Should I Wake My Baby to Feed Them?

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Do I really need to wake a sleeping newborn to feed them? I have a friend with a newborn who wakes him every two to three hours to feed. Is this necessary? The internet has mixed responses, but generally says yes, varying from two to three hours to up to five. I’d prefer to let my child sleep until they are hungry and wake themselves up.
—Liz

To answer this, it’s worth starting with why waking them to feed would be recommended. The worry is that if you did not, your baby wouldn’t get enough food. If a newborn is struggling to gain weight, going too long between feedings may make the problem worse.

For this reason, in the very beginning of their life, before a baby has gained back their birth weight, there is sometimes a recommendation to wake them to eat, just to make sure they start to gain. Once weight gain is established, this concern dramatically lessens. In that case, letting them sleep until they wake up is fine.

Early visits with your pediatrician will give you a handle on your baby’s weight gain, and that will help guide these decisions. As long as there are no significant weight gain concerns, waking the baby isn’t necessary. This strikes me as a good example of a place where it’s hard to learn from other people and easy to feel like you are doing it wrong. The answer to what’s right here depends on your particular baby; what’s right for you may not be right for your neighbor.