Sleeping Too Long?

[GeorginaA]

I just know I'm going to get laughed at for worrying about this... but I'm going to risk ridicule and ask anyway

ds2 (5 weeks on Tuesday) had his last feed last night at 10pm then slept from 11pm right through to 7am when we had to wake him up. He did stir a little several times from about 5.30am onwards (when he usually wants feeding) but I like to wait until he's properly woken up and "asking" and he never did and resettled himself each time. He's not got a dummy in the night (just to help him settle). He didn't seem overly ravenous at the 7am feed - just normally hungry.

Thing is - is this too long a sleep for a 5 week old baby? I'm loathe to wake him up if he doesn't need it, and feeling guiltily pleased I actually got a decent sleep myself last night (well... apart from all the times I kept waking up to check he was okay and to notice my boobs were exploding!)

It's just he's not that big (last weigh in was 7lb 7oz but that was over a week ago now) and I think he's wearing himself out in the day/evening (colicky and gets little sleep in the day) and as a result crashing at night. I'm worried he's not going to get enough calories to keep a good weight gain as a result.

I do appreciate the irony of being worried about a child sleeping through the night early though...

[Clayhead]

My 9 month old ds hasn't slept for longer than 2 hours at one time yet. If it were me, I'd leave him but then I'm desperate!

[GeorginaA]

Sorry Clayhead ... I knew I'd probably be risking rubbing salt into the wounds of a fair few people!

I tell you what ... I'll swap you some of my night sleep for some of your day sleep !

[Clayhead]

GeorginaA, what day sleep would that be then.....??!

[GeorginaA]

LOL... I'll keep on digging then, shall I?

[Emo]

Ask your HV Georgina but a lady at my mums and baby group had same problem and the HV said that this was normal. Some babies do and some babies don't. It may well be that when he hits his 6 week growth spurt he'll wake more often again as his little tummy gets bigger.

If he's putting on weight and doesn't appear dehydrated, then I agree with Clayhead - leave him to it.

You mentioned that he has colic. My first dd had colic for 4 weeks (2wks - 6wks old) and this was a nightmare. Eventually a new HV suggested cutting out ALL dairy produce for 48hrs and see if this helped. It did!!! It was like I had a totally different child in the house. Turned out that dd was intolerant to dairy products and remained so until about 1yr. My sisters 1st ds reacted to the fresh OJ that she was drinking but colicy symptons disappeared when she stopped drinking it. It may not help but worth a try.

As for the sleeping, as I said at the start, tell your HV - for peace of mind if nothing else.

[Clayhead]

I've come to accept that I don't have good sleepers. dd did start having an afternoon nap when she was 1 so I'm trying to get ds into that kind of routine and clinging to the little hope I have left!

I'll get out of your thread now and leave it to someone with a bit of sense to reply!!! Byeee

[mears]

Enjoy it while you can Georgina

[lydialemon]

Definitely enjoy while you can.

DD started sleeping through from about 11 until 6/7am from about a week old. I loved it - DS1 and 2 were awful sleepers, neither of which slept through until about 18mths/2 yrs. However at 4 mths DD had a hungry spell, plus we went to stay with MIL, and started waking 2/3 times for feeds . She's now 7mths and sleeps through (8 til 7) about 70% of the time, but the last couple of months were horrible after having 4 mths of sleep!

Having said that though I'm sure your DS will continue to sleep beautifully Enjoy it, if he was hungry he would be letting you know about it!