Advice on sleep and feeding please 8 week old x

[AlviesMam]

Hello I’m a FTM
My 8 week old is awake during most of the day and has maybe 15-60mins nap three/ four times per day (longer if we’re out for a walk in the pram) this usually means by 8pm she’s very sleepy, will cry for her milk but only take 1-2oz before falling back asleep (she’s on 4-5oz every two hours during the day) she has good weight gain so I’ve been told not to wake her and let her sleep through? She slept for 7 hours last night (first long spell) 2230-530 (we transferred her from her Moses to crib at 1230 and she still didn’t stir) is it normal for an 8 week old to start sleeping longer? She seems very lazy with her milk on a night/early hours. Just wanted to know if the above sounded normal? When she’s awake she’s alert, smiley, likes to play on her mat etc so no worries with her, she just seems very sleepy on a evening which is affecting her last feeds.

I’m trying to establish a routine , I bath her every night and then give her a bottle and that’s when she’s very sleepy but sometimes she will sleep through (4 hours) sometimes she can be up every two hours so I’m struggling to know why this is, as I said above she did 7hours sleep on very little milk but then can have more milk another night and wake every 2?!

Also- a new thing she’s done (only twice so far) she is waking up startled and upset as though she’s had a nightmare.

All advice welcome on both , thank you in advance! x

[MummaBear4321]

Many things make alwwp patterns erratic; growth spurt makes them more hungry, brain activity can either keep them up or make them sleepy, whatever way they slept through the day can make them sleepy or more awake. There are so many things. As a FTM it can be easy to think there is a 'normal' or anything you can do about these things. Tbh, I learned the hard way, thay babies sleep the way they sleep, and at 8 weeks just be thankful they sleep 4 hour stretches. You just have to accept the erraticness of it all. The fact that your DC even slept for 7 hours is a great sign of things to come, but it will take a long time before a proper pattern is established (by the baby. Not you. The baby does just dictate to us which is hard to accept). My DD slept 'through' for 6 hours at 11 weeks and it got slowly better, but she is the only one of her peers to do that, and her sister is 8 weeks now and can do 5 or 6 hours during the night, and I have ABSOLUTELY no routine other than try to get a bottle into her around 10pm. I usually fail lol.


Just go with whatever your baby does. Forcing them otherwise or worrying that you can control the sleep situation is futile IMO. They eventually get themselves there.

[KitKatastrophe]

It's quite normal for an 8 week olds routine to be all over the place. As long as she is happy and alert when she is awake, putting on weight and producing wet and dirty nappies, then just go with it.

[AlviesMam]

@MummaBear4321

Thank you! It's new to me all of this! I just wanted to check it wasn't anything to worry about! I'll keep doing what I'm doing and see how it goes. She's never slept that long before so it was a change from what I'm used to as the past few nights she was waking every two hours for a feed, whereas last night she didn't feed as much and was very sleepy. I guess like you said brain activity etc can impact on how she's going to be. Hopefully in a few weeks she'll do some big sleep stretches like last night

[AlviesMam]

@KitKatastrophe Okay thank you

[Bobbiepin]

At 8 weeks it's all totally up in the air, and up to baby. I think there's a leap at 8 weeks too so that might be influencing the sleep, or a physical growth spurt. So long as you are getting wet and dirty nappies and weight gain is good, let her sleep. Don't wake a sleeping baby unless you really have to. Sounds like you're doing a great job.

[AlviesMam]

@Bobbiepin Thank you! I feel much better after this feedback!