A few questions-probably pretty stupid to boot

[blackberry75]

Sorry if these get asked a lot, but I couldn't find answers when I searched here.

1. Can a 10 day old sleep to much. Bean will sleep up to 4h during the day and 6h at night. I know I should feel lucky, but I'm terrified I'm starving her and that's why she's sleeping so much. She nurses 10-15m per side (and I always give her both sides) plus gets expressed milk afterwards because she's an inefficient nurser due to tongue tie. Of the expressed milk, she'll down a good 2-2.5oz after nursing. The doctor and LC said not to wake her up, but that feels like a really long time for such a young baby to go w/o eating.

2. She constantly falls asleep at the breast. Not the normal baby's eaten and then falls asleep, but she'll nurse for 5m approximately, fall asleep, wake up nurse for 5m, fall asleep, etc. I strip her down to her diaper and tease her feet to try to keep her awake, but I'm not sure what else to do. I know that being tongue tied makes nursing an exhausting exercise for her-it just seems like all she does is sleep. My son slept a lot at this age too, but he would wake up and be engaged for at least a little bit every day.

3. The only time she's really awake is when she's getting hungry, pooping or has the hiccups. Is all this stuff normal and I'm just freaking out over nothing or should I be worried? We take her to her first check up tomorrow, but I'm seriously stressing over this stuff. You'd think I'd never done this baby thing before, lol.

[bigmamakelsey]

Originally Posted by blackberry75 Sorry if these get asked a lot, but I couldn't find answers when I searched here. 1. Can a 10 day old sleep to much. Bean will sleep up to 4h during the day and 6h at night. I know I should feel lucky, but I'm terrified I'm starving her and that's why she's sleeping so much. She nurses 10-15m per side (and I always give her both sides) plus gets expressed milk afterwards because she's an inefficient nurser due to tongue tie. Of the expressed milk, she'll down a good 2-2.5oz after nursing. The doctor and LC said not to wake her up, but that feels like a really long time for such a young baby to go w/o eating. I don't think the sleeping is an issue, but if you feel it's effecting your bonding or supply there is probably no harm in waking her to nurse. My newborn would just fall back asleep on the boob. Is she gaining appropriately? Does she completely drain the first breast she nurses, or are you switching her on the clock (ei, it's been 15 minutes, switch!) Make sure she is getting the hind milk. Let her choose when to switch sides if you're not already. 2. She constantly falls asleep at the breast. Not the normal baby's eaten and then falls asleep, but she'll nurse for 5m approximately, fall asleep, wake up nurse for 5m, fall asleep, etc. I strip her down to her diaper and tease her feet to try to keep her awake, but I'm not sure what else to do. I know that being tongue tied makes nursing an exhausting exercise for her-it just seems like all she does is sleep. My son slept a lot at this age too, but he would wake up and be engaged for at least a little bit every day. How is her color? Has she had her bili levels checked? An extremely sleepy bab y that won't wake to nurse or falls asleep at the breast when they should be very hungry can be a sign of jaundice. She's already 10 days old so hopefully/probably not the case, but I thought I should at least bring it up. With my (very jaundiced) infant that didn't like to wake to nurse, we'd try to put a cool washcloth on his forehead or the soles of his feet. Try a good changing or eye contact before you nurse, something to wake her up before you put her on the breast. 3. The only time she's really awake is when she's getting hungry, pooping or has the hiccups. Is all this stuff normal and I'm just freaking out over nothing or should I be worried? We take her to her first check up tomorrow, but I'm seriously stressing over this stuff. You'd think I'd never done this baby thing before, lol.

No, that sounds totally normal to me Newborns sleep A LOT. Change, eat, sleep, poop, change, eat, sleep, poop!

[blackberry75]

So even the long sleeping times and sleeping at the breast is OK? My son was tongue tied to, but he ate every 2-2.5h on the dot at this age and once at the breast ate like he had hollow legs.

[Connor]

I would just be sure you are nursing 8-12 times a day.

[happysmileylady]

As others have said, it's all totally normal.

I will say, if she's sleeping six hours at night, you might consider getting up and pumping once during that stretch. Going that long at night is fine for her, but it can affect your supply. As Connor mentioned, you want to be sure that you are nursing at least 8 to 12 times a day, but more is always better and with a long stretch like that, one more pumping, even if she's not nursing, is always going to help.

[katrinakieren]

If your baby was hungry I'd doubt he'd sleep. you'd get lots of fuss. If its a large worry for you track weight gain. My daughter never seemed to make it to the other breast before falling asleep. Lol. I used to read how they needed both sides and I was always nudging her to wake up and drink so I'd be even.
She was quite a chunk too.

[jenncatsmeow]

Totally normal...

just be sure your LO is outputting at least 6-7 wet diapers a day. That's the best measure of whether they are getting enough.

[lilmomma83]

I am going to make some people mad probably, but, NO it is NOT neccesarily normal. Go with your instincts. Everyone told my my youngest (also tongue tied) was normal when she was sleeping like that and they said she would wake and eat when hungry...she didn't. She lost weight for over 2 weeks and didn't regain her birthweight until 7 weeks. I've read that babies fall asleep at the breast more so from lack of flow of milk than being tired...makes perfect sense if your LO has a TT and isn't transfering milk well. I would not let him sleep more than 3 hours between feedings.

I know I may not have the popular feel good answer, but, if less people had told me how my daughter was "fine" and I had just followed my instincts it would have saved us a lot of heartache and we could have addressed things sooner.

Just my 2 cents anyway!

[lilmomma83]

Also, I am pretty sure my older 2 had TTs (they were not diagnosed though because I didn't know much abotu it then) and they both DID wake for feedings and gained fine...so every baby is different.

[porky]

My first one would fall asleep while eating. The pediatrician told us to wake her up by taking her clothes off but leaving a diaper on when nursing. She did have jaundice. Does he had any yellowing in the whites of his eyes?
Our last one, cried all the time ever since he came out. The one nurse didn't even want to take him to give me a break in the hospital. He nursed every half hour at times. That lasted for months. I have not had a baby that slept a lot. I guess every baby's different. My friend's baby was born the same day as ours and all it did was sleep.
What's really important is if the baby is gaining enough weight and has enough wet diapers. If you don't have a baby scales, maybe you could take him in to the nurse to have him weighed? It sure put our mind at ease when we did that.