Advice pls - BF 8 week old sleeping through - is she getting enough?

[MrsKitty]

At the risk of being shot by anyone who's not getting any sleep I need advice about my 8wk old DD.

She's never been much of a night waker and for the first 6 wks I was setting an alarm to wake her to ensure she fed regularly. I stopped this 2 weeks ago and she's been going from around 10pm to 3 or 4am which was pretty good I thought. However the past 2 nights she's gone from 930ish until 5am yesterday and 6am today (had to wake her today). Is this OK for a BF baby so young? I remember my son waking 3 hourly through the night until he was 10 mths!

After a shaky start where she didn't gain any weight she's now been gaining between 5-6oz a week for the past 4 wks and is following the 25th centile line.

She generally has 5-7 feeds over 24hrs (2 to 4 hourly). She sleeps beside me in a bedside cot.

I'm paranoid that the lack of night feeds might affect my supply long term - should I be waking her or should I let her follow her own pattern? (and if I do rhat should I wake myself to express?)

AFAIK if she's having plenty of wet and dirty nappies, seems alert and OK when awake and weight isn't going down then there's nothing wrong.
My 10wo DD did this the night before last - went from 8pm to almost 5am - her big brother never had a night even half as good, in fact he's 2 1/2 and that would be a good night for him now! So I know what you mean, it's completely unexpected
Enjoy the sleep!

I would have thought that by 8 weeks your milk supply would be established enough to cope with this but I am sure someone more qualified will be able to comment on this.

From my experience, my DD is 5 weeks and has slept through from 10pm or 11pm until 5am on a number of occasions since birth. I view this as extremely lucky on my part and it hasn't interrupted my milk supply - other than waking feeling a bit uncomfortable on a couple of occasions when I have expressed a little to relieve the pressure. But she has been gaining around 10oz a week so I knew she was getting enough.

The other thing to bear in mind is that she has only done this for a couple of nights which will have no adverse effect on either of you. She may not continue to do this (sorry!) in which case it's not an issue! No pattern or routine lasts for long in babies this young ime. I personally think that if babies are gaining weight and are feeding regularly during the day then let them follow their own pattern at night - after all we want them to sleep through eventually.

As I say, this is just my humble opinion and happy to bow to anyone with more knowledge!

If she's alert and happy during the day, feeding well and you're seeing weight gain and wet nappies then I wouldn't worry. Babies vary WILDLY when it comes to sleeping through. Dd3 slept from 10 pm to 6 am at 11 weeks but DS Didn't sleep through until he was 24 months old!

My 1st LO (I now have 3)slept through from 8 weeks from 8 - 6 and by 10 weeks she was doing 12 hours and was exclusively breastfed. I continued to feed her until she was 8 months and had no problems with my milk supply.
Enjoy your sleep and don't worry about the weight gain, the nappies are a better indicator , unless she seems unwell. The charts were all drawn up for FF babies anyway.

Thanks for replies... I was kind of thinking I should enjoy it while it lasts (In fact now that I've said that's what she does, she will no doubt stop immediately!)

She has heavy nappies and poos at least once (usually more) a day.

She does still sleep an awful lot in the day too (again, way more than DS ever did) but does have a couple of short periods where she's awake and not feeding - she smiles and seems alert/bright eyed. She also has fussy periods too (an hour and a half of colic every night 730-9pm without fail where nothing - not even my trusty boobs - will help.

I guess I need to just stop worrying - It always helps to hear others experiences!

I welcome any more thoughts...

she sounds fine and you're right the good stages don't usually last this young (but neither do the bad ones...)

Oh god, I'd forgotten about that 7.30 to 9 thing. What actually is that about? All my babies did that.

Yeah the 730-9 thing makes getting DS (2.9) to bed when DH is still at work a whole barrel of fun!

My DD has slept through from 10pm to 7 or 8 am from 9 weeks. Presumably she's regained her birth weight and you already said she's gaining at a reasonable rate so I wouldn't worry if I were you.

One of my twins has been sleeping from 11pm till 5 since he was 6 days old, my older ds did this too. They both gained weight nicely and had plenty of wet and dirty nappies so i never worried. My dd did 12 hours from 12 weeks. All were ebf, don't worry about it unless she's showing signs of being under nourished. She may just be a very effective feeder.