Is this normal behaviour for 3 week old baby?

[jaabaar]

Hi,

My 3 week old baby has following routing after being advised to feed on demand after initial 3 hour feeding due to sugar levels (heavy baby):

approx times:
goes to sleep 00:00 wakes up 7:00
goes to sleep 09:30 wakes up 14:00
goes to sleep 17:00 wakes up 20:00
goes to sleep 00:00 wakes up 7:00 and so on

I am worried about the long sleep of 7 hours? this stated from 2 weeks.

I am of course NOT complaining, just worried to leave without feeding for 7 hours??? and sleeping without waking for 7 hours???

thanks.

sounds too long a gap to me. At 3 weeks your baby should be feeding more often - what does your midwife say? Has the baby been weighed regularly? Are there plenty of wet and dirty nappies?

IMO you need to wake your baby a minimum of every 3 hours especially in the day time - maybe more if you are breastfeeding

is he breast or bottle fed?

is he alert when awake

jaabaar - can you try posting on the 'breast and bottle' topic? You'll get a lot of expert advice there.

Thanks for your replies.

I bottle feed and breastfeed (not out of choice, had to top up at birth and now stuck with it)

The midwife who was coming to my house initially said that I will be discharged from home visits by midwife once baby reaches birth weight. However after 2 visits and baby being 300 gr shy of birthweight they discharged me.

I mentioned to health visitor that I wish someone to explain more about the feeding since I had to top up with bottle at birth after having planned exclusive breast milk and being advised to STRICTLY feed every three hours for first few days (sugar levels returend to normal). she said a nuresery nurse would pass by my house.

Nobody came.

She has not put on weight. She was born a whooping 4.932 kg (ca. 10 lbs 14 ounces) at 59 cm long (which is very long so she does not look very chubby).

Last weight in she was 4.760. I was told it is normal and not to worry and to feed on demand. I told them about the big gaps.

She is quite content and alert when awake. Makes lots of wet nappies and plenty of poo poo "bombs"!

Shall I just continue like this?? Midwife and health visitor are not much help...

thanks again.

THank you bookangoroo will do so, was not aware of that topic being there! thanks!

My dd used to sleep from 00:00 until 06:00 every night from the day she was born, and would also have long naps during the day, if she is hungry she would wake up, i never woke her up for feeds. She is now 6 months old and is perfectly happy and healthy, she didnt lose weight when she was born she put on 1oz and she has always gone on the 50th centile in her red book. She was 7lb when she was born and is now 16lb 3oz.
Its my first baby so im not an expert or anything, but i would say carry on as you are. xxx

Have you tried feeding her when she is asleep? Some will and some won't but its really an instinctive thing. My first would take a bottle in his sleep drink it all and not wake up at all!

Please post this in the breast and bottle feeding section. I think you could do with someone giving you some actual help. It sounds liek you've been left a bit high and dry by your HCPs.

For nothing else, then just for the fact that it is possible to stop the top ups. I did it! With help from peeps on the breast and bottle feding topic!

My hunch would be to feed her more often - it's what I did wiht DD who was slow to regaiun birthwieght.

personally i wouldn't be worried about one 7 hour stretch at night ONLY IF feeding every 3 hours and getting 6 or 7 feeds a day.

so although i think the midnight to 7am sleep is great i think the 9.30 - 14:00 sleep is not a good idea at all as she is missing a day feed which is worrying as she is not putting on weight.

so ideally you should move her towards 3 hourly feeds in the day say at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm.

if she then sleeps until 7am then thats fine.

she sounds like a sleepy baby so you will need to wake her for the day feeds, esp if she is not putting on weight.

re: the mixed feeding, if you want to drop the bottle perhaps you can pump to increase supply? read gina ford's book for advice on increasing milk supply. or if you don't want to pump try feeding 2 hourly for a few days. offer bottle after every second breast feed (ie 4 hourly) its not too late to stop top ups.

sorry also wanted to say that massive gaps in feeding like the midnight - seven and 9.30-14:00 are likely to result in your milk supply reducing, so if you do want to continue to breastfeed you need to take action now.

i would not worry - some of mine have done very similar and your dd is a big baby

just get her weighed and enjoy your sleep- it could all change

Thank you again for your adivse. I think waking her during the day for the 3 hour feed is a good idea. Will follow that and see how it goes! THanks again.