No night breasfeeds at 8 weeks. Is this too early?

[AgentErnie]

My ds has started refusing bf at night. He has been sleeping 9-7 and has been waking at around 3am but he just wants a cuddle and then goes back to sleep. He completely refuses to bf. Is this ok? Will it ruin my supply and is he big enough to go this long? He is not the type of baby to be comforted by breastfeeding and doesn't feed very often during the day either.

Wet nappies? Alert when awake? My DD started to sleep through at eight weeks and was fine, she had been waking up at about 2.30am but stopped that and slept through without even waking for a cuddle.

DD did this until 16 weeks when the sleep regression hit and we went to two-hourly wakings for the next two months! She was small on the charts but very healthy and lively and Hv wasn't concerned. No supply issues here but then I've never had problems in that area.

Ooh interesting. My DS is also 8 weeks and although he does feed when he wakes halfway through the night (very similar times to you op) he doesn't have much and I feel he may not actually need feeding. So watching with interest.

I think by this age it is safe to say that a healthy baby will just wake more if they are hungry so no need to worry about sleeping through.

Enjoy it while it lasts (I'm another one with babies who only slept well up to 4 months).

I wouldn't worry if they seem happy at night. I would be more concerned that they weren't feeding that much in the day either.

I'd just try and encourage a few more feeds in the day if they are not having enough wet nappies. Think it should be 5-8 feeds a day at that age but check with HV.

Enjoy the sleep while it lasts

He doesn't have a heavy wet nappy when he wakes at around 3am so sometimes I change him, sometimes I leave him till the morning. He does get frequent wet nappies during the day though. And he has moved to the single bowel movment per day.

How is his weight gain?

He has 3 good feeds in the day (about 15 mins long but good sucking, both sides) and then cluster feeds in the evening between 6 and 9pm. So it really doesn't seem much compared with other babies this age. I do offer him more feeds but he refuses. He does sleeps a lot also in the day also but when he is awake he is active, kicks on his playmat, lots of looking around and cooing. Smiles a lot when being interacted with.

He is quite a big baby. Not sure how heavy now as I haven't weighed him but 9.5oz at birth and was in the same percentile when midwife discharged him.

It would do no harm to have him weighed. I assume it is 6 or 7 weeks since the midwife discharged you?

If his weight is fine then you can be assured that all is well. I am not normally a big advocate of having babies weighed too often, but as his feeding pattern seems unusual I may be a good idea to put your mind at ease.

How often should they bee weighed ? He has moved into size 3-6 month clothes so I wasn't concerned.

They don't "have " to be weighed at all.
Weighing does give some indication of how a baby is thriving however, and usually babies will be weighed a couple of times within the first few months of life.
It's not the only indication of health- as you say your baby is now wearing bigger clothes- a great indication that he is putting on weight.

You did start this thread with some concerns though, and your baby's feeding pattern seems a little unusual. That in itself is not a cause for concern- all babies are different, but a trip to your HV to have him weighed may put your mind at rest.

I am mainly concerned about supply issues and issues that could occur later on because of supply issues and not feeding during the night (lactation hormones etc) sorry I should have made that clearer. I dislike expressing a lot so I don't want to do that either. Should his feeding in the day be enough to ensure my supply is ok, we have never supplemented with formula.

Supply typically responds to need so if he needs more at a future point, more should come then, regardless of what's happening now.

Ds1 slept through from 9 weeks or so, then when he started waking up in the night again at 6m, I had milk, no problem.

My DD slept through from about 10 weeks old and it didn't affect my supply at all. She was on the 91st percentile so it didn't affect her weight in the slightest, but she did cluster feed a lot in the evening.

My DS is 8 months and still needs one feed in the night and is on the 25th percentile. He doesn't cluster feed though.

All babies are different.

Right, voice of doom here.

When ds was 8 weeks, I wandered into baby group, all faux worried (but v smug) that he was sleeping all night without needing a feed. The other bf mums looked at me with awe and envy: how did she do it? What miracle child was this?

Then, he hit 4 months and we got textbook sleep regression.

Just enjoy it while it lasts. It's 5 years ago now, and I still remember the shock of having to wake up in the night again. In fact, he further punished my smugness by becoming - horror of horrors - an early riser.

DD3 was similar in that at about 8 weeks she was going about 9/10 hours at night without a feed and by about 3 months she was doing a 12 hour stretch. I wasn't overly concerned but like others say it's as well to keep an eye on the nappies and have regular weigh-ins just to be on the safe side (was all fine). Supply was completely fine too - she never needed supplementing (I didn't pump either). I fed her until she was 16 months (obviously I mean breastfed her - I do still feed the child! :-)) The only downside was that I got my periods back at about 6 months (much earlier than with my older two) but I thought that was a very small price to pay for all that lovely sleep (especially seeing as DD2 had woken every couple of hours til about 9 months).

Agreed, enjoy it while it lasts and don't forget how to cope with night wakings.

Another one here that is now up every 2-3 hrs since about 5 months-having previously been a great sleeper.

My Dd dropped night feeds at around this age. Fed her at 7 ish, woke her to feed 10-10.30 and then she would sleep to 7. No supply problems but was desperate to feed her when we woke in the mornings!

Yes my ds1 also changed for the worse at 4 months, so I do know to look out for that! I think sleep regressions are quite separate to breatfeeding though. I thought they were related to the baby being more alert and also to developmental changes such as rolling etc

Neither of mine went through the 4 month sleep regression though, so it's not inevitable.

All my 3 were EBF and they did their nights between 7 and 9 week (it took a few weeks for boobs to adjust, if in the shower before baby woke up I would express a little for my own comfort), so it sounds normal to me. We had no sleep regression either, even when teething, they have always been good sleepers. I just think mine take after me and are good sleepers!