My baby girl (twin from boy/girl) has been sleeping 6-7 hrs at a stretch from 2 months and the dr advised to let her sleep . She is 5 months and weighs 13lbs. From last 1 week she has been refusing milk, taking only like 20 ozs in a day. She seems to push away the bottle but when she is sleeping if we feed her she takes it. So being worried about her intake and weight, I started to feed her every 3 hrs at night even if she is sleeping , she takes it fine. My question is, is it ok to disturb a baby who has been sleeping thru night for this reason? would it make her cranky or harm her health? I would rather let her feed milk nicely if she does so when sleeping. but I always wondered if sleeping thru night is of help to the baby or the parents ? Can you please advise, why everyone stresses so much on the sleeping thru night? IF the babys weight or feed is of concern, is it ok to wake up the baby for milk? As long as parents are ready to do that?
Please let me know asap as I have already started doing this and want to know if there is a issue soon. Thanks a lot. Hetal replied. its not advisable to feed the baby during sleep,,esp the bottle feed. in longer run there is pssblty that your baby might be prone to ear infections.
the otherr reasons could be thrush or could be choking at times...

if this becomes her habit, which will be soon after she turns 3months,,it might cause her tooth decay,gum softenng and such other problems..which might cause her probs in teethng...

also, if this becomes habit, your baby will not sleep at night without bottle..instead, try to offer at differnt intervals, little feeds of bm or formula during day time,,,and see if that makes her take the milk.

if at all you are bottle feeding your baby, please dont do it when she is sleeping on her back..hold her high or sitting position thn feed her.
at 2months as far as your baby is able to drink approx of:
5–6 feedings or on demand of bm/bf or
5–6 feedings of 4–7 ounces each....since your baby is taking around the range of 20oz-42oz.she is drinking good enough.

also 2months old is very much expected to ask for feeds once,,at night,,thn the next feed is early morning..in short every interval of 5-6hours..
so just take her in lap, put a hand supporting his back and keep her upright and then feed her.after your baby turns 3months old, her night feeds have to be restricted to on demand only or direct early morning feeds,,,,its just the time gums start to get ready for teething !

make sure not to overfeed her.respect your baby apetite.and note that it varies from month to month,,,you cant expect your baby to complete the feeds...she signals you that she had enough milk so she will push off the bottle,,unless otherwise she is gasy or is having bloaty stomach or constipation !

about sleepng ques:
babies need good sleep and if baby apetite is naturally good enough from day 1 of birth that he is able to sleep good for 4-5hours or 6-7hours,,thn drs advice to let them sleep inorder to make a good habit and thr apetite allows that...

it also dpends on intake of your baby per feed,,if your baby likes to snack thn she will wakeup more often and if she takes a full feed, she might not get up..so it all dpends on how thr apetite allows them to sleep or ask for feeds..

thats how drs say that after 3months, feed as necsry or bf on demand !!! other than normal feeds..also after 3monthsonwards,its not expected from babies to complete thr feed..as far as your baby is growing good and getting enough that thr body needs,,which very much reflected in her wght on weekly basis,,,she is getting what she was supposed to drink.

sudden loss of apetite can be caused due to ne illness about to strik so keep an eye on his fussiness and activities,,bowels,temperature differnces, teething and sometimes days just after growth spurt.

during growth spurt, babies tend to drink more because of constant growth in them, and then next couple days, they will not like to drink much or as per thr regular intake..so its expected !

waking baby for milk is limited to age,,so respect that,,until thn,,never compromise on what your baby needs at certain age...! rest you decide !

good luck !