5wk old sleeping longer at night, now a nightmare during the day - is she hungry?

[Caz10]

My 5wk (almost) DD has slept 8pm-2am the past 2 nights, when previously it was 8-12.

Today and yesterday she has been crying almost all day between feeds, can't get settled, the only decent sleep she got was 1hr out in pram.

I am NOT complaining re the sleep, and she's settled like a wee dream after her feeds at 8pm, 2am, and 6am. Next feed normally 9am-ish, and she cried straight through from that until feeding again 12ish. Prior to these big 6hr sleeps she has settled well during the day or been contentedly awake.

Is she starving after the longer period of sleep do you think? Loathe to wake her as we are finally starting to feel well and rested. Also don't want to monkey with her sleep cycles. If babies can eventually go 7-7 without a feed then surely they have to start somewhere?

tiktok i was reading your comments below to someone else with similar issues and read what you said re co-sleeping, and missing feeding cues, is there any way round this? I really don't think I could cope with co-sleeping!

No really expert advice from me - but in my experience if a 5 week old is crying it's worth trying food before anything else. Mine were still more or less permanently attached like a jumbo jet refuelling in mid air at this age! Sorry to say it, but I really think 6 hours is too long between feeds - have you thought of waking her and feeding her when you go to bed?

Thanks seeker! I've fed her a lot more often today than i normally would, keeping her calm but driving me potty!

i know there are no "rules" for this, but roughly when do most babies start to space out their feeds more?

I think the rule of thumb is that they start to space out feeds at around about 6 weeks - or at least some do. But - to repeat a cliche, theyare all different. The important thing to remember is that it is really a very short time you'll be doing this - there is an end in sight!

Thanks again! I had thought maybe 6wks too. The kellymom says 8wks before they should go longer than 3hrs between feeds, but then like you say, they are all different.

The other thing is, as my friend reminded me, any "pattern" they get into at this age won't last long, so no point in getting in a tizz about it, she might have a different schedule today!!

Caz my 5 week old sleeps 7-8 hours at night so it may not be hunger with your LO. There are very different opinions out there around waking them for a feed etc, I did try it as like you felt this was a long time for such a small baby but to be honest it didn't make much difference. I am going with the if he is hungry he will wake and let me know scenario. How is she when she wakes? Crying or OK?

Ooh thanks strangetown that's good to hear. When she wakes in the night she will cry eventually, but I wake when I hear her stirring (her moses basket is right next to my bed) and try to get her feeding before she goes too ballistic!

I certainly wouldn't be worrying about it if it wasn't for the change in her day time behaviour - she was previously very easy to settle, or else quite content to be awake looking at things etc during the day. But then both days after these longer sleeps she has been crying ALL day if she wasn't feeding basically, only slept when we took her out in the pram.

By going that bit longer at night she has effectively cut out one feed, the one she'd previously had at midnight, so I wondered if we'd just have a few days transition before her tummy came to terms with it?!

How is your LO during the day?

Caz - I can hear DS from around 7, but his eyes are closed and he is still asleep, just muttering, so I leave him until around 8 when he is more awake. He doesn't wake up crying with hunger though - you know those wailing hungry sounds!

During the day - he is mostly fine, but does have odd cranky day and a bad patch in the evenings, I think that's just the way of it!

Hope DD has a good day for you.