Sleeping for how long?

[Mildly]

Oscar can quite often sleep for fairly long periods both during the day and at night. When I've previously mentioned this the midwives have said to wake him and feed him every four hours at night and every two to three during the day. I am wondering whether I should just let him sleep as long as he wants though. Wouldn't he wake up if he was hungry? He is a big baby (almost back at his birth weight of 9lb 14oz), in fact a friend came round yesterday with her three month old who weighs 9lb 8oz so less than he currently does. Am I right in thinking that he probably has a bigger stomach than smaller babies? If so possibly he feeds more when awake and therefore can fill himself up more? He is breastfed and I know I've read that breastmilk goes through babies quicker than formula.

I wouldn't want to do him any harm by leaving him to sleep but on the odd occasions I have done it, he has just fed more during his awake times. Any Mums with bigger babies any experience of this?

Thanks.

 

[charlie84]

Calleigh was 7lb 6oz at birth but got back to her birth weight within days and continued to put on weight, think she was just over 9lbs at three weeks. Anyway i was never told to wake her during the night to feed, she went about fours hours anyway. In the day she went four hours maybe five sometimes but again was never told to wake her for a feed.
I think if you are happy with the weight gain and baby is happy and contented and feeding well and having plenty of wet nappies then i wouldnt be overly worried.

In the first week i think they advise to feed often as if baby is left for long periods of time without feeding it may not have the energy to feed then doesnt feed well then sleeps longer and the cycle continues and so it is encouraged in the early days to feed often.

 

[NickyB]

In the first week i think they advise to feed often as if baby is left for long periods of time without feeding it may not have the energy to feed then doesnt feed well then sleeps longer and the cycle continues and so it is encouraged in the early days to feed often.

We were told this at first too.


Lucy put on good weight initially, she's small though. She feeds ALL evening but does sleep at night now (so going to jinx myself now), she didn't initially so I think she'll wake herself up when she's hungry. We also have plenty of wet nappies and I'm not concerned about her weight so I'm all for letting her sleep at night. She won't during the day at the mo'!

 

[Mildly]

Thanks for the replies

I shall definitely not wake him during the night then - he has been, on occasions, sleeping five or six hours at night (probably jinxing myself now as this has only happened a couple of times). I will keep a careful eye on the wet nappies and weight gain. I have a HV appointment today so am hoping she will weigh him, failing that I'll have to go done to the clinic. He certainly seems happy enough, at least the endless crying appears to have stopped - perhaps he is getting used to us

I think I will continue to make sure he doesn't sleep for too long during the day. I don't want his body clock to screw itself up especially as it feels as though he has only just adapted to night properly

Nicky, congrats on Lucy sleeping well at night

 

[Sherlock]

What charlie said about the lack of energy to feed in the early weeks is probably why. Being a big baby Oscar will be needing more milk atm. And through growth spurts. What centile was he on? In the first 6 weeks my HV said that Galen really needed to be on his birth centile ideally and then after that she said slowly dropping down and levelling out was fine. He now loiters around the 75th centile. He was on the 91st at birth.

Galen was 9lb 15oz at birth and had a huge appetite from birth. He had one night at around 3-4 days old where he slept for 5 hours in the night and developed jaundice. Then I *had* to wake him every 2-3 hours regardless to feed. He fed on average every 2 hours in the day and same at night. Also he was more or less attached to my boob in the first 3 weeks. Feeds went on for hours often. Just how it was and I went with it. His weight gain has been amazing and he is now over 18lb (at 4.5 months ).

If Oscar is having plenty of wet nappies and gaining weight well then I'd not worry overly about him sleeping longer. Although its probably not ideal if he starts doing this every night and also in the daytime. At least not till he is a fair bit older. Around 12 weeks is when BF babies are able to go long periods overnight without feeding (between 6-8 hours). Before then he'd need a feed or feeds.

 

[Mildly]

Thanks Sherlock. Unfortunately after our Health Visitor weigh in today it appears he is still losing weight so I think perhaps I had better carry on with waking him up and feeding every couple of hours

It seems the last midwife weigh in was done on scales that needed recalibrating as they put him at 9lb 12 (only 2oz under his birth weight) at about two weeks old. The weigh in today put him at 9lb and the Health Visitor said that it is impossible for him to have been 9lb 12 on Sunday and 9lb today. The previous weigh in he was 9lb 2 so it does appear that he is losing still.

On the plus side, the HV said she was not too worried at this point because although his birth weight was on the 98th percentile, his head circumference at birth and now, is on the 50th percentile. She said that in her experience babies weight tends to fall into line with whatever percentile their head circumference is - if that makes sense. He is going to be weighed again on Friday and next Tuesday too so at least it is being monitored. She also mentioned that he may not be the most effective feeder due to the tongue tie and was pleased that I had a doctors appointment to try and get a referral. Bizarrely the only reason we were able to get a referral to see a paediatrician was because of his weight loss, the GP said this afternoon that the hospital are loathe to release tongue ties unless there is really bad problems feeding and/or significant weight loss. I have to feed him in front of the consultant on the children's ward tomorrow and they will assess things.

I think perhaps what you and Charlie said was right about babies sleeping too much and then being too sleepy too feed properly. I get the feeling Oscar has fallen into this, even though I thought I was feeding him enough

Thanks again for your replies

 

[charlie84]

Aww hun sorry to hear he has lost weight

I think you should push to have his tongue tie released so at least you can then rule that out as problem. I cant see why they are reluctant to do this for you

Does he fall asleep on you whilst feeding? If so when you see him going sleepy tickle his chin/foot to rouse him so he continues to feed for that little bit longer. This will also make sure he is getting right to the good hind milk.

If you think he has fallen into the sleepy/no energy baby then wake him for his feeds every so many hours.

This breastfeeding business aint half hard at times aint it

 

[Mildly]

Thanks

I can't believe it is so difficult to get the procedure done in this area. If the worst comes to the worst we'll go privately to get it done. Like you say, we want to make sure that it is ineffective feeding that is making him lose weight.

He does often fall asleep mid feed so I tend to change his nappy which never fails to wake him up and then stick him back on again. I hope he is getting the good stuff, it is so difficult to know how much he is taking down with breastfeeding. I really don't want to give up either, we've come this far with the boob and it has only just started to get easier on my nipples!

I am definitely going to make a return to waking him up every three hours, hopefully that'll help with the weight gain too. Thanks