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Let them sleep they will wake when they wanna eat 

She will tell you when she is hungry.

Quoting Lillybutt's momma:" Let them sleep they will wake when they wanna eat "

Im overly worried about weight gain lol. On the 7th she was 6lbs 6ozs, and today 6lbs 10.5ozs... sooo... I just want to make sure she stays on a steady gain, I just dont want to wear her out too badly, kwim?

My LO is not a preemie however I asked her doctor the same question and he said to wake her if she goes longer than 4 hours. She is just 19 days old and was born at 39 weeks. I had to wake her last night, but she eats and goes right back to sleep.

Quoting Maria + Cory = Alexis:" My LO is not a preemie however I asked her doctor the same question and he said to wake her if she goes ... [snip!] ... She is just 19 days old and was born at 39 weeks. I had to wake her last night, but she eats and goes right back to sleep. "

See in the hospital they told me not to let her go past 4 hours, but babies have times where they are more tired and need more sleep in order to grow, so I wasnt sure.. esp about preemies. She has been eating better than before.. we've been home a week and 2 days now. I just dont want to push her to eat if she is too tired.

My daughter (not a preemie) slept through the night from day one, at least 6 hours straight, and would have gone more if I let her. The first night in the hospital they let her go 8 hours and didn't see a problem with it. With my son (a preemie) they had him on a three hour schedule in the NICU and he was constantly losing weight, not gaining. When I finally got him home in December we battled a little bit to find what works for us. I now feed him on demand. He's slept through the night once or twice, but usually wakes up once or twice. He is finally gaining some significant weight, and now at two months old weighs about 10 lbs (he was a HUGE preemie).

I figure every baby is different. I honestly believe my daughter would have starved herself to death if I hadn't woken her up to feed her. Not a word of a lie, she slept her entire first year, had to be woken up for every feeding, and never once "cued".

If your baby is good at letting you know when she is hungry, I would trust her. If she doesn't show the signs as well I would wake her up. It's ultimately your choice but if you do let her go longer obviously watch her weight gain closely.

Hey. So this is my 3rd preemie and honestly I just let them sleep as much as they want. When my 28 weeker came home last year she was sleeping 5-6 hrs through the night and I let her. My 29 weeker still isnt home but ill do the same for her when she comes home.

I assume you are getting regular weigh in's still at this point? If so, you could let her sleep and eat on her own schedule. Then, if there are concerns about her weight gain, you could go back to waking her for feeds. Some preemies do need to be waken to eat because they are just soooo sleepy, but usually by the time they go home from hospital they will at least have the energy to wake and cry when they are hungry.

DD was a preemie and I was told if she didn't wake up every 3-4 hours, then I needed to wake her up. With term babies, it's fine to let them sleep but from what all the NICU nurses told me, you need to wake a preemie to feed. I was finally given the okay by DD's pedi to just let her wake on her own when she had gained a good bit of weight around 4 months old.

Quoting twingals:" I assume you are getting regular weigh in's still at this point? If so, you could let her sleep and eat ... [snip!] ... but usually by the time they go home from hospital they will at least have the energy to wake and cry when they are hungry."

We have home health coming 2 times a week to weigh her right now and shes gained good. We lost a little at first when we got home but we're better now. (I think we finally just settled in and got a routine.)

Quoting Vanilla MILFshake.:" DD was a preemie and I was told if she didn't wake up every 3-4 hours, then I needed to wake her up. ... [snip!] ... given the okay by DD's pedi to just let her wake on her own when she had gained a good bit of weight around 4 months old."

absolutely. i was told by everyone to wake them up. at the NICU, and by the pedi. i fed every four hours, around the clock, for about 4 months.
mine were 32 weekers, so figure they were about 2 mos adjusted, 4 mos actual before we cut out the middle-of-the-night feed.
actually, they just totally stopped eating then. they were like NO i wanna SLEEP damnit!

Quoting regina_margot:" absolutely. i was told by everyone to wake them up. at the NICU, and by the pedi. i fed every four hours, ... [snip!] ... cut out the middle-of-the-night feed. actually, they just totally stopped eating then. they were like NO i wanna SLEEP damnit!"

That's how DD was. I was so surprised that she slept so well through the night as soon as I stopped waking her up.  

Quoting Hoot.:" My 29 weeker who is now 2 months 1 week and 6 days old (her due date is tomorrow) usually wakes up every ... [snip!] ... you wake her up to eat or let her wake herself up? Im new to being a preemie mom and any input or reassurance is appreciated."

my baby was born at 29 weeks spent 11 weeds in the nicu... i let her sleep until she is ready to eat. her body needs a lot of rest because that is how they grow