When do you start feeding twice in a wake window?

[Anonymous]

For those that follow wake windows: My two month old currently stays up for about an hour and 10 minutes at a time. I’ve been feeding him once in this timeframe but was wondering at what point do I start feeding him more than once in this timeframe?

[Anonymous]

I forget but I did Eat-Awake-Sleep and it was a little longer than that I think. I had a goal in mind for how many hours between feeds and when it was close, I added another feed before the nap. But we were pretty good on drowsy-but-awake by then. I followed Taking Cara Babies.

[Anonymous]

I started doing a “top off” feed before nap when wake windows got to be 2+ hours because otherwise my baby would only nap one sleep cycle (40ish minutes) and be ready for another feed since it had been 2.5-3 hours. By 3 hour wake windows, I do two full feeds each wake windows.

[Anonymous]

PP here and also adding that I nurse my baby to sleep right now at 4.5 months because he’s too distracted to take a “top off” feed otherwise and have had no problems with his naps. He still sleeps 1.5-2hrs at a time on a full belly. I think drowsy but awake is over rated.

[Anonymous]

I feed on demand.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks all! Very helpful! It sounds like still too soon but probably within 2-4 weeks when his WWs increase, I’ll start adding in another feed before nap. I cannot wait as I think that’s when he’ll stop waking up in the night (haha fingers crossed) I’m taking any opportunity to fill his daytime with feeds to get my nights back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks all! Very helpful! It sounds like still too soon but probably within 2-4 weeks when his WWs increase, I’ll start adding in another feed before nap. I cannot wait as I think that’s when he’ll stop waking up in the night (haha fingers crossed) I’m taking any opportunity to fill his daytime with feeds to get my nights back!

You are expecting your 2 month old to not wake up to eat during the night?

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the kid. My oldest ate every hour during the day for the first three months of her life (never napped more than 23 minutes unless I was walking briskly with her in a wrap), and started sleeping long stretches really early on. My second wanted proper meals every 2-3 hours; I didn’t start feeding him multiple times during a wake window until he was 6+ months only because it made him cranky when I tried (he was a 45 minute napper).

I hope your kids lets you catch up on sleep soon, OP.

[Anonymous]

I do not let my babies go more than 3 hours between feedings during the day until they sleep through the night. So at that age, with that wake window, I’d be feeding as soon as baby woke up (let’s say it’s 11am), then putting her down for a nap at a little after noon, and if she was still sleeping at 2pm, I’d wake her to eat again. That gets you 5 daytime feedings, plus I do a dreamfeed, so six feedings plus however many times baby wakes at night. Might be seven if baby eats more like every 2-2.5 hours (thus taking five naps instead of 4). Most babies are ready for six feeds a day (so sleeping 8-10 hrs) between 12 and 17 weeks. If they haven’t dropped the final night feeding by 4 months (about 17 weeks), I’ll wean it deliberately.

The key to getting this all to work is FULL FEEDS, not packing in extra “snack” feeds.

I don’t move to multiple feedings in a wake window until the fourth nap is dropped, around 4 months. Then baby gets a feed after third nap, has the longest wake window of the day, and eats again right before bed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not let my babies go more than 3 hours between feedings during the day until they sleep through the night. So at that age, with that wake window, I’d be feeding as soon as baby woke up (let’s say it’s 11am), then putting her down for a nap at a little after noon, and if she was still sleeping at 2pm, I’d wake her to eat again. That gets you 5 daytime feedings, plus I do a dreamfeed, so six feedings plus however many times baby wakes at night. Might be seven if baby eats more like every 2-2.5 hours (thus taking five naps instead of 4). Most babies are ready for six feeds a day (so sleeping 8-10 hrs) between 12 and 17 weeks. If they haven’t dropped the final night feeding by 4 months (about 17 weeks), I’ll wean it deliberately.

The key to getting this all to work is FULL FEEDS, not packing in extra “snack” feeds.

I don’t move to multiple feedings in a wake window until the fourth nap is dropped, around 4 months. Then baby gets a feed after third nap, has the longest wake window of the day, and eats again right before bed.

If your kids were sleeping 10 hours at 12 weeks you were extremely, extremely lucky. This is not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not let my babies go more than 3 hours between feedings during the day until they sleep through the night. So at that age, with that wake window, I’d be feeding as soon as baby woke up (let’s say it’s 11am), then putting her down for a nap at a little after noon, and if she was still sleeping at 2pm, I’d wake her to eat again. That gets you 5 daytime feedings, plus I do a dreamfeed, so six feedings plus however many times baby wakes at night. Might be seven if baby eats more like every 2-2.5 hours (thus taking five naps instead of 4). Most babies are ready for six feeds a day (so sleeping 8-10 hrs) between 12 and 17 weeks. If they haven’t dropped the final night feeding by 4 months (about 17 weeks), I’ll wean it deliberately.

The key to getting this all to work is FULL FEEDS, not packing in extra “snack” feeds.

I don’t move to multiple feedings in a wake window until the fourth nap is dropped, around 4 months. Then baby gets a feed after third nap, has the longest wake window of the day, and eats again right before bed.

My baby refuses to take “full” feeds so this has never worked for us. He eats every 2-2.5 hours during the day and once overnight at 4 months for a total of 8ish feeds a day. This works for me because trying to force him to take full feeds meant he was spitting up a ton. Following his lead and letting him snack has led to better naps, less spit up, and the same number of overnight feeds. The 4 month regression has rocked his night sleep right now but he resettles quickly with a pacifier so I haven’t reintroduced more than one feed between 7 and 7. I’ll deliberately wean it after he’s on solids and we sleep train at 6ish months.