Yes, you generally should wake an overtired newborn to feed, especially in the first few weeks, to ensure they get enough nutrition for growth, prevent dehydration, and help establish good feeding patterns, waking them every 3-4 hours is a common guideline until they show good weight gain and your pediatrician gives the okay. While letting them sleep seems counterintuitive, their tiny stomachs need frequent fills, so gently rousing them by changing their diaper, skin-to-skin contact, or undressing them can help them wake enough to eat well.
Yes, you have to wake them up to feed every 2-3hours because they need calories for their growing bodies. As long as baby has passed their birth weight and pediatrician is happy, you can let baby sleep through the night if he doesn't wake up to feed.
Some experts recommend waking your baby to feed within two weeks of birth if they need to pick up some weight. In this case, you'd wake your baby every three to four hours for a feeding. Others suggest waking to feed during the first five to six weeks if your baby sleeps longer than five hours at a time.
Here are some tried-and-true techniques to help an overtired baby settle:
Most newborns lose weight in the first few days after birth. They usually regain this lost weight within 1 to 2 weeks after birth. Until then, it's important to feed your baby often. This might mean waking your baby for a feeding, especially if it's been more than four hours since the last feeding.
The 5-3-3 feeding rule is a baby sleep training strategy to encourage longer stretches of night sleep by delaying feeds: don't feed before 5 hours after bedtime, then feed, then wait 3 hours for the next feed, and another 3 hours for the next, using other sleep training methods (like Ferber or CIO) for wakes outside these windows. It's for older babies (not newborns) and aims to reduce night feedings by establishing a routine, but flexibility is key, and you should always prioritize your baby's hunger cues and consult a doctor.
Newborns who sleep for longer stretches should be awakened to feed. Wake your baby every 3–4 hours to eat until he or she shows good weight gain, which usually happens within the first couple of weeks. After that, it's OK to let your baby sleep for longer periods of time at night.
The hardest week with a newborn is often considered the first six weeks, especially weeks 2-3, due to extreme sleep deprivation, constant feeding demands, learning baby's cues, postpartum recovery, and a peak in inconsolable crying (the "witching hour"), making parents feel overwhelmed as they adjust to a new, exhausting routine. While the first week is tough, the challenges often intensify as the baby becomes more alert but still fussy, with major developmental hurdles like cluster feeding and increased fussiness peaking around 6-8 weeks.
😔 It can be challenging, but there are ways to soothe your baby and understand their needs. Try the 5 S's: swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing sounds, swinging, and sucking (a pacifier).
The 5-3-3 rule is a loose guideline for structuring a baby's sleep schedule: 5 hours of wake time before the first nap, 3 hours of wake time before the second nap, and 3 hours before bedtime.
The 2-3-4 rule for baby sleep is a nap schedule framework for babies usually over 6 months old, suggesting wake windows of 2 hours after the first wake-up, 3 hours between the first and second nap, and 4 hours before bedtime, creating two naps and promoting longer nighttime sleep by increasing wake time throughout the day. It's a flexible guideline to build a predictable routine, but parents should adjust it to their baby's cues as every baby is different.
The 7 key danger signs for newborns, often highlighted by organizations like the WHO, are not feeding well, convulsions, fast breathing, severe chest indrawing, lethargy/unconsciousness (movement only when stimulated), high or low temperature, and jaundice (yellow skin/soles) or signs of local infection like an infected umbilical stump, requiring immediate medical attention.
Signs of dehydration in a baby may include:
Typically, healthcare providers recommend a baby 3-months-old and younger eats every 2 or 3 hours (slightly more if formula-fed) and never go more than 4-5 hours at most without being woken to feed. Speak to your healthcare provider to see if you should wake them up even sooner.
What if my baby won't wake up to eat? If your baby is healthy, has passed their birth weight, and is feeding and growing steadily, you usually don't need to wake them to feed. Unless their doctor tells you otherwise, let your baby sleep – they'll let you know when they need to eat!
K: It's better to encourage sleep in the store, car, or wherever you may be knowing that if you wait, the baby may become overtired and harder to console. However, naps in motion are not as restorative, so keep in mind that the next sleep period should be sooner or bedtime earlier.
Since overtired babies are more likely to cry and have difficulty settling, you can try different strategies to help get them to sleep. These include creating a calm environment, swaddling newborns, playing white noise, giving them a massage, holding them, and offering a pacifier.
When you realize your baby is overtired, resist the urge to “fix” everything at once. You don't need to overhaul your entire schedule—you just need a 24-hour reset.
One criticism of the SNOO is that a smart crib is being used to settle a baby rather than being held in mother's arms. Despite that, its value may be underestimated in that some mothers may be so distressed by the baby's crying that their repeated handling may in turn further unsettle their baby (11,18).
The 2-hour rule for babies means they shouldn't stay in a car seat (or travel system seat) for more than two hours at a time, whether in or out of the car, because the semi-upright position can strain their developing spine and restrict their breathing, increasing the risk of low oxygen levels, especially for newborns and preemies. For long journeys, parents should take breaks every two hours to take the baby out, allow them to lie flat for a while, stretch, and feed, ensuring they get proper head/neck support and circulation.
The first hour after birth, the “Golden Hour”, when a healthy baby is calmly placed skin-to-skin on the mother's chest, not only facilitates a smooth transition from the womb to the outside world, stabilising the baby physiologically, but also offers a unique opportunity for the mother and baby to connect emotionally ( ...
It can last a few minutes to a couple of hours. For most babies, the witching hour starts to occur around 2-3 weeks and peaks at 6 weeks. It will typically completely resolve by 3-4 months.
The "5-3-3" baby sleep method is a sleep training strategy where a baby sleeps for 5 hours, stays awake for 3 hours, then sleeps for another 3 hours, often used around 4-6 months to encourage independent sleep by reducing nighttime feeds and establishing routine, but it requires strict adherence and consulting a pediatrician, as it might be too rigid for some babies or caregivers.
SIDS is less common after 8 months of age, but parents and caregivers should continue to follow safe sleep practices to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death until baby's first birthday. More than 90% of all SIDS deaths occur before 6 months of age.
Feeding Baby At Two Weeks Old
Feedings should occur every 2-3 hours and hopefully every 4-5 during the night. Feeding should take about 30 minutes. If bottle feeding, a ballpark amount is 3-4 ounces.