B/F rules - do u wake up baby?

[~clover~]

As long as your baby is having minimum 8 - 12 feeds over 24 hours there is no need to wake them

[MantaRay]

Lilli, it's amazing how quickly we forget, isn't it!

As the others have said, most of the time it's not necessary to wake a baby to feed. Some babies do need to be in the beginning - small, premmie and jaundiced babies in particular can be too sleepy to wake for feeds. But this is the exception. Most of the time it is fine to let them sleep. As has been mentioned, a newborn baby will need to feed about 8 -12 times in 24 hours, but this is rarely evenly spaced (that is they don't feed every 2 or 3 hours, there might be one longer sleep time in there, and a period of cluster feeds - several feeds close together). It is helpful to know the signs that your baby is getting enough milk - at least 5 heavily wet disposables in 24 hours (or 6 - 8 pale wet cloth nappies), and after the 3rd day (until about week 8 -12) the baby should do at least 2 runny or soft poos in 24 hours.

The others are also correct that the guidelines for starting solids still say 6 months for a number of good reasons. The baby food manufacturers have done a great job of convincing people, including some child health nurses, that the guidelines have changed, but they have not. As Jen suggested, Baby Led Solids is a great way to introduce food to a baby also, so you might like to check out the thread on that here on BB, or google it.

Best of luck with the new baby!

[Lilli]

thanks for the advice and feedback! That certainly makes sense - 8-12 feeds in 24 hrs and the wet/solied nappies. Not waking them unless there is an underlying issue sounds logical - hopefully I get a 4 hr stint of sleep!

I really do hope it's like riding a bike and it'll all come back to me (I have a feeling that the ouchy nipples will bring it all back rather quickly!).

Re the solids - 4 months sounded really early to me but a friend who had her baby recently was told at her clinic to start at 4 months.... 6 months plus sounds ideal though, that's what I had done with DD and to be honest I I would be hesitatnt to start at 4 months even if it was "recommended" - sometimes you gotta do what you think is right.