do you wake your babies to eat at 2 months?

so my 2 month old boys are still waking up every 2 hours at night and I am EXHAUSTED. during the day though they will go longer -like 3 or 4 hours. we are breastfeeding and formula feeding -switching every other feeding.

should i wake them up every 2 or 3 hours during the day so maybe they will go longer at night? or will they go longer at night when they are ready?

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP -I'VE GROWN TO LOVE THIS PLACE.

Everytime my husband and I have a question -I always say "I'll post it at the twins site and see what they say." This place is so great since I don't have any friends that have twins. So again, THANK YOU!

 

so my 2 month old boys are still waking up every 2 hours at night and I am EXHAUSTED. during the day though they will go longer -like 3 or 4 hours. we are breastfeeding and formula feeding -switching every other feeding.

should i wake them up every 2 or 3 hours during the day so maybe they will go longer at night? or will they go longer at night when they are ready?

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP -I'VE GROWN TO LOVE THIS PLACE.

Everytime my husband and I have a question -I always say "I'll post it at the twins site and see what they say." This place is so great since I don't have any friends that have twins. So again, THANK YOU!

 

I think at 2 months I quit waking them, and let them tell me when they were hungry (at night). During the day I did wake them and feed them, that way hoping they would eat more during the day and sleep better at night. Some nights it worked, and some nights it didn't... I think I narrowed it down to them being ready to sleep through the night.

 

I don't wake mine either. Some days they nap really well and other days (like today) they don't nap as well. We still struggle with night sleep. It seems that ours were sleeping better before (every three hours or so). Now, they might do a three hour stretch then move to every 1.5 to 2 hours. I'm using the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book. Not seeing the results I would like, maybe I'm not incorporating his suggestions appropriately. WHO KNOWS!!?? Seems like we are in similar situations.

 

"Sleeping comes from the brain, not from the stomach" ... those were the famous words Weissbluth once said to me.

We saw him today for ds's (minor) reflux. I told him they were doing a 5-hour stretch and then a 4-hour one (8-1 and 1-5) and he said that was great. DS was now 9lbs3oz, and DD is heavier, but she doesn't have any issues, so I didn't get to weigh her.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Sofiesmom:
We saw him today for ds's (minor) reflux. I told him they were doing a 5-hour stretch and then a 4-hour one (8-1 and 1-5) and he said that was great. DS was now 9lbs3oz, and DD is heavier, but she doesn't have any issues, so I didn't get to weigh her.

What techniques are you using? Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

At 2 months mine were still waking, but they started sleeping through at around this time infrequently. Now at 4.5 months they are doing at least 8 hours every night and most often 10 to 12. I do a bedtime routine every night. It was tough at first, but it became easier. Now they go into thier cribs still awake and are usually asleep in about 10 to 20 minutes.

I also feed them every 3 hours during the day. I don't have to wake them up because they know when 3 hours is up. I would like to get them to 4 hours with bigger feeds, but they are set in thier ways.

But most important for you should be to try a bedtime routine if you don't currently do one. I also started making the middle of the night feeds smaller at around that age.

Good luck. I thought the exhaustion would never end, but suddenly it did. I actually have a bit of relaxation time now and I enjoy waking up with them in the middle of the night if they need a snack. One day soon you will find that they slept through the night and you will be shocked.

 

We don't wake for feedings either. Their eating is sporadic here as well but if you are definitely getting more night time wakings they may have their days and nights confused. I would suggest making day time naps as noisy as possible and evening naps more like bedtime -- dark room, no noise etc.

 

We never woke a sleeping baby!!! Our boys started sleeping through at 2.5 months for Paul and 3.5 months for Jack. We were told by the ped. at their 2 month appt. that sleeping through the night was our only priority- don't worry about anything else until we got that down! He said to offer them (not force) a bottle during the day, every hour. (at one month I stopped breastfeeding) I thought every hour was crazy- but we settled on every two hours- unless they were sleeping. So, sometimes they'd go 4 hours between feedings if they were asleep- most of the time it was 2 though. sometimes they didn't want it- we wasted a lot of bottles at first- but we could offer it to the other one if it hadn't been too long.
The dr.s reasoning for doing this was- once they had enough calories during the day- they wouldn't wake at night. Whether that was the case or not, it took 2 weeks for Paul and a month for Jack- they were sleeping about 8.5-10 hours at that point. (Jack still wakes in the morning before Paul at 7 months old!) They go down 6:30-7 pm and wake at 5:30-7 am.
best wishes
Lanie

 

I don't wake them for feedings. They tend to nurse about every 3-4 hours, at 6am, 9:30am, 1:00, 4pm, 7pm approx. Then at night it's something like 10pm, 2am and then again at 6am.

During the day, I try to stretch it out at least 3 hours, and if possible longer, but at witching hour I sometimes give them an extra feeding to help settle them down.

 

I WAS TOLD TO WAKE THEM AT THIS AGE BYE MY PEDI B/C THEY WERE PREM. THEY WERE BORN AT 31 WKS. HE SAID ALWAYYYS WAKE THEM AND TRY TO MAKE THEM EAT EVEN IF THEY REFUSE AT LEASET WE TRIED. MY OPOION IS 2 MTHS IS WAY TO EARLY TO LET THEM SKIP FEEDINGS..

 

my ped still had me waking them up to feed at 2 months. We did so till maybe 4 months. It was so confusing cause one camp said never wake a sleeping baby and another camp said do as ped. said and make sure they feed and another camp said follow your instincts (which I still don't know if I have those!) good luck!

 

You are on to something! You can wake them and try to get the longer stretches at night! My pedi didn't let me go past 4 hrs. at 2 mos. They were still too small. So, this might be a good conversation with them!!

I'm sure you are, but just in case:

Make sure evening and night time are calm, low light, and daytime is louder around the house and LOTS of natural light etc. They need to learn day and night. They could have a little day/night confusion.

 

we only woke them through the night for the first month till they hit their due date (they were born at 36 weeks but were only 3.5 and 4.5 lbs at birth)...once they hit 4 weeks the doc said we could stop waking them and let them eat when they wanted...to this day (and they'll be 8 months next week) they still take feedings every 3-4 hours whether it be solids or a bottle...the mornings are more frontloaded than the afternoons...