Sleepy preemie

[Mammmoo]

Hi, apologies as English isn't my first language.
I just had a beautiful daughter at 36+2, although by my dates, which I'm fairly certain of she was 35+3. She was 7lb born so would have been a whopper if she'd gone to 40. I think that's part of the issue as I'm thinking she should be like my 7.2 term son. We've been in hospital now for 5 days and all she does is sleep, I'm waking (struggel) her every 3 hours feeding some expressed milk and then she sleeps some more. They staff don't seem too worried, she's on antibiotics for an infection and had the light (sorry not sure of name) for jaundice and everyone tell me she ok but she doesn't seem to be getting any more awake. I know 5 days is still nothing but I just wanted to know if anyone have any experience similar to put my mind at ease or not. I'm so worries about but her, my son was born at 40w was alert and feeding by 2 days.

[BarbaraOcumbungles]

My 32 weekend was like this. Slept though from term and only seemed to be awake a couple of hours a day my other preemie was entirely different...

I wouldn’t worry about it if the nurses aren’t :)

[Rkay2]

My baby was born at 35 weeks and slept a lot.
He was woken to be fed.
As long as baby is feeding and there are wet and dirty nappies all is ok
Also remember their stomachs are very small and they don't need much food.

[MoreProsecco]

Both my prems were very sleepy - it's pretty normal.

DD was 35+6 & jaundiced, so was a poor feeder too.

She was tube fed as her glucose levels were low & I expressed for her.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good supply, despite pumping 3-4hourly. She "switched on" at her term date & had a massive growth spurt, feeding constantly. Sadly, I just didn't make enough milk for her & had to top up with formula, as she'd lost 9.8% of her body weight & was at risk of being readmitted.

She's a very robust 5 year old now.

[Mammmoo]

Thank you. Make me feel less anxious, 5 days, no sleep and so worried isn't a good combination.

[Mammmoo]

When did they let you go home? I can maintain the wake to sleep, express routine at home but letting us go doesn't seem on their radar at the moment

[KoshaMangsho]

Unless she is awake and demand feeding she won’t be going home. It will click. For now her brain to do it’s neurodevelopmental jobs needs as much rest as it can get. She has come out early and the stimulation of the outside world isn’t good for preemies till at least their due date. So her body is dealing with it by making her sleep, as she would in your womb.

[KoshaMangsho]

And the criteria may vary. But roughly speaking they want independent breathing and demand feeding. Or minimal oxygen if a very early prem. My 26 weeker came home at 36 weeks weighing a mere 4lb (he was born at 2lb) but he was latching on, breastfeeding and waking for feeds.

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

If she’s still jaundiced she will be extra sleepy anyway. My preemie was born at 34 and brought home just before 36 and was still sleeping all the time pretty much for a few weeks after that. They’ll be monitoring her closely, including her feeds and nappies, so would def notice if anything was wrong or out of the ordinary

[eurochick]

My premmie was very sleepy too. She was also jaundiced. As long as she is feeding and filling nappies she should be ok and get more awake as she gets closer to term. Congratulations on your baby.

[Grandmaswagsbag]

Same here. Jaundice, I had to wake for feeds for a couple of weeks I think. My dd was born at 35+6 and we were in for 6 days. They let us out once they were happy with her latch/feeding and the jaundice was starting to lessen.