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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

The baby who slept too much?!

17 replies

SomethingSuitablyWitty · 23/12/2010 06:39

My DD is just 7 weeks and is my first, so am learning as I go! She is a lovely little girl (in my unbiased opinion!) and quite a calm and easy baby. We had some difficulty getting her to settle into bed in her first week at home and the midwife suggested swaddling. We have never looked back, though we only swaddle her at night for her long sleep.

In the past three days, she has started to sleep through the night. THis happened gradually - 2 feeds went to one and the one got later and later until it hit 7am. I do the last feed around 8.30pm to 9pm and she is asleep between 9 and 10, depending how things pan out. Last night she fell asleep at 9.10pm. It is now 7.30am and I am waiting for her to wake up.

She stirs and makes noises from about 5am but doesn't actually wake up or cry and I actually end up more or less waking her, by going in and standing over her, untucking her etc, 'til she wakes.

She is breastfed, but I know I have a very big supply of milk. It has been a bit of a problem! I only feed her on one side, but it is sometimes still spurting out ten minutes or more into a feed. She has got better at coping with it. I don't know how mych she gets, but I have started expressing and can easily express 110mls in the time it takes her to feed. She feeds about every three hours, more like every two in the evening - say 4pm, 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Her weight gain is good but absolutely normal.

Basically, I worry that the swaddle is somehow preventing her from waking up and that she is sleeping too long. DH thinks it's brill! I don't know what to do. Should I wake her and if so, when?!

Thanks for your experience and advice!

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sunndydays · 23/12/2010 07:47

I would say yay!!! What a good baby you have! If she was hungry she would wake regardless of being swaddled (trust me I know!). As long as she is getting enough food through the day (which it sounds like she is) then I would say that there is no problem with her sleeping through.

My mum says I slept from 9:30 until 6:30 from two and a half weeks and I was fine

I am another one who wakes dd in the morning for a feed, always have done, part of our routine, however she is a bad feeder and I don't like her going more than 12 hours without eating.

Keep doing what you are doing and enjoy every minute

notyummy · 23/12/2010 08:10

If she is gaining weight and happy then relax! We also swaddled and dd ( who was also fully bf) went from 10pm until around 7am by around 10 weeks. Not quite as sleepy as your dd, but you can see that some babies do do it! Sleep whilst you can and keep your fingers crossed that she stays like this...we had a v long period of VERY early waking when dd got older so it can alter!

peapod2010 · 23/12/2010 11:26

Just another message of reassurance- my DD slept through from approx 3wks too. She's now 8 mths and bar the very occassional waking on cold nights she has kept it up so far. It's great- just be careful how much you talk about it to friends with babies of the same age or the daggers will come out!

zafrostypee · 23/12/2010 11:28

woohoo! Lucky you. DD sleeps through until 6.30 or 7.00 but she is 10w. My two boys didn't do it until they were four months old. All breastfed. I'd personally wake at 6.30 or 7am for the sake of routine, as I usually have to feed the other two their breakfast and do the school run. But if you can sleep in at Christmas, then why not let her wake up in her own time.

Original poster

SomethingSuitablyWitty · 23/12/2010 20:24

Thanks for the very reassuring replies. They have made me feel a lot better. I'll try and just enjoy it (while it lasts!) instead of fretting then.

OP posts:

fairimum · 23/12/2010 21:34

DS was jsut like this - until hit just over 6 months then over night went from loads of sleep to just having 45 mins in the morning and 1.5 hours in the afternoon!! enjoy :)

sarahtigh · 31/12/2010 23:45

do not i repaeat do not wake a sleeping baby my DD was only 5lb when born and sleeping through at 8 weeks 11pm-6am now sleeps 8pm-8am no complaints you hasve good settled baby that gets plenty of food in day so does not need food at night, I would freeze your spare breastmilk

dolcegusto · 01/01/2011 00:15

My dd slept through from 3 wks, about 12 hrs, she had me really worried as after a couple weeks of this she wasn't gaining weight fast enough. (was ebf) hv suggested waking her to feed, or early weaning. Not keen on either idea, but did manage to get her to take the occassional dream feed, she never caught up with the weight gain, went from 75th centile to 25th.

Have you tried dream feeding? Might be worth a shot.

mylifewithmangers · 01/01/2011 00:21

can I just cry right now

Am sat here with 15 month old DS, who still has at least 2 feeds every night. Its the teeth keeping him up now, but still. Am at all these sleeping babies

Bumperlicious · 01/01/2011 00:33

Am virtually crying as also still awake and not through choice!

I wouldn't worry at night buy wouldn't let her go longer than 3 hours in the day.

digitalgirl · 01/01/2011 00:43

mylifewithmangers I weaned ds from night feeds at 15mo by getting dh to offer a cup of cows milk whenever he woke asking for milk. It did coincide with us co-sleeping though, so he just got a different sort of comfort through the night. Three nights later, he stopped asking altogether and we had the best night's sleep ever.

(nb he's 2.4 now and sleeps in his own bed but still wakes in the night to come and join us, minimal effort though)

Giddyup · 01/01/2011 11:20

my DD does similar (8wks old). She goes o bed around 7.30 and sleeps until around 5, thrn until 8ish (9.30 today, bliss!).

I would say enjoy it and don't rock the boat, but don't get too used to it either!

Poppet45 · 01/01/2011 19:24

Oh it's definitely not the swaddle causing too much sleep. bitter laugh My DS was swaddled for months but bang on 12 weeks he stopped sleeping those dreamy 10-12 hour stretches.... for the next 13 months.

Feliena · 09/01/2011 20:31

lucky u! my 4 mo old doesnt sleep through wakes up for 1 feed- he did have a day last week where he slept all night (bar 1 feed) then slept a further 8 hours in the day then all night again (bar 1 feed) i was having major panicks and rang my midwife who rekoned it was a growth spurt - next day he was awake as normal

Sarahlou8 · 09/01/2011 22:12

Yes, my 10 week old DD has been like this since just over 6 weeks and now sleeps 9pm - 7am. This morning she woke at 8.10am! I swaddled her too until recently but find she doesn't need it now.

She breastfeeds every 2 hours in the day and almost continually from 7pm onwards and I feel she's stocking up for the big sleep.

Enjoy it! My older two children didn't sleep through the night till they were 8 months old - and by that I still only mean 10pm-6am!!

Plumm · 09/01/2011 23:43

DD was exactly the same (and swaddled) - she was still sleeping for 14 hours a night plus a 2 hour nap when she was 2.5. She's 4.5 now and is still a long sleeper but does sometimes get up ( she was up at 9 this evening because she was lonely!)

OnEdge · 09/01/2011 23:53

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