Help! Newborn sleeping through but what about my milk supply?

[BlameItOnTheBogey]

I know this seems crazy to complain but my dd (3 weeks today) has started sleeping from 1130pm to 6am (actually, I wake her up then and not sure how long she would go if I didn't). But we are still establishing breastfeeding (lots of problems with DC1 and I am determined to make it work this time). From all I have read, the night time feeds are essential for telling your body to produce enough milk and establishing supply. But if she is sleeping through, does this mean my supply will drop? Should I be waking her to get her to feed?

Fully aware that this won't last and that within days she will go back to regular wakings but what if my supply is already affected by then?

Any words of wisdom?

Your concern is justified, Blame.

A new baby who is still not feeding well needs to feed at night, for sure. Yes, 6-7 hour gaps in the feeds will affect your supply.

Fixing the breastfeeding, keeping her skin to skin, co-sleeping (there are ways to do it safely), feeding her often and offering at least two and more if possible, breasts per session....it will all help you.

has she been weighed recently?

Hope this helps.

Thanks Tiktok. I hoped you see this as you are so knowledgeable! Yes, she's gaining weight really well (my OP wasn't very clear sorry, DC1 was a nightmare to feed, she is DC2 and feeding is going very well so far and she's gained over a pound and a half in three weeks!) But I am scared that sleeping through will undo all the work I have done so far to ensure we don't have the same problems again this time round. So basically, you would suggest that I wake her up if she tries to sleep through? (My DH will think that I am crazy but I will do just about anything to make sure I can successfully breastfeed this time around!)

Sorry - yes I did misunderstand, and thought that this baby was experiencing difficulties as well.

Weight gain sounds very reassuring indeed.

But this is a judgement thing - you could leave it to her, and see what happens with the weight and behaviour over a week or so. You have a bit of leeway for experimentation with a baby who's gaining weight so well

Thanks so much for taking time to reply. I'm thrilled by her weight gain; DC1 still hadn't regained his birth weight by this point! But I guess if there is any risk that this could damage my supply then I would rather err on the side of caution and wake her. Will see how we get on tonight. Thanks again.

my dd is 2 years old now but she sounds like yours. my ds (first baby) seemed to feed all the time day and night, so i was worried when she only had on average 6 breast feeds a day and only for about 15 mins a time. she too slept all night from about 3 weeks and has done ever since. she has always been on the 75th percentile and has never had weight gaining issues. i think we are just very lucky to have such efficient feeders!!!

I would say have the sleep! My DD2 is also 3 weeks (yesterday) and has a similar pattern, I can't bring myself to wake her because I am knackered! DD1 also slept from 11 - 7 from 2 weeks and supply was fine. DD2 cluster feeds all evening (last night almost solidly from 4pm - 11pm) and DD1 did too so I guess that is just their natural pattern. If she is gaining weight and your boobs seem full then that seems a good sign, but you can always 'play it by ear' and decide what to do on a day by day basis.

Maybe you could express once during the night to keep your supply up? It's always handy to have a batch of frozen EBM too IMO.

Thanks for all the replies; good to hear that this is not unusual and that others have let their DC sleep with no problems for their supply. Supercherry; I did think about expressing - perhaps that is the way to go.