> Recently a patient told me that an LC instructed her to wake her
> full term, healthy newborn every 3 hrs at night to feed her. I
> have always told my patients that if the baby is feeding well
> during the day, there was no need to wake her at night. Is there
> a need to wake a baby at night who is feeding well during the day?

I guess that depends on your definition of feeding well.  I usually tell
parents that *if* the baby is meeting the parameters for adequate milk
intake (diapers, number of feeds, weight/height, etc) then they don't need
to interfere with a sleeping baby.

I have a friend with 2 1/2 week old 36.5 week twins with birth weights of
4.15 and 5.15.  I was just a tad nervous when she reported 4 hours stretches
of sleep in the first week.  Diapers were good, I observed several feeds and
all looked good and at their 2 week check they were 5.8 and 6.2.  If they
had not gained well, the first thing I would have done was to encourage her
to wake the babies more frequently.

This new mom called me on Thursday to tell me she wanted the "golden boob"
award for having latched on both babies simultaneously by herself.  The
first time we tried that it took 4 hands and the boppy pillow to arrange
these tiny babes!

Kathy
IBCLC

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