8 week old sleeping through night- not as great as it sounds

[Piranha1981]

Am a bit worried- last night my exclusively bf 8 week old daughter was in no hurry to wake up to feed. Usually she feeds voraciously throughout the night! We co-sleep so I actually really don't mind the night time feeding frenzies- tend to just pop her on the boob and doze off, waking to switch sides from time to time...

Anyway last night she seemed more tired than usual and v unwilling to feed. Result= huge throbbing painful boobs. While sleeping through the night at 8 weeks sounds fab in some ways, am I right in thinking it's a little young to be going all night without food? (I did wake her and she had a couple of v small feeds but she was v unwilling and I did feel a bit mad waking a sleeping baby!) Also that isn't going to do wonders for my supply is it- not to mention the sore throbbing boobs!

It's probably just a one off, but was I right to wake her to offer boob, and am I being silly to fret about this when the rest of my NCT group are all looking for ways to go longer between feeds at night? As I say now we've cracked co-sleeping I really don't mind night feeds (in fact worrying about her sleepiness/lack of desire to feed last night was far more stressful!)

She is making up for last night now btw and has spent most of the morning so far attached to my boob!

It could be you have a lucky sleeper hear I'm a little if you have.

She may just feed all day to make up for it though. Or it could be a one off, DS did three nights of 8hours at around 10week's. Didn't last though.

Some time's I find they do this just before they come down with something.

As long as she's happy having lot's of wet/dirty nappies and still gaining weight then there is probably no need to wake her at this age. Would be a bit different if she was only a few week's old.

Might of been a one off or maybe she just slept through. Some babies do start to at that age. If she makes up for it through the day I wouldn't worry though.
Does she seem well today?

Mine slept through from about 5 weeks - by sleeping through I mean down at 7pm, dreamfeed at 10:30pm and then sleeping until 6/7/8am!! And then she hit 12 weeks, and started waking 2 or 3 times a night for a feed. Zzzzz. She's 20 weeks now, and does 7pm-11pm-4am-7am. They do change their routines a lot!

Yes she seems well today- smiley, alert and feeding a lot this morning! Lots of wet nappies though dirty ones have recently (in last 4 days) decreased to just once a day, but loads of it- believe this is also ok at this age. Getting weight checked tomorrow at her 8 week checkup but last time
I had her weighed it was ok. Prob will just be one off, which is fine with me- we'll see how tonight goes... Just hope my boobs survive- presumably if pattern continues then supply would adjust accordingly and I wouldn't get so engorged?

After a few days your supply will indeed adjust accordingly. Lucky you

It's not an issue. My DD started sleeping for 7 hours + at about 5-6 weeks. I initially had to get up and pump, but pumped less each night until I'd adjusted.

My mum was always telling me how lucky she was with me - apart from many other fantastic traits I was kind enough to sleep all through the night from the age of 2 months. I hope the good genes will pass on!

Piranha don't worry about it, like others have said if she is bright and alert and you are getting plenty of wet/dirty nappies everything is ok.

If she does it for a few nights your boobs will adjust.

Am a teeny bit

Don't worry about it, my DD started sleeping through at this age too. It does sounds really good (to those who are ), but she fed pretty much constantly during the day, especially late afternoon / evening time so I had that to cope with.

I know what you mean about the painful boobs - they would often keep me awake, even though DD was still asleep, but they do adjust eventually.

Ds2 also slept through before 8 weeks. It didn't last Enjoy it while you can, and at least if she does start waking every hour more frequently again, you will have had some good nights to remember fondly.

Just wanted to agree with what others have said. Don't worry about it - if she is starting to sleep through the night, your supply will adjust after a few days. So long as she is alert when she is awake and you are getting the usual amount of wet/dirty nappies, you can just consider yourself one of the lucky ones!!

I know plenty of babies that slept through from earlier than 8 weeks. Sadly, none of them were produced by me!! DS was a little horror as far as sleep was concerned, but that's another story!!!!

I do remember how painful full boobs can be, so I don't mean to belittle that pain, but by breastfeeding for nearly two months you've already done a good deal to establish your supply so have some faith in your boobs, too!! They have an amazing capacity for adjusting supply to your baby's needs and your baby has an equally amazing ability to get what they need from them. I also remember how difficult it was to trust in this, but it is true!

DS is also 8 weeks and has been sleeping through since he was a week old and I was worried about it too.

He simply stays awake for a lot of the day instead.

He only does one (big!) poo a day, has plenty of wet nappies and is EBF. Sometimes I wake up with very sore boobs but I've been expressing when necessary although he's usually hungry in the morning!
He's been gaining weight well (13oz last week).
Hope that reassures you!
I'm enjoying it while it lasts as I bet when teeth etc start coming along . . . :)

My ebf dd slept through (9pm - 7am) from 8 weeks. She's moreorless continued to do so (kind of...) and is now 9 months. Took my boobs a few days to adjust but was fine. First couple of mornings I was willing her to wake up and feed as boobs were killing...!!

Lucky you Piranha 1981!! My DD was 8 weeks when she slept through (7pm-7am) and did so consistently from that point, sore boobs do sort themselves out, tho I remember waking with very wet sheets due to leakage for a few days. It's been entirely different with my DS though, he's now 7 months and I've just recently introduced a late dreamfeed to try pushing him through the night, he's a giant compared to DD and I think he has hollow legs!!!!

it's absolutely fine, my ebf DD slept 6h every night from 2 weeks and when she was very tired she sometimes slept up to 9h in one stretch. It is absolutely ok for her, if she was starving she would wake up, I wouldn't wake her up, at the most you might want to express a bit to relieve pressure on your boobs and keep up supply.