her nap. You know that she just had a full feeding so you begin to wonder
if the problem is sleep related. That might be the cause, but equally, it
might be that she is hungry and in need of another full feeding. If that is
the case, feed her again, and then readjust her routine over the next two
feedings. You will know if the problem is hunger if she takes a full meal.
Equally, you will know it is not hunger if she is not interested in eating or
only nurses for a minute. We’ll speak more about the 45-minute intruder
in Chapter Eight, “When Your Baby Cries.” For now, just know that
hunger is always a legitimate reason to feed less then two hours.
There also may be medical reasons for feeding a child more
frequently. For example, some premature newborns or very small full-
term infants, such as those with intrauterine growth retardation, may need
to feed as often as every two hours initially. In addition, if your child has
jaundice and requires the use of phototherapy lights, he will lose more
fluids from exposure. Therefore he may need to feed more frequently.
Your health-care provider will instruct you how to take care of these
matters.
Your late-evening feeding, falling somewhere between 8:30 P.M. and
midnight, is another example of when you might drop below the 2½-hour
mark. Some mothers feed their babies at 8:30 P.M. and then again at 10:30
P.M. Here the decision to feed within two hours is a practical one. Now
both mom and baby can go to bed earlier. The point is this: it’s okay to
deviate from the 2½- to 3-hour feeding norm. But do not deviate so often
that you establish a new norm.
What should you do if your baby sleeps through the night only to
awaken at 5:00 A.M. when his normal routine does not officially start until
6:30 A.M.? You have three choices. First, you may wait ten to fifteen
minutes to make sure he is truly awake. He may be passing through an
active sleep state, moving to deeper sleep. Second, you can feed your
baby and then put him back down. You can then awaken him at 7:00 A.M.
and feed him again. Although that is less than three hours and he may not
take much at that feeding, the advantage will be that your baby stays on
his morning routine. A third option is to offer a feeding at 5:00 A.M.,
treating that as your first feeding of the day. In that case, you would
nora
(Nora)
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