Sleepy 3 week old

[DeeLite]

My baby is 3 weeks old and very sleepy. I wake her to feed every 3 hours at night if she's not waking herself but she only feeds enthusiastically when she has woken up of her own accord which would generally be between 4 and 5 hours after last feeding. When I wake her up, she falls back to sleep after about 20 seconds' nursing. I regularly spend two hours awake at night with her undressed, tickling her feet and pulling her ears etc only for her to feed for about five minutes of those two hours.

I know that she should be feeding every two to three hours at this age but am not sure what I can do to increase feeds. You can bring a horse to water etc. Is it not possible that a healthy baby might want to sleep four or (rarely) five hours between feeds? I am expressing too to ensure supply but feel my supply is good. When she chooses to feed, she feeds beautifully; textbook latch and gulping down her milk. Is it possible that she's just a really efficient feeder?

She's tracking the 9th centile steadily and I'm having her weighed weekly and seeing the HV weekly. Everyone comments on her lovely colour and alert behaviour when awake but she's only awake for about three or four hours in 24 . She has been having quite a bit of green frothy poo though - should that be a concern?

My LO is 3 weeks and I've stopped waking her every 3 hours for this exact reason. She will often wake every 3 1/2 - 4 hours herself. However, at night she'll have a big feed and can go up to 5 hours (then has another massive feed). I have absolutely no advice as this is my first except to say it might be worth having a go at letting her wake on her own.

How often does she feed in the day? If she's regained her birthweight and is gaining weight, frequently asking for feeds during the day, then I would let her go 4 or 5 hours at night. So long as she's getting 8+ feeds in 24 hours I wouldn't worry.

Sparklekitty, I've seen other posts by you and think our babies are quite similar .

Sam, she feeds frequently during the day - five or six times of which three or four will be really enthusiastic long feeds - plus two or three feeds at night of which one or two will be enthusiastic. She was born on the 9th centile, regained her birthweight at 10 days and has continued to track the 9th centile so is considered to be thriving from a HV's point of view. My gut feeling is that she's doing okay but conventional wisdom dictates that an EBF baby should be fed much more often.

Hurrah, I hear the little snorts that suggest she's waking for a feed now!

6 feeds in the day and 2 at night sounds fine to me for a healthy, happy baby who is gaining weight.

At the hospital where I had my DD 2 weeks ago, there was a poster saying that bf babies should feed 8 times in 24 hours but it is ok for there to be a period of up to 6 hours without a feed.

Thanks Sam and Running. I think I'm probably comparing to my DS who stayed awake feeding 24/7 for the first six weeks. I should probably relax and enjoy this but I am a Mum and therefore programmed to question and doubt everything I do or omit to do.