EBF Moms

CaCa1125

So my little guy was 3 weeks old yesterday.  I'm having a hard time getting him to sleep more than 2.5 hours at a time.  He wants to get up to EAT all the time.  Any body have any words of wisdom?  I would love more than 2.5 hours of sleep at a time.  TIA!

SC1977

My son is 6.5 weeks and we still only get 2-3 hour stretches of sleep a night. Good luck!

fluffybuns

Just time, eventually you'll get longer stretches.

tokenhoser

Welcome to motherhood.

CaCa1125

See I don't believe that "Welcome to Motherhood" is true.  My friend has a daughter a few weeks older than my Son and She sleeps 8 hours at night. Parker has slept 4-5 hour stretches a few times.  I was just wondering if maybe this is a growth spurt. 

fluffybuns

CaCa1125:

See I don't believe that "Welcome to Motherhood" is true.  My friend has a daughter a few weeks older than my Son and She sleeps 8 hours at night. Parker has slept 4-5 hour stretches a few times.  I was just wondering if maybe this is a growth spurt. 

Because every baby is different.

My first was up every two hours or less for months and months! And only started sleeping long stretches at 18 months..yea...I was tired for a long time!

Avery already, technically, sleeps through the night. She'll sleep a 5-6 hour stretch each night and it's wonderful! 

Tinybride08

My LO had the same schedule. My mom and a few friends kept telling me to supplement at night with formula before she went to bed. I didn't want to though. I waited it out and right before 4 wks she started sleeping longer stretches. Her schedule since then has been pretty consistent at going to sleep around 11 or midnight, waking up around 3 and then again around 6. This schedule is so much better. I was so tired before. Sometimes she'll give me longer stretches and this week she STTN once. It was just a fluke though. I did try the formula at night just once and got 4 hrs. She can do that on breastmilk now so I didn't try it again. Hang in there. Your LO's schedule should change before 6 wks.

theaustins05

I cluster feed during the day and she sleeps pretty good at night.

Lovemyfireman1

I have a 7 week old and have had a 3 hour stretch once!  If you find an answer let me know

tokenhoser

theaustins05:

I cluster feed during the day and she sleeps pretty good at night.

So do I.

He's up every 2-3 hours.

A sleeping baby is 90% luck of the draw. I really believe that.

And yes, it could be a growth spurt. If it is, he'll be different next week. Oh wait... that's pretty much perpetually true.

rainfallki

My little guy is a pretty efficient eater, but he does cluster feed in the evenings now.  He'll eat pretty much in 10-15 minute clips from 8pm-midnight with only 20 minute breaks in between feedings.  However, then he'll sleep from 12.30am to 7 or 7.30am.  He has been doing this for 6 nights now, with the exception of Wednesday night (I had a baked potato with dinner and he had some very wicked gas pains that night).  Prior to that, I had to set an alarm to wake him up and feed him during the night and was lucky if he woke up long enough to eat for 5 or 10 minutes.

We've been pretty lucky, so far... I just keep waiting for him to change his schedule. 

theaustins05

tokenhoser:

theaustins05:

I cluster feed during the day and she sleeps pretty good at night.

So do I.

He's up every 2-3 hours.

A sleeping baby is 90% luck of the draw. I really believe that.

And yes, it could be a growth spurt. If it is, he'll be different next week. Oh wait... that's pretty much perpetually true.

Last night she slept from 7 till 12! I only get one good long sleep at the beginning of the night, then it's 2ish hrs. Sometimes more sometimes less.

theaustins05

tokenhoser:

theaustins05:

I cluster feed during the day and she sleeps pretty good at night.

So do I.

He's up every 2-3 hours.

A sleeping baby is 90% luck of the draw. I really believe that.

And yes, it could be a growth spurt. If it is, he'll be different next week. Oh wait... that's pretty much perpetually true.

Last night she slept from 7 till 12! I only get one good long sleep at the beginning of the night, then it's 2ish hrs. Sometimes more sometimes less.

belladonna11307

Unfortunately there is no "right" or "normal", like others have said all babies are different and will change as they grow.  DD just started giving me up to 5 hour stretches at night and she's almost 7 weeks.  During the day though I'm lucky to get 1.5 hours between feedings, and in the late afternoon/evening it's more like every hour.  I've read posts from mom's of 7 month old babies still eating every 2 - 3 hours.  I think all you can do is follow your baby's cues.

jazzyag

My first woke every 45 minutes to an hour to fart at night and then had to nurse back to sleep.  This went on for almost a year.  My first had, and still has, a very sensitive tummy. 

My second has already "technically" slept through the night (6 hours) a few times.

I wish there was a magic answer or solution, but every babe is different.  Time helps with loner sleep stretches as their sleep rhythms begin to settle into longer at night and shorter during the day at around 6 weeks to 2 months.

darmca

My little guy sleeps up to 4.5 hours at night sometimes, but other times only go 2 hours (or less- last night he went to bed at midnight, woke 12:30-1, slept 1-3:15, woke 3:15-3:45, slept 3:45-4:30,woke 4:30-5, then slept 5-9:30).  At 4 weeks I introduced the pacifier and I found that has really helped with his sleeping and just calmed him down in general.

jreese14

I am not sure if this is what actually worked of if it was just coincidence that he started sleeping better.. but we try to get DS to sleep from 11 or midnight until whenever because that's our schedule so from 5-midnight we try to feed every two hours on schedule and then  the last time before we put him in his room we feed him a bottle of pumped milk (he is 6 weeks and takes 4-5 ounces) and I think this give him an extra hour , maybe an extra two.

The last two nights I woke up every time to feed him just for supply sake and he kept the same schedule we started with the bottle. Like I said not sure if it was coincidence or it really worked but what do you have to lose

AmyO.

fluffybuns:

Just time, eventually you'll get longer stretches.

Yup!  We are almost at 7 weeks and have been getting 4 hours for the past 3 nights.  It's glorious.  Luckily, even when LO didn't sleep longer than 2.5 hours, it was wake up, feed, burp, back to sleep within a half hour so it could have been worse.

mellydawn84

belladonna11307:

Unfortunately there is no "right" or "normal", like others have said all babies are different and will change as they grow.  DD just started giving me up to 5 hour stretches at night and she's almost 7 weeks.  During the day though I'm lucky to get 1.5 hours between feedings, and in the late afternoon/evening it's more like every hour.  I've read posts from mom's of 7 month old babies still eating every 2 - 3 hours.  I think all you can do is follow your baby's cues.

This exactly. DS started giving us longer stretches at night the older he gets. For a while he was at 5hrs, but we just went through the 6week growth spurt so it was back to 3-4hrs. In the day I also go about 2 hours in between feedings, and he clusters in the evening to every 1hr or so. Some babys sleep more than others, some cry more than others, some poop more than others, that IS motherhood.

AnneShirleyBlythe

Every baby is just so different, this sounds pretty normal. If he were up screaming every half hour, that isn't so normal. 

 

This one wakes up once per night, but Jack was up at least 3 every night. This one STTN last night, it was great, but I don't expect it because she is a baby and tonight she could be up every hour wanting to eat, who knows. Jack decided after STTN for 8 months that the hours between 1-4 a.m. were Jack's Discoteque. It is what they do.  

kammmmay

tokenhoser:

theaustins05:

I cluster feed during the day and she sleeps pretty good at night.

So do I.

He's up every 2-3 hours.

A sleeping baby is 90% luck of the draw. I really believe that.

And yes, it could be a growth spurt. If it is, he'll be different next week. Oh wait... that's pretty much perpetually true.

I would have to agree. Mine has been sleeping 3-4 hours at a time since we brought her home. Now she is 3 weeks and sleeping 4-5 hours at a time. It probably helps that she cluster feeds during the day, but its really just luck that we got a good sleeper this time around.  

Angel0423

fluffybuns:

Just time, eventually you'll get longer stretches.

agreed!  last night we got our longest stretch ever!! 5 hours! lol! doubt it will happen again tonight, likely a fluke.  we usually get 3-4

iris427

Every baby is different.  I'm doing things the same with my son as I did with my daughter.  By chance, he is a much better sleeper so far.  

GWDouglas

Like everyone one has said...every baby is different...My DS is 6 weeks and he still eats about every 2.5-3 hours...Last night we got 4.5 hours!!

 

Angel0423

He'll sleep longer with time.  My lo sleeps 5 hours for her "big stretch" then 3 more hours and she's up.  What we did those early weeks was I'd pump a bottle during the day so DH could do one of the night feedings and I could get a longer stretch of sleep.   Also she seemed to sleep a bit longer if I could get her to eat from both breasts.  So I'd feed with the right, she'd fall asleep at the breast, I'd immediately change her diaper to wake her back up and feed with the left before putting her back down to sleep.  But just know your current situation isn't unusual!