AIBU to worry about my 10 week old

[Ginfilledcats]

Ok, not AIBU in the truest sense but this board gets a lot of traffic. Plus my DH does think IABU.

Basically I'm worried about my 10 week old dd eating and sleeping. Last night she slept from 11 until near 6 without waking, when she finally did, her nappy wasn't very heavy then only fed for 7 mins (EBF). She went back to sleep for an hour then woke again with a dirty bum, changed and tried to feed again but she lasted 3 mins before falling asleep. I took off her gro bag to see if that stirred her enough to feed and she fed for max 5 mins and is now back asleep again.

I'm essentially worried she's dehydrated or will become such, and sleeping too much. She fed for 3 hours yesterday total and had a couple of good naps and a spattering of cat naps. And was super active and playful in between, with good quantity of nappies.

When she was weighed at 8 weeks check she was between 50th and 75th centile at 5lb something.

She's generally a good sleeper (usually 10ish til 3 then had a 15 min feed, then sleeps again until 6 and had another similar feed).

To be honest she's a PFB rainbow baby so I worry more than necessary maybe (hence dh says I'm unreasonable to worry). But I'm so scared somethings wrong or I'm not doing enough!

She has had a cold for a few days so her feeds have been less, but seemed back to normal yesterday....

Ah this parenting lark is worrisome!

Advice or reassurance most welcome!!!

( ps very aware how fortunate I am to have her, have a good sleeper and a content EBF baby - not in anyway intended as a stealth boast. I'm just worried!

If you're concerned and need to talk it through maybe call your HV, they'll be able to guide and give rl support. It's what they are there for

She weighed 5lb at her 8 week check???

Jubaju maybe she means 5kg.

OP assuming that was indeed a typo, she sounds okay to me.. I'd keep an eye out if she seems so lethargic today that there id no "alert awake" time but at 10w my DD certainly wasn't in any sort of routine and would sometimes have very sleepy days. They're still teeny at this stage!

Definitely mean 5kg! Baby brain!!! Thank you for posts so far. Definitely will ring my HV at 9

So she has had a cold for a few days and is now sleeping a lot more and feeding less? I would get her seen by a Doctor today. My DD was like this when she had bronchiolitis. Is she breathing faster than normal?

Doctors usual advise to check if baby is under a year.

No her breathing is fine. She came down all sneezy and a few coughs and just generally sounded congested on Friday. Seemed 100% better yesterday apart from one or two sneezes.
For a while she's been doing 3-4 hour feeds total. But today is less and is difficult to stay away.

Ok I'm panicking now. Should I call the doctor?

3-4 hours of feeding in total sounds totally fine to me, it's about what both of mine did as newborns. They also both did long stretches overnight. It's not necessarily a problem, she may just be an efficient feeder, and it sounds like she is happy and gaining weight. Call the HV for reassurance by all means, it's what they're there for. But she sounds fine to me. Normal to feed a bit less when congested too. Do you have a snot sucker? Thst always helped mine feed better if they had a cold.

I 100% agree with @DisappointingAvocado and I say that as an anxious FTM who has rushed her baby to A and E TWICE over what it turns out was absolutely nothing

I've just looked back at the feeding tracker from when my DD was around 10 weeks and there were definitely stints of sleeping from 10 or 11 until 6am, small feed then back to sleep til 10 or 11 sometimes. She then fed on and off all day, think I averaged between 3 and 4.5h a day in total.

Trust your instincts. She's your baby and you're the one who knows her best. If you're worried please call the HV or doctor for advice. Don't be alarmed if they say they want to see her, medical professionals would always rather check such a tiny baby over to be sure there's nothing wrong than not.

Good luck.

Thanks all. So reassuring to hear your experiences. I was out with NCT group ( socially distanced walk) yesterday and some of their babies only a few days younger feed for up to 8 hours so possibly comparing to them has made me feel worse.

She is a really happy chilled child (don't know how she's so chilled when I'm the opposite lol) so must be an efficient feeder as you say.

I've just managed to get a 20 min stint out of her, but she's gone back to sleep will see how she is in a few hours maybe. Have asked HV to ring for a chat anyway.

Thanks all

Its not the sleeping for long stretches that is a worry. More that after a long sleep she is still only taking small amounts and falling back asleep not managing much awake time that would worry me.

I would probably skip ringing the health visitor as they're going to just direct you to a service.
Why don't you contact breast feeding network? Or la leche League?

I wouldn't worry. My second was around that age when his feeds suddenly shortened. He was just a very efficient feeder. From then on he never fed for more that five minutes on each side. I worried to begin with, but he was a chunky little thing, so was obviously getting everything he needed. You say your DD is between the 50th and 75th percentile, which is great. I'm assuming you mean 5kg. As long as she is putting on weight, I'm sure she'll be fine, but for your peace of mind, I'm sure your HV would be more than happy to check her over.

Actually I would say feeding up to 8 hours a day (if happening regularly rather than just occasionally cluster feeding to increase supply) is definitely not normal and personally I would encourage those mums to have latch/tongue assessed for possible issues. My second went from feeding 8 hours a day to 4 hours a day when her tongue tie was cut.

@DisappointingAvocado I agree re it sounded like a latch issue with my nct friend, her baby is tiny and has colic/reflux too and cries when he's not on the boob so I darent say anything as she's already struggling. I've suggested a few of the breast feeding support people to her sensitively.

She's generally more sleepy in the morning tbh but it was the length and lack of feeds so far that worried me. She's been awake for a bit and had what can only be described as a MONSTER poo which she looked very proud of, smiling away, had another 10 min feed and gone back off to sleep.
Her fontenelle isn't depressed and she's a good colour. Will keep close eye throughout the day

Thanks again all

Hi @Ginfilledcats My baby is 10 weeks today and I went through the exact same worry as you on Sunday! Very sleepy baby, huge naps. She'd had her 8week jabs the previous Mon (also weighed 5kg) and had been out of sorts all week - we've also been blessed with a chilled out bub who sleeps 7 hour stretch at night followed by another couple of hours after a sleepy feed. It's so hard not to panic, and you feel silly especially if you've got a generally calm little soul. If it helps, I've stopped bothering to change babe in the night now, as even after 7 hours very little pee and no poo. Been like it about 3 weeks. Guess she's just using up all the milk? Plenty of heavy nappies once she's up for the day.

My second was a super quick feeder from a young age- like 5 min feed and was done. So she may just be a very efficient feeder, but if she isn’t having lots of wet nappies I would call my GP

As she gets older she will become more efficient with feeding and it will fill her up for longer. I have noticed it with my 14w old. Although he is still eating regularly at night! He goes much longer through the day than he used to.

Is she having wet nappies? Thats an indicator if shes dyhydrated or not. I do understand though and your worry is totally normal. I freaked out over every viral infection when DS was that little. Either way get in touch with your HV or GP. At the least they will reasure you

It is output not input that you should look at. So number of wet and dirty nappies.

I have very strong milk supply and my baby is a very efficient feeder so he only did about 5 mins at that age - health visitor was a bit sceptical but he maintained his percentile and had plenty of wet and dirty nappies so all good

Irony of ironies she's fed 3 hours already with (if she behaves as normally) probably another 30-45 mins of feeding still to go ish.
Had 5 wet nappies, 1 dirty, and 3 mixed so far. So pretty good.

@OCDmama and others thank you so much for sharing similar stories gives me such reassurance. Google is equally brilliant and terrifying to its nice to hear real stories from other mums.

Thanks for your support today z

Glad everything is okay OP :) Sounds like you're doing a fantastic job, and hey - if you can't ask on a forum designed for parents when you're dealing with a first born, where can you?!

I always threw up as a baby, was quiet and slept alot. Second child and mum was scared. Brother had a good appetite, was energetic. Midwife told her I just wasn't that hungry. She was right. Sometimes it's nothing...... Years later I had shingles as a child. Doctor told mum she was a hypochondriac. She believed him cause of the baby sickness scares. He was wrong I was in agony...... Point being, sometimes your wrong, sometimes your right. Don't worry and don't freak out but find out.