Please share your opinions re: sleep

PhillyGal34 · August 2012

E is 2 months old (3 d adjusted). For the past few nights he's been going 4 hours from start of feeding to start of feeding at night. During the day he eats more frequently (2-3 hrs). He's exclusively breastfed. Are the night feedings too far apart? I'm going by his cues and when he wakes up. If I wake up and it's been more than 4 hours I wake him up. What do you think? We go to the pedi on Monday and I'll ask there too but you guys are the experts :-) so I wanted to ask you first!

Thanks!

rels09 · August 2012

We're not there yet, but for the record, DD's pedi said that she would look for her to start going 4 hours between feedings at night around her due date, which is right where you are, so it seems reasonable to me.

ETA: DD's pedi is also the mom of a 28 weeker, so I do trust her quite a bit on preemie issues.

kelly321 · August 2012

How's his weight? How much is he drinking during the day? I would be hesitant to let him go too long at night at this stage, but if he's drinking enough during the day and gaining well, then your pedi might give you the ok to let him go longer at night.

PhillyGal34 · August 2012

He was 3 lbs 5 oz at birth, 5 lbs 4 oz on 7/13 and when I got on the scale with him the other day he was 7 lbs 10 oz. (so 2.5 lbs in 3 weeks) I don't know how much he drinks since he's breastfed but he nurses for a while (15-25 mins) and has a ton of wet and dirty diapers.

Missa_g · August 2012

kelly321:
How's his weight? How much is he drinking during the day? I would be hesitant to let him go too long at night at this stage, but if he's drinking enough during the day and gaining well, then your pedi might give you the ok to let him go longer at night.

Exactly this. At our first appointment the pediatrician gave us permission to let the boys sleep as long as they wanted at night. They were 2 months actual and not quite to EDD. It took several more weeks for them to want to go longer than three hours, I think about when they hit 7.5lbs.

kelly321 · August 2012

PhillyGal34:
He was 3 lbs 5 oz at birth, 5 lbs 4 oz on 7/13 and when I got on the scale with him the other day he was 7 lbs 10 oz. (so 2.5 lbs in 3 weeks) I don't know how much he drinks since he's breastfed but he nurses for a while (15-25 mins) and has a ton of wet and dirty diapers.

Sounds like it would probably be ok to let him sleep as long as he wants, but I would definitely wait for the ok from your pedi. I can't really speak from experience. DD still isn't STTN... Sad

PhillyGal34 · August 2012

BostonKisses2:
Is he gaining weight? Double check with your pedi, but if he's gaining I would think it's ok to go with his cues. Judith started doing this naturally as well, and we followed her lead with the nighttime feeds.

Yea he's gaining quickly. About 11 oz a week!

Lavender444 · August 2012

4 hours inbetween feedings is a reasonable stretch for a term baby. My son was born at 31 weeks, and when we were discharged we were not on at demand feedings, but a strict 3 hour schedule with a strict amount he needed to eat each time.

I would talk to it about your Ped, but if your LO is gaining well and on demand feedings, I would not worry about it at all and enjoy that bit of a longer stretch through the night.

lemen99 · August 2012

sounds like my kiddos, who gained pretty well!

pugznploons · August 2012

I've been struggling with this too and how the periods of sleep effect her feeding schedule. We were on the rigid "wake every 2.5-3 hrs" schedule for the first 2-3 weeks and it's hard to break that now. Just this week we've started letting her sleep as long as she wants at night, and she wakes up around 3 hours or 3 hrs 15 on her own. I feed her and she goes right back down. But during the day she's having periods of alert time after feedings, staying awake 60-90 minutes. Then she'll still want to sleep 3 hours and I feel bad waking her, but want to make sure she's eating enough.

I think we're going to increase the amount of formula we give her now that she's having alert periods. I feel like 2oz per feeding just isn't enough if she only ends up eating 7 times a day rather than the 8 she did before. She breastfeeds too but gets very little from me, half an oz max, so formula is her main source of calories. She's only 6.5lbs now at the 1 month mark, she just passed her due date yesterday. She gained half a pound last week, curious to see how much she weighs tomorrow. I'm going to ask the LC how many oz per day we need to be aiming for and if we need to increase her bottles to 3 oz. DD rarely shows signs of hunger. She'll eat what we give her and is satisfied, be it, 1, 2, or 3 oz. Confusing baby!

DrRx · August 2012

We let Adalyn decide when she wanted to eat since the every 3 hours thing didn't work when we were at home. There was no reason to deny her a bottle when she was hungry to wait for the time. She would go longer stretches--about 4 hours--during the morning and overnight hours, but come early afternoon she would ramp it up and cluster feed--like, every 30 minutes to 1 hour! We kept track of how much she ate and as long as she ate at least her minimum amount we were good to go. She also gained weight pretty well. As long as she was ramping it up at night we would let her go up to 5 hours or so (if she wanted) before waking her to feed. She was usually up anywhere from 3 to 5 hours overnight to feed.

She didn't start going longer overnight until I want to say about a month ago when we started using the crib instead of the RNP in our room. In the past 2 weeks or so she's been going almost 10 or 12 hours.

haziedaze · August 2012

If his weight gain is good I say go with it.... from experience, enjoy it while it lasts! When H started going longer I totally stressed about his intake, but if you guy is eating more in the daytime I bet he's fine.

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