How long is too long between feeds?

[Catla]

DD is just 12 weeks old and is sleeping fantastically well at night - going down bout 7/7.30 then I wake her at 10.30 for a feed and then through til 7am. She is exclusively breast fed so I'm surprised she lasts this long. The last few days when I've got her up in the morning she's just 'messed' with her breakfast feed and has snacked on and off til a fairly decent lunch feed then lots of feeding in the afternoon and big evening feed from about 6 for an hour or so... I am wondering whether it's worth trying to cut out the 1030pm feed so she will feed better in the morning? Is it too long to leave her from 7ish til 7am? I'm trying to work out what her routine is and when she wants to feed so I can fit in her activities in the day to best suit her. Thank you! cx

My DD is 15 weeks old today and has been sleeping from 7/730pm to 7/730am since she was about 6 or 7 weeks. I spoke to my HV about it and she said it was fine, that most people would love to be in my position and not to muck about with it. She has a really good feed in the morning (at 7ish), then every 3 hours and she has 2 feeds just before bed.

Her weight gain has slowed down, but she's reaching all her milestones and is very lively, so we're not too concerned.

Thanks for that, just out of interest, are you breastfeeding or bottle? I did leave her all night last night and she was fine and seemed to feed better in the morning and has gone for a nap at 8.30 as usual. If you're breastfeeding has it affected your supply?

at your sleeping babies.

Mine doesn't. Grrrrr

I used to wake my DD at 10ish for a feed. I would get her up, change her, then feed. One night I changed her, sat down in the chair with her and she fell asleep, so I just put her in bed and didn't worry about it. The next night she didn't even wake up through an entire nappy change. So I put her to bed and figured if she was hungry later she'd let me know. Which wasn't till the next morning. She was about 9 weeks at this stage. She was EBF till six months and luckily my supply has always matched demand pretty much. She's 14 months now and just on one feed a day.
So I would say enjoy the sleeping!
to Jojay's wideawake baby.

Dear god if she's doing it naturally, and she's otherwise fit and well, then step away from the sleeping baby!! Shall I repeat that? STEP AWAY!!

You may find that for a little while she wakes a bit later say midnight ish, but I bet she'll go through fairly quickly. DS2 had a period of 10 beautiful, glorious weeks where he slept through 7 till 7, no peeps, no nothing and it was fabulous, aged 8 to 18 weeks. I felt so rested, but unfortunately it didn't last and at 13 months he's still waking and needs feeding...

Thank you thank you - why do we worry about EVERYTHING?!

Hi Catia

My baby's EBF and her sleeping doesn't seem to have affected my supply, but I usually pump just before I go to bed- just in case! Long may the peace last!!!

Catla, I would agree about pumping around 10.00 pm or so, just so your supply isn't affected (because 12 hours without a bf is fairly long). But other than that, I'll repeat what sparkle said: step away from the sleeping baby
(As an aside, I think it's really great that your baby is sleeping so well... my baby is 8 and a half months, and we're still struggling to establish a 5-hour sleep stretch, let alone a 12 hour one- which we have come to believe is just fictional anyway & other parents are lying or imagining it lol ).

Am also at the sleeping babies!

BTW, Catla, what activities does your 12 week old baby do???

If she is feeding plenty during the day, weight gain continues to be good, output is adequate, I'd let her sleep through if she will. At 12 weeks, it is more of an issue of what she gets in a 24 hour period.

Just be prepared for her sleep and eating patterns to change once in awhile during the first year.