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9 week old sleeps 8 hours...okay for supply?
Hi, I apologize in advance to those of you who will say "Gee...what a problem...your baby sleeps for eight hours straight. Try having the opposite problem!". Actually, I know what that's like too...DD#1 seemed to only sleep for 15 minutes at a time for the first several months of her life. Either way, my question is this...DD is 9 1/2 weeks old. From early on (say 1 or 2 weeks) she has been sleeping nice 4-6 hour chunks of time at night...waking to feed and then going back to sleep for 2-3 more hours, etc. In the last week to 10 days, she has started to REALLY sleep through...sometimes from 10pm to 7am without waking to feed. She does (on average) a good 8 hour block of sleep. So finally, my real question...is this okay for my supply? She is exclusively breastfed...at her 2 month WBV she had gone from 20 inches / 8 pounds, 3 oz at birth to 23 inches / 12 pounds, 3 oz...so she is growing well and is a good sized baby. I feed her on demand and she seems satisfied. Should I wake her during the night to feed, or thank my lucky stars? Should I wake up and pump? I started out waking up after this long sleep feeling very engorged...I'd feed her and still need to pump. Now I feel full, but not uncomfortable. Is this a sign that I'm losing my supply...or is my body just adjusting? Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for any thoughts...I also realize that her sleep patterns will change on a dime...this problem might not exist after a day or two. Just want to be certain I'm not doing anything wrong by enjoying a good nights sleep. Kathy |
#2
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9 week old sleeps 8 hours...okay for supply?
I don't see any reason why it would be a problem, my 2nd also started
sleeping similarly long times at 8-9 weeks and I've never had any problems with supply. Cheers Anne |
#3
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9 week old sleeps 8 hours...okay for supply?
"Kathy" wrote in message ... Hi, I apologize in advance to those of you who will say "Gee...what a problem...your baby sleeps for eight hours straight. Try having the opposite problem!". Actually, I know what that's like too...DD#1 seemed to only sleep for 15 minutes at a time for the first several months of her life. Either way, my question is this...DD is 9 1/2 weeks old. From early on (say 1 or 2 weeks) she has been sleeping nice 4-6 hour chunks of time at night...waking to feed and then going back to sleep for 2-3 more hours, etc. In the last week to 10 days, she has started to REALLY sleep through...sometimes from 10pm to 7am without waking to feed. She does (on average) a good 8 hour block of sleep. So finally, my real question...is this okay for my supply? She is exclusively breastfed...at her 2 month WBV she had gone from 20 inches / 8 pounds, 3 oz at birth to 23 inches / 12 pounds, 3 oz...so she is growing well and is a good sized baby. I feed her on demand and she seems satisfied. Should I wake her during the night to feed, or thank my lucky stars? Should I wake up and pump? I started out waking up after this long sleep feeling very engorged...I'd feed her and still need to pump. Now I feel full, but not uncomfortable. Is this a sign that I'm losing my supply...or is my body just adjusting? Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for any thoughts...I also realize that her sleep patterns will change on a dime...this problem might not exist after a day or two. Just want to be certain I'm not doing anything wrong by enjoying a good nights sleep. Kathy So far, I've read 2 replies from others saying it shouldn't be a problem or wasn't a problem for them... I'd like to just add my comments, which are from personal experience... DD seemed to have a similar sleep pattern - didn't sleep AT ALL in the hospital, but the next day we came home, and that night, she slept a good 6-7 hours. Went that way with a good 6-7 hours through the night until she was about a month old, then she started sleeping at good 8-10 hours at night. Definitely before she was 3 months old, she was sleeping a minimum of 10 hours, sometimes a bit more. She was sleeping from about 9pm until at least 8am, and now sleeps about 12 hours at night, and she's 9 months old. Now, until she was about 4 months old, it seemed to be going great. Who, really, wouldn't complain about an exclusively breastfed baby that sleeps ALL night? Her weight gain was great, she was healthy, growing, everything was fine. At around 4 months, though, she started to lose weight, and she also seemed to only get a good feeding at night - sleep all night - wake up in the AM and get a good feeding in the morning. She was hungry, cranky and just totally opposite during the day. She ended up losing weight and I had basically tried everything... I had suggestions to just keep offering to nurse, even though it meant she'd feed for 3-5 minutes and then it was like she was getting angry because she couldn't get enough and fast enough. Feeds were VERY short and every 15 minutes it seemed. This was not something I could handle (considering it was making me feel wasted during the day, tired, cranky... I also have other young children that need to be dealt with during the day as well. I kept only offering her the breast to eat, no bottles of formula or EBM (it seemed I was not able to pump more than about an oz or 2 at a time, no more than about 4oz during any given day) so expressing was really not much of an option. I had gone to a lactation nurse and she recommended renting this Medela (Symphony? Harmony? - something along those lines) breast pump. It's an electric pump that cannot be bought, and to rent it, it's about $50 a month on top of a $150 credit card deposit... It was also something like $1000 for the value of the machine... I had asked my mom to help me out with the deposit and all that, and I tried it out. I had no luck with this pump, which is supposed to be fantastic. Eventually, her weight loss became a concern, and I had really no other choice but to offer a bottle, which she took to very, very well. She was eating from a bottle and her weight went right back up to where it should be. My case, however, might be totally different from yours. Someone had said that by now your supply should be just fine as your baby is over 9 weeks old - this I don't know about supply being set, but I do know that DD was only breast fed up until about 4 months, at which time I had gone to try and find some help. She was not quite 5 months when I felt I had to just bend and offer her bottles, and for her, it seemed like that was the best option, although it was not what I had wanted, nor was it my first choice. Bottles have ALWAYS been my last choice and I had always said I wouldn't use them, unless there was no other choice. I really don't know what to offer to you as far as advice. Watch her weight gain and growth. If you see that she's starting to lose weight, or not gain, is there anywhere you could go the second you notice something like this? I know I had problems with a good sleeper, so I thought I'd just point it out just as a possible head's up. Not saying it will be something you will have to deal with, but it happened for DD and I! |
#4
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9 week old sleeps 8 hours...okay for supply?
"Kathy" wrote in message ... Hi, I apologize in advance to those of you who will say "Gee...what a problem...your baby sleeps for eight hours straight. Try having the opposite problem!". Actually, I know what that's like too...DD#1 seemed to only sleep for 15 minutes at a time for the first several months of her life. Either way, my question is this...DD is 9 1/2 weeks old. From early on (say 1 or 2 weeks) she has been sleeping nice 4-6 hour chunks of time at night...waking to feed and then going back to sleep for 2-3 more hours, etc. In the last week to 10 days, she has started to REALLY sleep through...sometimes from 10pm to 7am without waking to feed. She does (on average) a good 8 hour block of sleep. So finally, my real question...is this okay for my supply? She is exclusively breastfed...at her 2 month WBV she had gone from 20 inches / 8 pounds, 3 oz at birth to 23 inches / 12 pounds, 3 oz...so she is growing well and is a good sized baby. I feed her on demand and she seems satisfied. Should I wake her during the night to feed, or thank my lucky stars? Should I wake up and pump? I started out waking up after this long sleep feeling very engorged...I'd feed her and still need to pump. Now I feel full, but not uncomfortable. Is this a sign that I'm losing my supply...or is my body just adjusting? Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for any thoughts...I also realize that her sleep patterns will change on a dime...this problem might not exist after a day or two. Just want to be certain I'm not doing anything wrong by enjoying a good nights sleep. Kathy My 5 month old started sleeping 6-10 hrs at a stretch at 6 weeks old. I had no supply problems while I was on maternity leave and nursing directly (until she was 11 weeks old). I've started to have some trouble pumping enough now that I'm back at work, and think that the night stretches probably add to that. I do believe that I wouldn't be having supply/demand issues if I were still nursing directly (which for her is still every 2 hrs during the day and she only naps for about 20 min at a time, four times a day) So, I guess my contribution to the conversation is not to worry too much about it unless you are going to be pumping, and then it may exacerbate the typical pumping/supply issues. FWIW I always wore a light bra or tank top with a shelf bra, even before pregnancy. However, I've found that on nights I wear a sleep bra, my morning pump (which yields half my days output) is drastically reduced. So, as uncomfortable as it is, I don't wear anything restrictive to bed anymore. I do leak and am uncomfortable, but hey, we got milk! Amy |
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