8 day old sleeping excessively

[SassyPants87]

My 8 day old has been sleeping continuously today and yesterday to the point where she's not feeding properly. After 3/4 hours she still doesn't wake up for a feed and i'm having to get her up. I wake her up to put her on the breast but she'll last 5 mins and go back to sleep. She's still getting mixed nappies so I don't know how concerned I should be

Any advice would be really appreciated

I wouldn't be concerned if baby's having plenty of wet and dirty nappies and there are no orange 'brick dust' stains in nappy (these are crystals which suggest dehydration). I think you're doing just fine. Baby will become more wakeful in the next week or so.

Being excessively sleepy, not waking for feeds, can be a sign of problems at this age. Is she / has she been jaundiced? I would have a low threshold for getting her checked by a doctor, if you ring your GP practice they may well slot you in for a call back in the first place but that would be the best starting point. If they go through the timings, how she is feeding when you wake her and so on, they will be much better placed to advise than we can be here. Be aware that a GP may also have a low threshold for getting such a young baby checked by a paediatrician.

Best wishes and hope she's fine.

How much does your baby weigh? Bigger babies can go longer without feeds.

Both of mine slept constantly for the first 2 weeks. GP wasn’t concerned about eldest as plenty of wet nappies.

My youngest was 5 weeks prem and had to go back in a few times and had phototherapy for jaundice. It would be worth getting checked for jaundice to be on the safe side. It’s probably just a growth spurt though.

At 8 days old your baby should be having at least 6 wet nappies and at least 2 (and preferably 3-4) poos bigger than a £2 coin. If you are getting this then all is fine if not this would suggest that there is a problem. How is breastfeeding going? Are you sore? Can you hear baby swallowing? How was weight gain at d5? If you are at all concerned give your MW or the National Breastfeeding Helpline a call on 0300 100 0212.

Probably best to get it checked out, the MW/HV or Dr will be happy to look and wont think you're wasting their time, always better to be sure.

My DS slept a lot for the first few weeks, but I had a traumatic labour with him and had every drug known to man, the dr seemed to think the sleep was a side effect of that.

Hope its ok.

SassyPants87 did you just call the NBH?!

Hey all

Thanks for your responses she isn't jaundice and she's definitely having regular wet nappies and soiled nappies

She is nocturnal so maybe she needs to sleep more during the day!?

@Bert2e Breast feeding is going fine and she actually put on weight at day 5 but I do feel like she was feeding more then than she is now. I haven't called NBH but I have a health visit tomorrow so might see how DD gets on today

7 months ago I was in your exact position! Even in the hospital I couldn't get my little one awake long enough to feed, the theme continued when we got home and by day 5 she had lost 10% of birth weight despite my efforts so I was really stressed about it.

The midwives checked her for jaundice and just said that some babies are sleepier than others and it can be completely normal. They advised me to wake her to feed every two and half hours, which it was lucky we were in lockdown because I could really focus on it.

To wake her at every feed we would strip her off before trying, then keep tickling her feet throughout to keep her awake. It didn't help that I was suffering with engorgement which I think made it harder for her to feed.

It took us about 3-4 weeks to find our rhythm and for me to stop setting an alarm to feed her because she would actually ask for it . I found using the huckleberry app (free) to log her feeds was really helpful as i could never remember how long ago she'd fed in that newborn fog and everyone always asked .

Good luck

My baby is seven days old and similar although she has mild jaundice - checked twice (once in a&e on day 4) and well below the treatment line despite her very odd colour. She is waking for feeds every three hours if I leave her, but I'm offering feeds every two hours to help push the jaundice through. Shes an efficient feeder so not on the breast for long periods of time but I have a big supply and I can hear and see her gulping plus lots of wet nappies - have you got all these signs of good milk transfer?

Has she reached birth weight again yet?

Also agree with changing nappy before a feed to wake up and also again mid feed if they nod off on one breast, so you can offer the other