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Parenting

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Original poster

Newborn awake times

10 replies

chelle85 · 06/09/2017 22:04

My DS is 12 days old. For the last few days he has been waking up in the morning around 7am but will not settle for a nap and stays wide awake for most of the morning no matter what we do to try and get him to nod off. He then drops off around 11.30-12.30 and won't wake up all day. I then have to try to wake him to feed him by stripping him down but he falls asleep straight after feeding. He then wakes up again around 7pm and takes a good 2 hours to get back to sleep

I'm just a bit concerned that it isn't normal for a newborn to be awake for such long periods and that this is messing up his sleep at night (when he is a lot more restless and wakes to feed every 1.5 to 2 hours max with 45 mins to settle )

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arbrighton · 07/09/2017 13:53

feeding that often is normal as his stomach is so tiny. And he won't yet know about day or night

babybigapple · 07/09/2017 13:56

That sounds completely normal and where I was 8 weeks ago with same age baby. Just feed him when he's hungry, let him sleep when he's tired.

Tilapia · 07/09/2017 13:58

He's so tiny, he'll figure it out soon.

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InDubiousBattle · 07/09/2017 13:59

How are his nappies? Frequent?
How is his weight?

BellyBean · 07/09/2017 14:51

DD is 3 wo and similar except her 'zonko' 4ish hours where she's totally comatose vary through the day. She does rouse to feed though.

Unfortunately you have to ride out the day/night confusion fir a while.

RatRolyPoly · 07/09/2017 15:00

Can I ask why you're waking him to feed? How long is he going between feeds? If he isn't jaundiced and is having plenty of wet and dirty nappies I wouldn't be doing that myself... Unless you've had problems with weight gain?

The waking/sleeping mix sounds about right to me; my three week old is the same. Awake all morning, sleeps all day then awake late evening. She's breastfed and can go anything from 10 minutes to 4 hours between feeds, but she's packing on weight like a trooper so I'm going with it :)

Original poster

chelle85 · 07/09/2017 15:19

Thanks for the replies. Everything I have read says newborns this age should only have periods of 45 mins to 1 hour awake so was concerned that he is having so much awake time in one spell then sleeping like he is dead for the rest of the day (until bedtime that is!).

The breastfeeding support team said to not let him go more than 2-3hrs without feeding if he doesn't rouse during the day. However health visitor has been out this morning and he has put on 12 ounces since birth so an ounce a day! So I will not be waking him during the day for feeds now!

Just feel like I am given so much conflicting advice from midwife, BF team and now health visitor that I have no idea what I should be doing/what is normal anymore

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Orangebird69 · 07/09/2017 15:22

An ounce a day is fab! Agree with pp's - if he's not jaundiced and has wet/poo nappies, he's doing fine as he is. He doesn't (and doesn't need to) know about day and night yet.

RatRolyPoly · 07/09/2017 15:32

Oh I know what you mean about conflicting advice! With my first I woke him religiously every 2 hours day and night on the advice of professionals, despite him being alert when awake, settled when asleep and feeding and weeing/pooing well. His weight went from the 25th centile to the 91st in his first four weeks, but didn't sleep longer than two hours at a time at night for nearly a year after that! I always wonder if they was my own doing... I definitely don't do anything silly like setting my phone alarm to go off in the night with this baby!

I think what they don't tell you is that the most important thing is those overall markers for health in a newborn; bright eyes, good colour, alert when awake, rouses for feeds (even if it's after 4 hours, not 2), settles well to sleep, gaining weight, plenty of wet and dirty nappies etc. If all of these things are present and you're not concerned I'm going with following baby's lead. It's tough though not to be neurotic... I do sometimes find myself standing over the bouncer watching the clock waiting for the next feed, SO tempted to just wake her up!

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chelle85 · 07/09/2017 16:28

Thanks. It is so hard to know who to listen to sometimes! The breastfeeding team are supposed to be "peer supporters" but it does seem they are on a set script. They wouldn't entertain talking to me about introducing a bottle of expressed milk (which I need to do earlier than planned as I have a medical appt which will have me away for a few hours next Friday). They also kind of convinced me that if I don't feed frequently (2-3hourly) I will have trouble with engorgement/milk supply issues.

Think I am just going to go back to waiting for DS to wake on his own and trusting my instincts. He has plenty of wet and dirty nappies and is gaining weight quickly.

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