food and sleep question for 2wk old

bucsfans1225 · December 2012

My daughter will be 2 wks this coming Tuesday(christmas day) - We were told she should eat every 2-4 hrs , hubby is concerned that eating every 2 hrs is too often . Is it? Is she hitting a growth spurt already? Seemed early on she was ok every 3 hrs .

Also at the hospt she slept fine now at home she doesnt sleep during night unless on our chests .Only one night she slept by herself. Now I know its still early ,she is trying to get used to new enviroment ,etc but any tips?We tried swaddling,holding her until deep sleep,paci ,lights on & off,white noise,bouncy chair ,etc. We were told its too early to start a bad habit and we were anti her sleeping with us for habit and safety reasons but its the only way she sleeps . She sleeps fine during the day might i add . When do you start teaching day & night diffrence?

kjsmith9 · December 2012

You are not alone! I could've written this word for word.

Eating every 2 hours at her age is NOT too much. My LO turned 3 weeks today and is eating every 1.5 to 2.5 hours (except she usually has one 3.5 to 4 hour gap at night if she sleeps well). I've found that she sleeps better (for the most part) if I make sure she's eating roughly every 2 hours during the day. It makes her wake up which saves her longer sleeping for night time.

I think we had a small growth spurt around the 10 day mark, and we are working our way out of another one right now. She has been eating A LOT more the past few days, and honestly I think I can feel her getting bigger day to day!

She prefers to sleep on our chests as well. She sleeps fairly well in a RNP, and today she napped for 1.5 hours in her cradle (which is the best we've done in there so far). I'm told they will work their way out of this little stage... in the mean time, we're doing our best to put her down to sleep during the day, even though it's tempting to hold her adorable little self 24/7.

As far as teaching the difference between day and night, many of the ladies on here have suggested starting a routine before bed. It won't help immediately, but should be useful for bed time in the long run. This includes things like keeping lights on, being noisy, etc during the day... and being quiet, low lights, etc at night. I'm also doing the every 2 hour feeds during the day to help encourage longer sleeps at night (like I said above). Hope some of that helps, hang in there!

pb_bride · December 2012

My LO was 2w at T'giving and he was nursing every 2 hours or less. Are you EBF? It's definitely a 2w growth spurt and your DD is nursing often in order to increase your supply. It is NOT too often. Do not withhold feedings from her.

Where does your DD nap during the day? Is it bright, noisy environment? She probably still has her day/night confused right now. Our DS sleeps in the living room during the day (swing or PnP) with daylight coming in, radio on etc. At night he sleeps in the crib in our room, very dim lights etc. What is she sleeping in at night? DS didn't like the crib at the beginning so he slept in a RnP for the first half of the night, then we moved him to the crib after the first MOTN feed. Good luck!

irishsmiles428 · December 2012

My baby will be 3 weeks on Chirstmas. He eats 3 ounces every 2.5 hours some days! As long as he isnt spitting up I feed him what he seems to need!

JessiJane777 · December 2012

irishsmiles428:
My baby will be 3 weeks on Chirstmas. He eats 3 ounces every 2.5 hours some days! As long as he isnt spitting up I feed him what he seems to need!

My daughter will be 3 weeks on Christmas as well! And I'm in the same boat...3 oz ever 2.5-3 hours...if she needs more, I give it to her, if she stops eating I don't forcer her to eat...

BrittanyDoesDerby · December 2012

LO is two weeks and eats every 1-3 hours during the day. Like PP said, I try to wake her to eat more during the day so we can get 3-4(occasionally even five!) hour stretches at night. It's too early to force a schedule on them, and that's the only way that really works.

bucsfans1225 · December 2012

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. we dont withold her from feedings by any means, hubby is just nervous about her feeding too often. She is bottle feeding .

As for sleeping she sleeps during day in her bouncy seat, crib & bassinet or in our arms . She can sleep thru anything during day too.

I notice at night she wakes herself up when her paci pops out or she has some kind of nightmire that wakes her up .

tortuga47 · December 2012

My LO ate constantly it seemed around 2-3 weeks. Sometimes within an hours time. Now, he's four and a half weeks and eating less, but more amounts. His sleep pattern was horrific too. Sometimes a half hour or an hour at a time. It was exhausting. However, it got better. A LOT better. His day naps are still short, an hour or two if I'm really lucky, but at night now he sleeps about three hours at a time. He too, only would sleep when held at first, but now as long as he is swaddled tight will sleep great in his crib. At night, I never turn on the lights, just use a nightlight for feedings so the light doesn't stimulate him and keep talking or any other stimulation to a minimum and he learned pretty quickly the difference between night and day. Good luck!

KatieKate81 · December 2012

When our LO was 2 weeks old, she was eating every 2 hours, about 2 ounces, and it slowly spaced out during the day, now at 6 weeks, we are eating 4 ounces every 3-4 hours during the day, and 2-3 ounces every 4+ hours at night. You are definitely not overfeeding, LO's that small are feed on demand, and he is probably going through a growth spurt.

food and sleep question for 2wk old

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