Breastfeeding a Newborn

If he seems to eating well during the day, and wetting 8-10 diapers/day, I would definitely let him sleep and just enjoy it. Congrats!

never wake a baby........he may just not be a snacker like 99% of newborns are, just make sure hes safe, on his back, and no loose covers, u know the drill, and LET HIM SLEEP.

you should sleep too, and let your breasts just fill up, he will get a big breakfast, and your body will adjust to his needs. If you keep pumping your body will not take cues from the baby to not produce as much at night.

As an OB nurse I say let him sleep! Every baby has his/her own schedule, as do adults....if someone woke you up, would you want to eat? :) As long as he has 8 - 10 wet diapers a day, you're fine. You don't need to pump in between times, just feed him when he wakes up...it's supply and demand. He's probably due to see the pediatrician soon, he'll be weighed then. They all lose weight the first few days, then they start gaining again. If you don't have any jaundice risks (blood type incompatability, history of jaundice, lots of bruising) he should be fine. Most babies get some jaundice. Look at the white part of his eyes, if they start looking yellow, call the pediatrician.

Enjoy your sleep!
D.

My kids both slept about that long from the beginning and I would wake them up at the 5 hour mark for the 1st month. As long as the he is gaining weight and healthy I would let him sleep.

His weight and how having enough wet and poopy diapers will tell you what to do. If he's not gaining consistently, then wake him. This probably won't last. Good for you for being more concerned about his well-being than your sleep! I wish more mamas had your priorities! And good for you for breastfeeding too! You go, Girl!

I think if they are not satisfied then they would wake up , so I would leave him for now. Im my experience when they are only a few days old they do sleep alot , being born is an exhausting thing. You will probably fine that after a week or so he will slip into a feeding routine of every 2-3 hrs.

Until 6 weeks old he should not sleep more then 4 hours, and if he does the 4 hours, the rest of the night should be 2-3. So yes, wake him up! :) Once he's 6 weeks old then let him go 6 hours. I know many mothers will say let him sleep, but this is an important time to establish breastfeeding, for both of you. Many babies sleep too much when they are not eating enough, my oldest did this and at 6 weeks she was 10 oz. less then her birth weight and we were in a crisis. So excessive sleepiness can be a problem, but don't freak out either. :) Keep track of wet and dirty diapers and if he's gaining weight.

Best wishes!

My midwife/lactation consultant had advised me to let my daughter sleep as much as she wanted the first 24 hours after birth--she did sleep nearly 24 hours. Then nursing every two hours during the day and four hours at night for the first 7 days. That establishes your milk supply, guards against jaundice, and ensures your baby is getting enough milk. After that, nurse on demand.

So, in theory, you should be waking him for a few more days. If he is a good nurser like my daughter, it isn't like you have to wake him...he will "dream" nurse.

I managed to nurse through thick and thin, but a little store of milk is never a bad thing to have. Double wrap it and store in a deep freeze , if you have it, and it will be good for 6 months.

My son regained his birth weight very quickly (within a week) and then the doc said I did not need to wake him at night to eat. Let him sleep now, as it is likely that by next week, he'll be up every three hours or so instead.

Also, you are lucky to have the extra milk in your freezer. In a few weeks, you can have your husband introduce the bottle (with breast milk) so that you're able to get some time to yourself once in awhile. I never worked after my son was born, but I always pumped once a day and he probably got 1-2 bottles per week just so I could get a little break.

Congrats on your new baby.

Congrats on your little one! You didn't say if he is a big baby or little baby. My first was 2 weeks early and didn't really know she was "out" The first night home she slept 10 HOURS. Scared me to death. She got over that one fast and I think yours will too. 3 or 4 hours is usually the max time a breastfed baby will sleep. If he has plenty of wet diapers and is happy, I would let it go. Feed him on demand and be thankful for 5 uninterrupted hours at night YEEHA!!
You never know when you might need the milk in the freezer. My niece, a nursing mom, had to go on some pretty heavy duty antibiotics. She had lots of milk stored...it came in handy as she couldn't nurse for about 7 days.

I say don't wake him.

Our son was up every 2 hours to eat at night but our daughter would sleep straight through the night from the beginning. It wasn't until she started teething and hit her growth spurt about 6 months that she actually started waking occasionally at night for feedings so I just let her sleep when she did sleep through the night. On many occasions I woke up extremely full so I would force her awake to eat for MY sake. If you are pumping in the night to keep milk production up and your baby is growing well I would just let him sleep. Enjoy it because chances are he will probably start waking occasionally in the future.

This sounds almost exactly like what happened with my third one, a girl. At 3 weeks, she still hadn't regained her birth weight, so I had to take her in for extra weight checks. The doctor was a bit worried, but once she hit one month, she suddenly started putting on weight. At four months, she will often sleep for 10 hours straight at night. I only wake her up at night if I'm too full and then she will nurse and go straight back to sleep.

If it were me, I would only wake him up to ease your fullness. With all of mine, I haven't worried so much about schedules for nursing, but tried to pay more attention to what they seem to want/need.

Our second was 37 weeks and a great weight so the doc said we could go 4-5 hours if she was sleeping but not to really go much past that. Congratulations!

My son slept well the first few nights and then he was up. It will likely change. Enjoy your sleep.

Girlfriend..... Let him sleep!!!!!!! If he is sleeping and getting his calories during the day, you need to let him sleep and need to be sleeping with him... Not even a need to pump. I am sure he is getting those 8-10 feedings done during the day. Just rejoice that those hormones of having a 3rd baby and your diet is making great sustainable milk....OMGoodness; you have a dream situation. Actually 5 hours is not long at all if the baby is eatting during the day and going back towards his birth weight. You really do not have an issue. Is he wetting/soiling the number of diapers per his days of life. Meaning a 4 day old baby should have 4 diapers of some sort in a day; up to 7 days of age then you will get a "norm" for that baby. Do not worry if he is doing well; just enjoy it as it will not last long. BTW... I would not wake him as when moms do this and force a feeding on a sleepy child, the baby only takes in foremilk and the feeding is not as good in nutrition balance. The only people that should be waking babies to eat are failure to thrive babies or premies at the feeding growing stage. Sometimes these babies are using up so many joules of energy to survive, they will not wake. If your baby is healthy, do not wake him.... Congratulations. If everyone had a baby like him; our hospitals would be at the max all year long. Congrats!

Let him sleep and get as much sleep as you can too. All three of my children slept through the night almost from the get go and the nurses all told me the same thing, let him sleep & just pump if you need to. My third one had severe jaundice and the breastfeeding/sleep issue became an issue when he wasn't really nursing either. Our pediatrician told us that the best way to beat the jaundice was to give formula for 24-48 hours and we could go right back to breastfeeding. Worked like a charm and he still slept through the night. As for the frozen milk, keep it and have someone babysit ocassionally so you and your husband can have some sanity time. Another option is to see if there is a milk bank in the area and donate it. There are some mothers, who for whatever reason, can't breastfeed but would prefer breastmilk to formula.

My daughter was a bit early (37 wks) and kinda small when she was born, so erred on the side of caution and woke to feed if she didn't wake after 4 hours.
Her sleepiness only lasted for a week or so, after that she woke by herself to feed every 2-4 hours.
I would say for the first month wake him after 4 hours, after that just go by his schedule.
Good luck and congrats!

I would let him sleep. My first child slept one 7 hour stretch in his first week of life, and my second often slept 5 hours at a time. They made up for it later with nursing. I also had them in our room so I could nurse in bed if they woke up and were a bit hungry. My boys would stock up for an hour or so nursing on and off and then sleep. If he is sleepy, he will sleep, but if hunger wins out, you will know. You don't need to pump unless you want to since you are not replacing a feeding as you would if you were away. Enjoy having such a good sleeper!

Congratulations on the birth of your baby. Babies need to feed at least 8 times in a 24 hour period. So, if your little one is sleeping 5 hrs at night, he needs to put some feeds in every 2 hrs during the day. 5 hours would be the outermost time to let him sleep. You might want to gently wake him up at the 3 hr mark, maybe just before you plan to go to bed. Then he gets a nice full feed and maybe gives you a good span of sleep after that.
Also, he needs to be keeping up with at least the minimum of wets and messy diapers (at 3 days it's 3-4 wets, 3 BMs. On day 4 4-5 wets 3+ BMs)
If you're unsure, contact a local LC or LLL Leader. Happy babymoon.

Don't wake a sleeping baby. He'll wake when he's hungry. My daughter awoke every 1-2hrs. My son... Only awoke every 4-6hrs. Did I panic? Nope. He's fine. Healthy.

And as far as the "extra" breastmilk... You can donate it. Check online for locations.

Frozen breastmilk can last a year. You never know... You might just want to use it if you want to get away... Someone else can feed him. Give you a break.

i would say stay with what your doing n feel blessed.... pump to keep the flow going. the pediatrician told me not to let her sleep more than 4 hrs but she sleeps almost 8 at 6 weeks old i'm not complaining but i don't produce alot for her. She stopped eating off me at 3 weeks n i had to pump every feeding because i can't produce enough. so shes formula feed and breastfed. but best of luck with this one n congrats

Boys sleep much better! Enjoy it! :)

if he's always asleep and u dont think he'a getting enough milk, wake an feed. otherwise, u think he's ok, let him sleep. but he's a newborn. its important he feeds

I would defintely base it on number of wet diapers and jaundice risk. I woke my son every 3 hrs to feed, although we had slightly high bilirubin counts. I did this for 6 weeks, after that I let him sleep. He was/is a great feeder. Regained his birth weight by the next day and doubled quickly. Go with your instincts.