Is it true you shouldn't wake a sleeping baby, or should I wake my baby to eat every 3 hours?

If you've heard that you should never wake a sleeping baby, you may be correct and you may be wrong. It depends on the age of the baby. In the first few weeks of life, your baby needs regular frequently breastfeeding or formula feedings. This maintains the blood sugar, as well as helps the baby grow adequately. If you have prolonged intervals between feedings, such as 4 to 5 hours a few times a day, the overall intake for the baby will be inadequate for them to grow. Second, in the first week or two, if they don't feed regularly, such as every 3 hours about, your baby's blood sugar could drop, which could be damaging to their health.

After 3 or 4 weeks of age, if the feeding is going well and your baby has grown - such as at the 2 week appointment, the baby is growing and feeding is going very well - over the next few weeks your baby may increase the amount of sleep time at night, which is fantastic because you'll be sleeping more. Usually after those periods of increased sleep, your baby will want to eat more frequently, such as every 2 hours for a few feeds, instead of every 3 hours. So that the overall feeding is approximately 8 feeds a day.