Newborn Feedings

You shouldn't have to wake her every 3 hours unless she is jaundiced or under weight. I don't understand why you should have to wake a sleeping baby. If they're hungry, they will wake up. Anyway, unless you need to be on a strict schedule, I'd just let her run the show. When she's hungry, feed her. If she's tired, let her sleep. She's still too young to be on any kind of strict schedule. As she gets older, she'll start to develop a schedule. No need to rush anything.

I would just follow her cues. If she finishes 4oz and seems to still be hungry, give her more. If she doesn't act like she wants anything at the time, it's ok to wait. Or, if she acts like she's hungry more frequently, it's ok too. In fact, you might want to go into it expecting that she'll do this. Babies sluster feed or increase the number of feedings per day periodically, especially around a growth spurt. Is she receiving breastmilk through a bottle, or are you weighing her before and after each feeding? I'm just curious as you mentioned her receiving 4oz.

God bless,
A.

Are you pumping and giving her the milk, is that how you know how much she is getting? 4 oz every three hours seems like an aweful lot for a 3 week old to me. My youngest is 4 1/2 months and has JUST started nursing from both sides totaling about 4 oz (that is how much I get when I do pump, so I know that is pretty close to what she gets). She is only eating that every 4 hours or so. Up until this recent change, she would only nurse on one side about every 2-3 hours. She is in the 75th percentile for her weight and 50th for her lenght, so she is in no way malnourished either. I would just feed her as much as she needs to be satisfied as often as she needs it. That is how I have done it with all three of mine and it has worked out just fine.

I let my daughter run the show. She ate ever 2 hours and I fed her as long as she wanted. Both sides. She's feed until she fell asleep, I changed her diaper to wake her again then fed her on the other side until she fell asleep again then I put her to bed for another two hours and it was feeding time again. It worked well for her, she's happy and healthy at 2 years old.

Good luck.