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Sleep

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Original poster

Newborn asleep all the time

20 replies

Elephantslovetofly · 27/04/2016 19:39

Hi all, looking for your experience of newborn sleeping patterns. My little girl is 5 days old and has literally slept for the past 48 hours. She sometimes wakes to feed, other times I have to wake her. She was weighed today and has lost a bit too much weight. She isn't jaundiced really, so we have made a feeding plan with the midwife and she will reweigh her in 2 days. I am going to try and feed her every 2-3 hours day and night. She is breast fed

Just wondering if it common for newborns to be asleep literally all the time? It's just worrying me a bit that she is never awake!

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MadSprocker · 27/04/2016 19:41

If you are overly concerned, contact your midwife or doctor

Stillwishihadabs · 27/04/2016 19:43

Yes IME normal, DS needed waking to feed for a few days, I even set an alarm in the night. Dd never did go figure.

thunderpunt · 27/04/2016 19:43

Congratulations firstly!
No expert but from experience remember that those first weeks mine both did a lot of sleeping! Important to wake to feed though - may seem horrid to wake such a peaceful baby but important to feed frequently to avoid dehydration
Have a lovely time with your newborn

JarethTheGoblinKing · 27/04/2016 19:47

Not normal in my personal experience. DS slept 23 hours a day, we were told we were lucky, that it was normal (and obviously in some cases it can be) but in his case it was a symptom of an underlying issue.

How often are you waking her to feed and roughly how many feeds a day? Plenty of wet/dirty nappies?

Was she prem?
Any other symptoms other than the excessive sleeping?

mary81 · 27/04/2016 19:52

My second is 5 wks now, but first few days were spent solely sleeping - I had to wake to feed. My first wasn't like this despite losing loads of weight and having jaundice, so it was quite a surprise! All babies are different. Try not to worry too much and rest when you can... at 5 weeks mine is now FAR more demanding!

JarethTheGoblinKing · 27/04/2016 19:52

Sorry that sounded a bit too alarming! Should have phrased it differently. Yes, many newborns do do this, I was meant to say that in our case it wasn't normal, that's all.

superwormissuperstrong · 27/04/2016 19:52

Yes normal to sleep a lot but don't let her sleep to the detriment of feeding as I was warned it could become a bit of a vicious cycle - not feeding so sleepy and lethargic but then don't have the energy to feed well when they do wake up so sleep again and so on.
During the day I would wake to feed, early days about every 3 hours, because I would give myself longer stretches at night of about every 5.
Hope all is going well with the breastfeeding - ask for midwife or breastfeeding support at home (or if you are up to it make it your first trip out of the house to bf cafe/sessoons) to check her latch and make sure there's no tongue tie causing feed difficulties. (I would get as much different support as possible as it's notoriously difficult to diagnose and you could easily have two or three say no problem, for the next one to then see it and be able to diagnose it)
Good luck and congrats on your little girl

Howtocatchastar · 27/04/2016 19:55

I have a 6 day old baby and he is sleeping a lot too. He's my third child.

First never slept. Second slept quite a bit for the first few weeks. I'm a little concerned this time as he's not a great feeder, but hasn't actually lost weight and we have plenty of wet/dirty nappies.

KP86 · 27/04/2016 19:56

Did you have a c/s with a general anaesthetic? That can cause babies to be sleepy for the first 4-5 days.

I thought I was the luckiest mum alive because my DS didn't cry while on the ward, but by the time we got home on day 4, he spent that first night screaming his little lungs out.

I would take advice from your HCP. It does need watching.

bonzo77 · 27/04/2016 20:01

None of mine woke for feeds in first few weeks, except in the middle of the night. I woke them at least every 3 hours. It was normal for mine, but was investigated quite carefully while they were in hospital as its not necessarily entirely normal.

Shootingstar2289 · 27/04/2016 20:16

My daughter was like this. Slept constantly and had to be woken for milk. She never lost weight though.

It soon changes. She ended up to be a little madam who hardly slept in the day and even some nights!

Original poster

Elephantslovetofly · 27/04/2016 22:20

Thank you for all the replies. She was born at 38 weeks, elective section for breech

We are having wet nappies, poo is still a bit green but the midwife says it is gritty now which is good

I woke her a couple of hours ago to feed, and she's actually had quite a lot over the past 2 hours. She's been a bit more awake, just put her back down in the Moses basket as she's sleepy again. Planning to wake her around midnight

I guess I will feed as much as I can in the next 24-48 hours and if there's not an improvement we will go for blood tests

OP posts:

sophree · 27/04/2016 22:24

Were you on Anti Depressants while pregnant?
I was with my first and she came out a super sleepy baby.
My second I wasn't on any and I don't think she has ever slept

PhilPhilConnors · 27/04/2016 22:32

Ds3 was like his, slept 23 hours a day until he was three months old.
For us it was normal, he was just sleepy.
Lots of skin to skin helped to get him feeding more.

fruitpastille · 27/04/2016 22:37

Mine were like this, also c-sections. I wonder if it's because they were a little earlier than if left to come in their own time? It doesn't last

CutYourHairAndGetAJob · 27/04/2016 22:40

Dd was like that, she was a bit premature and jaundiced but had no other issues. I was worried too but now I wish I'd enjoyed it while it lasted!

kinkytoes · 27/04/2016 22:46

If you're breastfeeding make sure you're drinking enough. It's quite easy to forget this in those early days!

Original poster

Elephantslovetofly · 27/04/2016 22:49

Not on antidepressants, just iron and medicine for reflux. I'm hoping it's all just part of being a bit early, I can see that lots of you have had a similar experience. Equally I don't want to miss anything serious!

I'll probably be moaning in a couple of weeks that she's always awake!

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Original poster

Elephantslovetofly · 27/04/2016 22:50

Kinkytoes - thank you, good point

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steppemum · 27/04/2016 22:53

I have 3 dc
dc2 was very very sleepy. She pretty much just slept for 2 weeks. She was induced at 38 weeks.

But she did wake to feed, every 3 hours or so.

So I would say she needs to be fed, but it isn't that unusual to be sleepy.

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