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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

DD going through the night at 5 weeks - is this ok?

32 replies

Zimm · 15/09/2010 13:56

Ok, I know I will be the envy of many writing this but I am worried. DD will now go down between 8-9 and sleep for 8 hours! Which is blissful but I am worried she is too young to be doing this? She tanks herself up by cluster feeding in the evening - so does that make it ok for sleep this long? feeds often during the day too. we are ebf, not been weighed for a while but due a wiegh next week. we get plenty of wet nappies and 1-3 dirty a day.

OP posts:

MumNWLondon · 15/09/2010 14:53

As long as weight gain is ok and lots of daytime feeds and wet/ditry nappies then just enjoy it.

jemjabella · 15/09/2010 15:23

Agree with MumNWLondon.

5DollarShake · 15/09/2010 15:30

Sounds line she's doing really well. DD is also 5 weeks and nowhere near that. Enjoy!

Original poster

Zimm · 16/09/2010 18:12

Thanks for the reassurance all.

OP posts:

MoonFaceMama · 16/09/2010 21:30

Enjoy it! You may find she stops doing this at some point (often around four months, but you know babies, never sticklers for the old calendar). This is a normal sleep regression (lots of info on here) and not a sign that she needs solids or isn't getting enough milk. just so you are prepared for the old wives tales

sazlocks · 16/09/2010 21:33

enjoy it. My DS did the same thing until he got to 4 months and its all been downhill since

Ceebee74 · 16/09/2010 21:36

Definitely ok and do enjoy it

Just so you know, DS1 slept through at 4 weeks and never regressed so you may be as lucky as I was

jollyma · 16/09/2010 21:40

Ds1 did the same at 6 weeks. I agree w the others, enjoy it while you can and dont worry.

ConnorTraceptive · 16/09/2010 21:46

DS1 did the same at 6 weeks. Enjoy it. However it will come as a harder blow when subsequent children continue to feed like a newborn throughout the night until they ar 12 months old BELIEVE me!

blackcurrants · 17/09/2010 00:16

[moans and whines with envy]
Congratulations! I had to poke DS and keep him awake with damp flannels for the first week cos he just wouldn't feed - since then have been reassured that as long as he's gaining fine, lots of dirty and wet nappies, I can embrace 'never wake a sleeping baby' as my own personal mantra.

Shame he doesn't feel that way about waking me. 4 times last night!
[sob]

ClimberChick · 17/09/2010 07:01

Is this OK?

Just make sure you make the most of it otherwise you're doing the rest of us an severe injustice.

JulesJules · 17/09/2010 07:08

DD1 did this at 4 weeks or so - just enjoy it! (Agree with Connor - DD2 didn't do this - really realised what a luxury it was!)

mangomilkshake · 17/09/2010 11:41

I also had this same question. my little one is almost 5 weeks and has been doing the same thing, which i thought was ok as he is feeding loads during the day, gaining weight and doing dirty and wet nappies. My view was that he would wake up and let me know when he was hungry and wanted a feed, as he does this during the day anyway.

However saw a HV the other day who said that he is way too young to go for a long stretch of 7-8 hours without feeding and the risk is that his blood sugar levels could go so low that he would be too dopey and sleepy to wake himself up and could go unconscious. HV has scared me witless i have to say... :(

wallababy · 17/09/2010 12:03

Mango-that's an awful thing to say! I wonder what the basis of that is? My dd1 slet through pretty much from birth and I accepted that I was amazingly lucky. Dd2 is now 6 weeks and is the same (I did have an amazingly awful pregnancy, so feel almost justified, but still counting my blessings) I did start off waking her every 4 hours but then checked myself, why??? So she sleeps like a dream and I am an energised calm mum!!
Just go with it and enjoy I say!!

Ceebee74 · 17/09/2010 19:44

Mango what on earth was the HV thinking??

I just considered myself very lucky when DS1 slept through at 4 weeks old and certainly didn't consider waking him up - why would I??

Fortunately I struck lucky 2nd time round too and DS2 was (and still is) a much better sleeper even though he was 10 weeks old when he slept through.

Decided to stop at 2 as I didn't want to push my luck

jollyma · 17/09/2010 19:55

Yes, you might not be so lucky next time. Ds2 didn't go through until about 8 months and woke up after 7am for the first time today at 18 months!

jollyma · 17/09/2010 20:38

Yes, you might not be so lucky next time. Ds2 didn't go through until about 8 months and woke up after 7am for the first time today at 18 months!

Original poster

Zimm · 18/09/2010 22:31

Mango what a worrying thing to say! I have to say I am a bit worried now and might set an alarm tonight to make sure DD doesn't go too long :-(

OP posts:

Lynli · 18/09/2010 22:38

All three of my DCs slept 10 hours at six weeks, but would feed all evening. They never fell unconscious.

It is surely perfectly natural for humans to sleep all night.

mangomilkshake · 21/09/2010 10:15

i know, i have been so worried since then...i did some research of my own afer the HV's 'advice' and apparently the recomendation is that when baby is a newborn (2 weeks or below) that is when they must have feedings at 4 hourly intervals even at night....i dunno its all a bit of a minefield to be honest and I am just increasingly confused about what to do and what not to do.

My instincts tell me that its wrong to wake a sleeping baby, and last night I felt so bad when I tried to rouse him at 2am for a feed by partially undressing him. he was so peacefully sleeping in his cot, it just seemed like a crime to wake him. He did wake enough to latch on and feed for around 10 minutes but then fell asleep. after that though, once I put him in his cot, he was rather restless, grunting and squirming and stuff till 4am, so I reckon that he probably wasn't hungry, and his over-zealous mama forced him to feed.

so i then cancelled my next wake up alarm for 6am he then woke up hungry himself around 7am.

needless to say, I am going to wait for him to give me the cues for when he's hungry rather than obsessively shoving my breast in his face at the prescribed intervals.

It's annoying though because at the start we were going about it the right way and then only when the HV scared the pants off me that I changed things against my better judgement. sometimes its so hard to know who to get advice from.

DaisyDaresYOU · 21/09/2010 10:19

My ds slept through from 3weeks 7pm til 8am my dd on the other hand is 2 and still wakes up twice through the night

Original poster

Zimm · 21/09/2010 11:27

7pm to 8am!!! Wow I thought I had it good :-) My HV is coming tomorrow Mango so I will tell her what your HV said and get her views and then post back.

OP posts:

DaisyDaresYOU · 21/09/2010 12:21

So did i until dd was born.she is very hard work.wakes up at 5am

crikeybadger · 21/09/2010 13:07

Zimm, Mango- sometimes babies don't wake in the night because they are not getting enough milk and in fact they don't have the energy to wake and demand food. Maybe the HV is covering her back regarding this?

This is what happened to my DS. Of course I'm certainly not saying this is the same for your babies. Look at the other signs for a happy baby too- plenty of wees and poos etc and good weight gain.

Also feeding at night is a good thing for your supply because the prolactin levels are high.

If you are happy with how things are going, then trust your instinct and go with that.

HelenLG · 21/09/2010 15:41

I would agree with what eeryone else is saying. If your worried about your baby going for such a long period have you thought about doing a dream feed?

My DS goes down at about 9pm but we give him a dream feed of expressed milk around 11. He wont wake up for love nor money, but he will drink a good 4 oz of milk in his sleep. We've found you can also change his nappy at that time as well.

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