How much did/does your newborn sleep?

[Shroomboom]

DD is 11 days old and sleeps most of the time. She sleeps in chunks of around three hours and then wakes slowly and calmly. We change her nappy, then if she's not upset just sit and cuddle for a little while, then I feed her (ebf) and she falls back to sleep.
MIL is saying she's a perfect baby but I have this fear that she's sleeping TOO much - is this possible? It almost seems too good to be true and I feel rather worried.

Anyone? She went for 5 hours then 4 hours last night, am worried she's not able to wake herself properly as after 5 hours I woke her as I thought it was too long between feeds!

Would love to know if this is the case with anyone else, am getting really worried

To explain:- She is a much longed for IVF baby after many losses and all through the pregnancy we were terrified something would go wrong. Not sure if I'm worrying unnecessary because I'm so used to doing it. Need some perspective please!

Have you spoken to your health visitor about it? I'm absolutely no expert, but presumably it will become clear if this is an issue as she won't be putting on weight?

DD1 was like this... She slept all the time and friends joked that they'd never seen her awake..

She was fine and put on weight brilliantly even through less regular feeds. Slept through the night from 3 weeks! Was (and still is!) a very sleepy child. (Now 3 and still has 3+ hour naps)

DD2 barely sleeps at all. Seriously. Enjoy it while you can!!

shroom the best way to resolve this is to have your baby weighed and to discuss your concerns with your midwife. It is very unusual for a breastfed baby to have long gaps between feeds but in some cases it is fine.....you do need to check it out though. Another thing to look for is how she is pooing. It would be normal for her to produce several poos a day. Again speak to midwife if you are unsure. Hope all is well.

Sorry, I should also have added that I can completely empathise with your anxiety as I had DS after a history of several quite late losses and I couldn't believe it when he was finally here and okay. We had some early feeding issues with him as he wasn't putting on weight quickly enough (I had pre eclampsia and he was quite growth restricted in utero) and I got myself completely worked up about it. These were resolved and he was, and is, absolutely fine but I so clearly remember feeling a bit out of control, as though I wasn't doing it 'right' and that this was the point where it was all going to go horribly wrong.

So I think what I'm trying to say is it's completely normal to feel anxious with a newborn. It's hard enough without a history like yours, and 11 days is still very early days when the world still feels turned on its head. But there are people there (like health visitors) to help with this stuff and reassure you you're doing okay, or if there's an issue what to do about it. Don't be afraid to lean on them.

I'm sure your baby is absolutely fine though. She sounds perfect to me

Thanks so much all of you, I feel a little better about it now! She's feeding well and is putting on weight - had the midwife round on Friday and she was very happy with her. She's also pooing lots, which is a good sign! When she does feed sometimes she needs two or even three boobfulls, and then will fall asleep.
I'd like to think I'm worrying about nothing, but have got the health visitor coming in the morning so will discuss it with her then. Will be fab curiousgeorgie if she's like your dd, it would be nice to be able to sleep when she sleeps rather than waking constantly to see if she's okay!

DD was born in Sept and literally slept all the time. Midwife and HV not overly worried as she was feeding well and putting on weight.

She doesnt sleep as much now but is such a content abby in the day- she is a dream.

Totally normal! Even at six/seven weeks, dd used to have 30mins alert time and then need to go back down

This sounds normal, DS slept pretty much all the time til about 3-4 weeks old. I had to wake him to feed and he could be so hard to rouse I sometimes just had to hand express into his mouth and try and make him swallow! I used to feed every two hours, but he was a preemie and needed to gain weight.
He then shifted to being nocturnal til about 14 weeks and now (17weeks) does sleep at night but still can't be awake for more than about two hours in the day before he needs a nap.
I agree that weight gain and wet nappies are the best way to judge your baby in the early weeks. I hope the HVs are helpful and supportive. Congratulations too!