week or two and make a schedule from the pattern. good luck!