Breastfeeding

Hello, my little one is one week and one day old today.  It seems like she wants to eat every hour to 2 hours in the day and at night I'm waking her up every 3 hrs.  I'm just wondering if I'm supposed to let her sleep longer in the night or keep waking her up.  At the hospital and lactation consultant they both said don't go longer than 3 hrs but I read on here about all these nursing babies on my EC that go 5 hrs at night!  Last night I let her go 4 hrs once because she was not sleeping that well up until it was time to wake her up for feeding and I really hated to wake her.  It's really hard to keep her awake too during feedings, day and night.  I would appreciate any advice you ladies have!

Amy

Make a pregnancy ticker

There is nothing wrong in and of itself with a baby going longer between feeds at night in and of itself. The important thing is to make sure your baby having an at least 8 feedings per day at this stage and at least 5-6 sopping wet diapers and at least 4 poopy diapers per day starting at one week.

Regarding her sleepiness, in the very beginning it is important to make sure your baby is getting a adequate amount of milk per feeding and if she is falling asleep before getting a complete feed then this may not happen. Thus, you will want to take steps to encourage her to be more awake at feedings to ensure she is getting complete feedings.

The following quote comes from: http://www.mother-2-mother.com/cc-baby-A.htm#SleepyBabies

SLEEPY BABIES

If your baby is sleepy here are some suggestions to help keep the baby awake and interested:

• make sure your free hand is supporting your breast so the weight of the breast isn't on the baby's chin
• switch breasts as soon as the baby begins to lose interest in active nursing, this *may* need to be done every 30 to 60 seconds at first (the first few times you do it). You should begin to see a difference within a couple days of doing this.
• Burp and change diaper. Burping should be done with the baby sitting supported upright on mom's knee or lap rather than over the shoulder because it's also less sleep-inducing.
• nurse in clutch or "football" hold as opposed to cradle hold - it's a little less "cuddly" and sleep-inducing.
• massage the baby's head (crown) in a circular motion while nursing. Also using a wet cold washcloth and wiping back against the grain of the hair growth can help Try this for several days and see if there's improvement, and please update us as you can.
• Place baby on your lap with legs near your tummy and head on your knees. Gently supporting baby, raise in sitting position, like doing a "sit- up". Do this two or three times, then do "side to side" a couple times.
• You can also try breast compression.

You may want to reduce any outside or excessive stimulation. (bright lights & noise) Sometimes babies just need to tune out all the noise/light and they do this by falling asleep.

Here is some more info on breastfeeding and sleepy babies:
http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/waking_a_sleepy_baby.shtml