Never Wake a Sleeping Baby??!!

I wish I could tell you how many times I have heard this phrase! Mostly, in my experience anyway, it has come from older generations of people...people that I love and admire and very much heed their advice and wisdom. However.....

I woke Rachel many times when she was an infant and I wake up Lauren too...for several reasons. Rachel was SUCH a sleepy baby. I mean, I don't think we saw her eyeballs at all until she was a month old...seriously. That is why she had to spend time in the NICU. She was lazy! Anyway, at first, she would have never eaten had I not woken her up. I think she would have slept through the night the first night home if I hadn't woken her up. Then, as she got to be about 2 months old and still waking up and staying awake frequently during the night, I decided I had to try and keep her awake more during the day in order for her to sleep at night. Yes, babies sleep a lot but not 22 hours a day and she was choosing to be awake when I wanted to be asleep. Perhaps it was selfish of me and that was my basis for waking that sleeping child....who knows?!

Lauren...well, as you know, she was a large baby at birth weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs, 9 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long!!! She lost down to 8 lbs, 14 oz by the time she was 4 days old. The doctors don't want babies to lose more than 10% of their birth weight and then they want them to gain it all back by 2 weeks. At 2 weeks, Lauren was still only 9 lbs, 5 oz. The pedi instructed me to continue waking her up during the day and at night to feed in order for her to thrive and continue gaining weight. At 1 month, she weighed 10 lbs, 7.5 oz so she is doing better. I don't feel like I need to wake her at night anymore. The other night when she slept for 7 1/2 hours and my body was used to feeding her WAY more frequently than that I was hurting...really hurting. So, if you are wondering what I did after I posted my last blog, luckily she woke up at 6:30 so I fed her...only on one side since it was so full, that's all she needed. Then I pumped from the other side and got 4 oz out of that one!! I am telling you, I was long overdue! Last night she woke up at 3:15 and again at 7:30 so I didn't have quite the problem as the night before but I was still very full at 3:15...5 hours.

So, I listen and will probably always wake a sleeping baby...to eat, at least!

AND...NEVER in a million years thought I would be blogging about such things....hmmm....

Comments

Tenille Rauls said…
This is how I do things too! I completely agree~ Thanks so much for your message and I will be following you guys to! Take care and keep in touch!
April 21, 2009 at 10:41 PM
Molly and Kevin Strom said…
Rikki,
I am glad you found my blog. I love the blog world. It is so much fun. Your children are beautiful. You are so blessed. Keep in touch.
April 22, 2009 at 7:32 AM
Jen and Jared said…
I totally do the same thing. I learned my lesson with my first who had to be re-admitted to the hospital because she wasn't gaining enough weight... Great post! I LOVE the picture of the girls at the top of your blog. Absolutely precious!

Jen
April 22, 2009 at 10:18 AM
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