Hi. I am a first-time mom of a four-and-a-half week-old baby girl. I have been trying to figure out the "normal" range for sleep. She seems to do cluster feedings in which she wants to breastfeed every two to three hours and then she wants to go four or more hours between feedings. Sometimes she's asleep for most of that time. We were working very hard to get her weight up and also working hard on the nursing because I was hospitalized for a few days because of a serious uterine infection and she had trouble going back on the breast. My lactation consultant said not to let her go more than four hours without nursing. Currently she is breastfeeding well and gaining more than an ounce a day; her pediatrician is thrilled. So two questions: At what point do you think I can let her go more than four hours between feedings? (Right now I set an alarm and wake her if she doesn't wake herself.) Should I be concerned that she wants to sleep so much? How much wake time is "normal" and healthy for a month old baby? Lots of times she eats and wants to go back to sleep--or at least during the day she wants to! Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions. My pediatrician said to let her sleep as long as she wants at night but to try to get seven feedings in per day. Most days we manage that. Some days we've only done five and some days we've done nine. At her one-month check up this week she had gained one pound in eleven days, which is more than the goal of one ounce a day, so everyone was encouraged. I don't like to let her go more than four hours without a feeding, but she gets so cranky and doesn't nurse well if I wake her up, so we're still experimenting. Being a mommy is hard and I second guess myself all the time. I hope that gets better with time! Thanks again.
My oldest son was 3 weeks early, and healthy, but only 6lb.13oz. He slept and ate a lot in the first month or two and got up to normal weight quickly. They say babies grow while sleeping, so eating and sleeping are perfect for lower-weight babies.
C.,
As long as your baby is thriving - gaining weight and acting normally, then you can let her sleep as long as she wants. Make sure that she is well fed during her waking time. Try to sleep when she is sleeping and remember to eat, too! There are volumes of advice out there regarding this topic, but as long as you listen to your intuition and your baby is healthy then you know you are doing the right thing.
Best of luck and congratulations!!!
T.
If you think you're on track with her weight gain, let her only sleep more than 4 hours if its at night. Otherwise during the day time, you don't want her to sleep longer to make sure she is well fed and to condition her to sleep at night. She is still trying to figure this whole thing out of being independent and not inside of you nice and warm and dark and being fed. She has to learn just as much as you do. So let her sleep until the cows come home at night, but during the day, I wouldn't go more than 3 hours. To be honest, I did not do this with my first child and it took her more than 3 months to sleep through the night. I did exactly this with my second and she was sleeping through the nighgt at about 8 weeks. Ahh restful momma makes a happy momma and baby too.
My daughter slept for long stretches from day one, after some failed attempts to wake her in the hospital(the nurses were already concerned, but she was just sleeping like a rock ;)). I decided that that's what she needs and basically she had either one or two breaks of around 5 hours per day from week one. She gained weight along a perfect curve and that settled it for me. I nursed until 13months and she will turn 2 tomorrow. Don't stick to the numbers if the weight and other development is fine, everyone is different from day one. Enjoy!
Hi. My son is 12 weeks old now. I believe that he began sleeping from 4-6 hours at 6 weeks. That was the turning point. He went from 8-10 feedings a day to 6-8, normally 7. It's still that way now. Some babies sleep the night at 6 weeks, so I think it's okay for them to go more than 4 hours without eating, as long as they get in enough feedings. The "What to Expect When You're Expecting the First Year" book says 6-8 feedings . I think it would be okay to let him sleep a fifth hour, as long as he's eating enough times a day.
My son ate an hour after finishing a feeding until he either took a nap or went to sleep for the night at one month. I think he was fully awake through 3-4 of those hours. He slept a lot too. Now, he's different. He's not a very good napper. Anyway, good luck.
R.
If she is gaining weight and you both are back to nursing well I would say let her sleep. Perhaps, if your breast are getting too full between feedings you can pump and freeze for later use. My son started sleeping from about 10 p.m to 6 a.m. when he was 6 weeks old and he nursed until he was a year old. Talk to your pediatrician first but I would say let her sleep.
The only thing is maybe you want to wake her during the day so she might sleep better at night.
Good luck.
sleeping is definitely what newborns do. I would keep waking her for feedings until the doc says it is okay to stop and her weight is where they want it. The book Healthy Sleep Habits, happy baby by Dr. Weisblut is a great read regarding sleep and actually lots of sleep is good for a baby and the better rested they are, the better they sleep at night. But at her age, she can't go too long without eating. By 3 months, it is great if they will go longer at night without eating ie sleep through the night. She will likely start to move to sleeping longer at night and then be awake for no more than 2 hrs at a stretch during the day and then 1-2hrs sleep. good luck.
Usually once your baby is over a month, they say it's ok to let your baby sleep longer than 4 hours. Really, if your baby is gaining well, God bless her if she wants to sleep longer! If you're lucky she'll stretch it out to 6 hours or more in the next month :)
As for day-time sleep, I wouldn't be concerned - babies at this age sleep around 18 hours per day, so you can probably expect to have a few longer awake periods, but mostly sleep. My 8-week old daughter has some days where she's awake a lot and others where she sleeps a lot. I don't personally worry about it as long as she sleeps at night (and she does). Sounds like you're doing great. Don't worry - it gets easier!
C.:
there is no such thing as normal!>
Why don't you check back with your lactation consultant?
P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions
Your baby is a typical kid. The "not going more than four hours" is more for you, not her. If you go too long without nursing your breasts can get so full of milk that she may not be able to latch on properly. She needs to be able to get enough of your nipple and areola into her little mouth to "milk" the teat. If you go too long without nursing, the breast can get so engorged that the skin around the teat is real tight and flat against the breast and she won't be able to latch on, leading to further engorgement. If you find that this has happened, you will need to hand express some of the milk prior to feeding her.
AS far as eating often and then not so often...her brain is telling her when to eat! She is listening to her body! Let her lead the way, with you to guide her.
Keep nursing her! This is absolutely the best food for your baby.
Hi--
My son had similar issues with weight gain. It's hard to understand the need to wake a baby up at night until you've experienced the worry slow weight gain brings.
Once his weight was firmly back on track, we increased the time we would let him sleep (4, 4 1/2, 5...). We stopped setting the alarm around six weeks. However, we also decreased the time between his daytime feedings to make sure he got at least the same amount of food in. That will also help your milk adjust.
Good luck - When this started for us, someone said we would always have issues getting him to eat. He's almost five months, and if anything is out of sorts, he isn't interested in eating. For us, things definitely got better, but I'm still waiting for the worrying to end!
sounds like everything is 'normal'! whats so important is that your daughter is gaining weight and to do so, she knows when and how often to eat. let her eat as needed and she will continue to do so well. when she needs to nurse less frequently, she will. my daughter is now almost 5 months and there was week here and there where she would wake up every 2 hours at night to nurse a little because she must have needed it. now she only nurses once (and that could change at any time!) and is thriving even though she only weighs 12lbs (my husbands genes!). every baby is different but they all know what they need.
congrats!! and best of luck with eveything.
When My Son was born, my breast feeding coach and suggested to me and others in the class to begin introducing the child to the breast right after births clean up and brought to you for feeding. Latching on is very important and once this is accomplished, it should be done every hour and a half. The child should feed at least 7-10 minutes on each side or as they will go and not to go over since their little bodies needed proper digesting time. Every four hours is too long to ait in between feedings and may be the reason why the child is sleeping too much. I suggest you feed your child as every 90 minutes from 7-10 minutes each side and if your child does not want it thats fine but offer it cause you never know. Try not to allow over time. hile its true they will feed as long as you let them, this may not be healthy since it may be the start of infant obesity.
You are the childs Mom so do ask about this and any advise given before you follow it.
Hope all works out and do let me know your update to this concern.
