10 day old baby suddenly sleeping much more... is this a "growth spurt"?

[fierydormouse]

Hello folks, new here so many apologies for any faux pas i may have made re. posting in wrong place etc...!

Here is the background: we had our baby ten days ago and I am breastfeeding him. He has been cluster feeding like mad for the last maybe 6 days, from 6pm until 2-4am. Then when he finally sleeps at night, it is for hours and hours. We were waking him for feeds every four hours, but the midwife told us that since he is well and putting on weight, we could let him sleep. Last night he slept for 7 hours from 4am til nearly 11am. (I was very surprised by this).

The issue, which I am probably worrying about far too much, is today he has suddenly slept a lot more during the day - he went off for 3 hours this afternoon, and now this evening, rather than getting stuck into the relentless cluster feeding, he last fed 2 hours ago and has been asleep on my husband's lap ever since.

Could this be what they call a growth spurt? I do think he has suddenly got heavier. My concern is, is he still getting enough milk? I guess he'll wake and tell me if he's hungry but I am still a bit concerned! He is still peeing and pooping plenty by the way.

Anyone else had an experience similar to this? Every day seems to be a new adventure at the moment, so I am trying not to make assumptions about his behaviour from one day to the next but I am a bit surprised by this latest development.

Many thanks for any advice. xxx

My DS's growth spurts consist of him feeding more & sleeping less. When he was 10 days old he fed every couple of hours, slept for a couple of hours then fed again.. It was relentless 24-7.
Other people's experiences are different & they find their newborn does sleep for a good chunk of time so it sounds very normal & you're lucky to have a 7 hour stretch... My DS is now 5 months & he's not achieved that yet.
Make sure you use the time to rest & get plenty of rest yourself.
Enjoy, it sounds like you're doing a great job

hey hunny
it sounds like a growth spurt to me and very normal. Enjoy it and get plenty of well deserved rest, you deserve it. You sound like your doing a great job. As lambster said ive yet to experience the joy of a 7hr stretch lool except for the first two weeks of Kai's life where he slept all day and night (oh how i miss those days!)
xx

Really don't think this is a growth spurt, as said above growth spurts usually consist of much more feeding and less sleep. Your next growth spurt is due at around day 14.

Try googling kellymom nursing your newborn too [smie]

Oh and keep posting and let us know how you are getting on.

How are thing today fiery?

hello folks, sorry for the slow reply!

Turned out his "sleeping more" ceased shortly after my post! He woke up and fed...and fed...and fed... we didn't have any further sleep until after 5am that night. I guess I was just trying to make sense of his sleeping a lot that day.

He is still cluster feeding like crazy from about 6pm to 1am-ish most nights, but with a little persuasion (usually my husband taking him out for a midnight walk in the pram!) the last 2 nights he's been asleep by 2am.

As I said in my original post, every day is a new adventure though at the moment! I am a bit desperate to see some kind of "pattern" in his behaviour but maybe I just need to chill out a bit and accept he's only just 2 weeks old and there maybe just isn't one yet!

Many thanks for your comments and advice xxx

All sounds perfectly normal fiery and I wouldn't worry too much.

If he is feeding all night and sleeping all day, try making the day noisy and busy, don't keep it dark and quiet and try getting him outside at least twice a day. The sunlight will help to reset his timetable and hopefully encourage him to sleep at night rather than all day.

As for routines, one of the lovely things of bfing is that you don't need a strict routine. if you feel like going out for the day there is no need to worry about milk safety or quantity, you can just go .