2 week old dropped a night feed

[butternut22]

Hi. My two week old has started sleeping 5-6 hours at night without waking for a feed. He will have a feed at 11pm then 4amish then 8am. He is putting on plenty of weight and did not lose any wait after he was born and at 11 days he was 8oz heavier than birth weight so there are no concerns about that. Should I wake him earlier for a feed or let him sleep? I don't want my milk supply to dwindle. He has also stopped cluster feeding in the evening. Any advice would be appreciated. I am breastfeeding. Thanks

[TriciaMcM]

My DS did the same. I set an alarm at night for 5 hours for a while as had same concerns as you & I stopped them then maybe at 4 or 5 weeks. He's now 10 weeks & sometimes sleeps for 8 hours. I'd keep an extra close eye on his weight & if he's tracking the centile just be happy! (DD who is 4 didn't sleep for 8 hours straight until a year ago, and still wakes during the night)

[TriciaMcM]

PS BFing too

[butternut22]

Thanks!

[NewMumSept2014]

I was really worried about this too, esp when DD started sleeping 11 or 12 hours in a row. I never woke her up to feed or expressed in the middle of the night if she was sleeping (unless boobs were really sore). She just seems to feed a bit more during the day to make up for it and it takes a few days for your milk supply to adjust. I always felt like my supply had gone down when her sleep changed a bit but think it's just that her appetite changes too. I would just get your sleep and try not to worry. I always think, if she's not getting enough food, she'll be hungry and then start waking up again. She's perfectly capable of letting you know if she's hungry! :)

[Onsera3]

My little one always woke as he was hungry but I just wanted to share with you my sister's situation.

Her little girl seemed content to do a long stretch of 5, 6, even 7 hrs at night. My sister heard that one long stretch in a 24 hr period was ok. So she didn't wake her.

As the months progressed the baby dropped down the centiles and my sister had some issues with supply. Eventually, at about six months when my sister was still stressing, a family member arranged and paid for a private lactation consultant.

The lactation consultant said that as she was driving to the house she thought 'I bet this is going to be another mum whose baby slept too long in the early weeks.' She told my sister she sees it all too often and that it was one of the reasons she became a lactation consult as she wanted to educate people on this issue.

So it's just something to consider. It may not be what will happen in your case. But the night time feeds are key for prolactin levels. From what I have heard it is best to wake them regularly until they have had that first routine check up with the GP when supply should be getting nicely established.

[rosiegal]

My DS did this at about 5/6 weeks (also BF) It only lasted until around the 8wk growth spurt then he went back to his usual routine of cluster feeding 6-10pm then sleep, feed at 1am, sleep, feed 4/5am then sleep again until about 8am. To be honest I really didn't worry at the time because I was just so grateful for the extra sleep! He's always had good weight gain and sat just above the 50th centile but after this time of reduced nightfeeds (weighed at 8wks) he was just under the 50th centile, my hv wasn't worried and soon after he started upping the night feeds again. We're now at 4 month sleep regression, oh the joys