Newborn sleeps all.the.time.

[AFWife]

I know I should count myself as lucky! I also feel like I should KNOW this...but DS1 never slept. (Seriously, kid ate every hour for the first 3 months of life) DS2 is 6 days old now. Last night he would have STTN if I hadn't woken him to eat (every 4 hours when *I* woke up to pee or whatever) I had to really try to wake him up (change his diaper...nothing else worked) During the day he wakes up around every 3 hours to eat. When he does nurse it's for a long time (longer than DS1 would eat...he was a snacker)

Any mamas BTDT? This is so weird for me...should I be waking him at night if he's eating well during the day? I'm thinking this won't last and I should enjoy catching up on my rest while I can...

[PatioGardener]

I wake every 3 hours until baby is back to birth weight or 2 weeks old.  If weight gain is good, but baby isn't 2 weeks, then 4-5 hours at night (from start of feed to start of next) is OK too.  How are his diapers?  6 heavy pees in 24 h?  4 good sized poops?  Will you weigh tomorrow?  The weight will tell you how vigilant you really need to be - if baby is packing on the ounces then you may be able to get some more zzs in! :)

Congratulations on your little one!

[AFWife]

Right now he's peeing regularly. It's kind of hard to tell how much because we're using sposies right now. He hasn't gained any, but he hasn't lost any either. (He'd lost 4oz the day after birth...lots of pooping his first day...and it's still the same) He just started pooping (it took my milk 3 days to come in) Since day 3 he had 2 massive poops and a few smaller ones.

[PatioGardener]

It's so hard in those first 2 weeks to know if they are really getting as much as they could be, and sleepy babies are soooooo hard to wake! 

If he was, for example, up 4 oz from birth at day 4 and pooping 4 times a day and obviously getting loads of milk, then my thoughts would be to go 5 hours at night.

As his poops are still not frequent, if it were me I would still wake at night every 3-4 hours for another week, and try to feed a little more often during the day too.  I tend to be a little cautious with newborns .  They can easily fall behind with the sleepy so not eating as much or as often = sleeping to conserve energy so not eating as often cycle.  Plus, the milk pushes the poop out so they avoid getting too jaundiced.  Are his poops meconium still or breastmilk poops?

Congratulations again!

[AFWife]

We;ve got BF poops now. Orange and seedy!

[PatioGardener]

Woohoo! 

Super news, keep up the good work, Mama!

[octobermom]

 
M

Originally Posted by AFWife 

I know I should count myself as lucky! I also feel like I should KNOW this...but DS1 never slept. (Seriously, kid ate every hour for the first 3 months of life) DS2 is 6 days old now. Last night he would have STTN if I hadn't woken him to eat (every 4 hours when *I* woke up to pee or whatever) I had to really try to wake him up (change his diaper...nothing else worked) During the day he wakes up around every 3 hours to eat. When he does nurse it's for a long time (longer than DS1 would eat...he was a snacker)

Any mamas BTDT? This is so weird for me...should I be waking him at night if he's eating well during the day? I'm thinking this won't last and I should enjoy catching up on my rest while I can...

My first DD slept ALL the time RIGHT from birth and it was a HORRIBLE thing.. Butg let me explain I don't mean shes just slept well or even that I jsut had to wake her at intervals but that she slept deeply where she was jsut about impossible to wake and rarely woke enough to nurse or even bottle feed appropiatly. As a result my milk supply dwindled quickly to almost nothing despite her having a great latch ect (pumping helped some but it wasn't enough) and my LO ended up as a FTT baby. 

 Long story short but it turned out to be an overall mild case of hyperinsulism where unlike me as a diabetic who no longer produces her own insulin my DD produced way way too much but still has normal sensitivity..SO in a nutshell shes wasn't jsut sleeping her body was going into a coma like state. Shes was )still is) treated for that through some modified diet changes. We reestablished my supply and she was put onto a high calorie formula while I worked on that and HAppy ending she grew thrived and we had a long 4 year nursing relationship.

  Soo anyways I do pause a little when I hear baby sleeps ALL the time. but you did say he is eatting well during the day? As long as hes growing you have good wet/messy diapers and he seems to be thriving I think you are okay..

 FWIW my second child has also always been an amazing nighttime sleeper averaging between 0-2 wake up periods a night and giving me at least a 6 hour night stretch pretty much from day one.. BUT she also nursed ALL day she cluster feeds intensly in the early evenings and even before her long nap time. She has always had a great growth development plenty of wet diapers etc..

Deanna

[vachi73]

I think I recall that your baby was a few weeks early, 37 or 38 weeks, is that right? Sometimes takes til the due date for baby to "wake up."

Also, elevated bilirubin (jaundice) can make a baby sleepy. Usually clears within 2-3 weeks at most.

Reardless, enjoy it while you can, LOL. In all seriousness, I would just set the clock at night so he doesn't go too long between feedings -- you want him to suck so you will produce lots of delicious milk.

HTH!

[Mosaic]

My first STTN at 10 DAYS and that was fine: until we noticed that she, too, was maintaining and not gaining. By 2 weeks she wasn't back to birth weight, so we got her eating more. Once we got her gaining and past her birth weight, she leveled off again so that she was only maintaining, and then we launched another wave getting her to nurse more. There was nothing wrong with her health, but she needed a lot of encouragement to eat in the first couple of months. Some babies are just sleepier than others, but I learned in this experience that sometimes you really DO have to wake the sleeping baby.