HELP! 2 week old sleeping 8hrs+ through the night - is this OK?

[squidgeymiller]

My 2 week old sleeps A LOT through the night - Most nights I have woken her to feed her after about 6/7 hrs but last night I left her to wake up on her own and she slept for 8.5 hrs.

The only reason I was waking her was because the midwives in the hospital said a newborn shouldn't really go longer than 6 hours between feeds, however, my friend has said that you should never wake a sleeping baby. It takes a lot to wake her up and usually takes me about 10 minutes to get her awake enough to feed. She doesn't particularly like being woken up either!

She was 2 weeks late (I'm not sure if that makes any difference!) and at 2 weeks old is usually awake quite a lot of the day (unless we're out and about) and at the moment is cluster feeding almost constantly morning and afternoon, with a couple of hours sleep in between.

This is (obviously) my 1st baby and I don't have a clue if it's too early for her to be sleeping this much at night and awake this much during the day.

ANY ADVICE OR THOUGHTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED - I THINK I'M GOING MAD GOING OVER ALL THE PROS AND CONS IN MY HEAD!!!

PS - I know I shouldn't complain about this and believe me I'm not - I just want to make sure she's OK sleeping this much, and that I'm not causing her any problems / feeding her too little!

[NotQuiteCockney]

Is she breastfeeding or formula?

It might be ok for a formula-fed baby (if her weight-gain is ok), but I'd be worried about your supply if she's breastfed.

[KommandantColditz]

Also, how much does she weigh? and is she jaundiced?

If she is very small, or jaundiced, I would wake her to fed, but if she is a big baby, alert for big chunks in the day, she may be taking enough milk in the day to take her through 8 hours at night.

[Nightynight]

Id leave her to sleep, if she looks healthy, feeds well when awake, and fills plenty of nappies.
ds2 was sleeping 6 hours from about 2 weeks old. As he was my third, I just thanked my lucky stars, it never even crossed my mind to wake him!

[PrettyCandles]

If her general state of alertness during waking periods is good, especially if she has lots of awake periods, if she feeds well when she feeds willingly, if her colour is good (ie no jaundice), if she has plenty of wet nappies and frequent pooey nappies, then my instinct would be to be grateful and let this state of affairs continue! But be warned, it may change - most babies go through growth spurts every 3-4 weeks at this age, and feeding can just go haywire because they get so hungry. If that happens it will not be an indication that you don't have enough milk.

Although night feeds at this age are supposed to be crucial for the average mother's milk production, remember that you're not the average mother but an individual. My mum fed my brother on the 4-hourly schedule with limited time at each breast that was advocated in the 60s, and which caused most women to give up feeding by the time they had got home from hospital as they hadn't been stimulated enough to make sufficient milk. However my mum had so much milk that she was coming into hospital to express for the premmies.

[squidgeymiller]

Thanks very much for all your comments, v reassuring.

All the midwives and HVs have commented on how alert she is - and she is awake quite a lot of the day, so I'll see how we go.

[jambot]

My DD slept 7 to 8 hours straight at that age. She was formula fed and a big baby at birth. I would leave her to wake me for a feed, which was normally at about 2ish. Never woke her for a feed. She slept through 12 hours by 3 months, so maybe your in luck with your DD.
If she seems fine in herself during the day, I wouldn't worry.

[bramblina]

My ds slept 8 hrs the day he was born and again the next day. He settled quickly to 6 hrs then at around 4 wks was 4 hrs. I didn't know not to let them sleep that long till he had donr it in hosp and i agot a row! I wouldn't have woken him anyway. He was a little jaundiced and a very contented baby. Breast fed. If your lo is content and very alert I would just enjoy it.