"Never wake a sleeping baby."

Do you agree with this? When do you wake and when do you not?

 

FOR THE MOST PART, I agree with it. If the baby is newborn and needs to be fed, then wake. I am a SAHM, so most of the time, I do not need to wake them. I answered 'it depends.' (only because when they are newborn, they might need to be fed)

 

I do quite a few scheduled awakenings, not with the twins yet, but with my oldest once she started to be on a schedule, in order to protect her sleep schedule and bed time. I usually leave the twins, unless I really have to go somewhere and I do wake the other one up (give or take 30 minutes), if one wakes up to keep them on a similar schedule. So never say never ...

 

I have very good sleepers. I would wake them for the first few months if they hadn't eaten in 3-3.5 hours.

 

I would wake them if 4 hours had elapsed since their last bottle, except for nighttime. My friends thought I was nuts until they saw my kids go down for predictable, long naps daily.

 

we only woke them up the first month because we needed to feed them every 3 hours...otherwise I let them go...I figure if they're in the middle of a really good nap then they must need it!

 

When I had my babies one at a time I totally agreed with that philosophy. When I had two at a time and they were still waking at night for feedings- threw it out the window. If one woke up to feed and I had to get up I took care of his business (change, fed and burped) put him back down and then woke the other for his turn. I was getting little enough sleep without getting up every hour and a half.
Now they sleep through ALMOST always, I don't wake a baby unless I absolutely have to go somewhere or smell stinky diaper (they both have sensitive skin.)
Bottom line- I voted "It Depends"

 

I answered it depends. When mine first came home from the NICU we woke them every 3 hours to feed them.

Now I do have to wake them from naps sometimes because I have to stick to a pretty tight schedule due to my oldest DD's school times. It's a pain. I wish I could let them sleep.

I also have woken them from their second nap to preserve bedtime.

 

For the first few months, i would wake them to eat every 3 hours. After that I let them sleep

 

I woke my daughter all the time as an infant in order to have the night time schedule we all desired!

 

When they are first born and NEED to eat every 3-4 hours - I wake them. When my boobies feel like they are going to explode at three in the morning - wake them. Besides that - no - let them sleep!

 

In the interest of protecting their overall sleep schedule, and keeping the babies on the same schedule I have woken a sleeping baby MANY times. Before they were sleeping through the night, when one woke for a feeding, I would wake the other and feed, so they were on the same schedule at night. During the day, once they were old enough to really be on a set schedule, I always wake them if it is time for a feeding, or to keep them with 30 min of the other twin, if they other twin woke earlier. Keeping them scheduled and on the same schedule is the only way I have been able to keep things sane here, and sometimes that meant waking a sleeping baby. : )

 

I marked "it depends" because we wake our girls every four hours during the day if they haven't eaten. We wake them after 6 hours in the nighttime. At this point, I think they need their calories, especially since they're preemies. But, I don't think there is any other reason that I wake them.

 

when trying to set a schedule it is more workable if you wake them at certain times every day. i still sometimes wake my babies (no longer babies) in order to help them be tired enough to sleep all night without waking.

if they are sick with an ear infection or cold or something like that, then i never would wake them from their nap unless it went beyond the 2.5 hr max as recommended by HSHHC. the longest i've ever let a nap go is 3 hrs.

 

I HATE waking my girls quite fankly, the longer they sleep the better, I only wake them if i really have too. If im transfering them say from the car to theirs beds, they dont usually wake, so its good.

 

I wrote it depends. My son never slept through a feed so it was never an issue with him. During the day, if he was napping, I let him wake on his own, I knew he'd be up soon enough to eat. ha ha. My daughter, on the other hand, slept through a lot of her feeds and she was (and still is) tiny. So I would try to wake her at the beginning. The problem was, she was sleeping cause she wasn't hungry and if I woke her, boy was she mad. So after a while I just stopped bothering and now I just let them wake up from naps and nighttime sleep when they feel like it.

Mona