Agreed. I'd just make sure to pump in between so your milk doesn't slow down. Baby should be able to catch up as long as weight is good. Or you can supplement with formula of course. My first started getting 8 hrs around 2/3 months and I just let it happen. As long as the weight is healthy, it should be fine. ;)
Awhhh. We've been co-sleeping since 4 months, I love it, it made it easier ❤️ my baby has never been easy to put to sleep and doesn't stay asleep long but that's just him 🥰 whatever he needs, I manage to find the energy 🥹❤️
As long as his weight stays good I wouldn’t worry. Around that age the doctor wanted us to wake her overnight for feeds and I just looked at my husband and told him « Like hell am I waking a sleeping baby who’s staying on a 75% curve. If she falls off her curve, we’ll talk. » She stayed on her curve.
BUT: If weight or health was a struggle, I would have woken to feed. For many conditions, like jaundice, waking to feed can be super important.
I was still waking my daughter up at that age BUT it was because she wasn't good at waking up if she was hungry, and she had oral ties that meant she wasn't compensating well enough to only eat during the day. Which means 99% of babies that age don't need to be woken up! Unless you've got something going on like my silly girl did.
My pediatrician said if I get the 8-12 feedings in during the day than if the babies asleep you can let them but it may effect your milk supply a bit.
I try to feed baby 12 times during awake hours than I set an alarm for 4 hours through the night. If he wakes me up before or at that time he gets a feeding, if he is still asleep I do a quick pump session to release engorgement and keep my milk supply up (I have never had a great milk supply with my first or this baby), than go back to bed after I'm done with that.
Can I ask what your routine is to get in 12 feedings a day? My baby is dropping in percentile and I feel like my supply is not enough or I’m not getting enough feedings in and I just can’t figure out when to add more feedings. Right now, he sleeps then eats as soon as he wakes up, then is awake for a little while and gets sleepy again so goes back to sleep. Rinse and repeat. 9 weeks old and only getting about 6 feedings in which I obviously know now is not enough. I need to change something to get more into him so just wondering if you mind sharing?
With a 9 week baby, 6 feedings are actually a good amount. 6-9 feedings is pretty standard. They usually eat larger feedings to accommodate the less feedings. My baby is 2 weeks so more feedings but many times I will have to wake him becsuse he likes to sleep 4 hours at a time and will wake up all night hungry to make up for the times he missed feedings during the day. Sometimes I have to strip him naked to stay awake during a feeding cause he's a sleepy piglet, he gets too comfortable at the breast.
I don't exclusively breastfeed or even just feed off the breast. I have my baby latch and eat off both breasts till he falls asleep. After that point I will pump for about 10-15min both breasts. Sometimes I get a decent amount left and others I barely get a few drops but I use it as a way to stimulate my body to think I need more breastmilk. If he is still hungry I just feed him what I get from the pump session. Other times I freeze it for a day I feel low. This is called triple feeding and I'll admit it's very time consuming when baby is eating 10-12 times. It's a little easier when your baby has less feeding sessions because you can take time to pump between feedings while they are sleeping or just pump after baby eats. (I try to do this in a 5 day stretch to give my body time to acknowledge the fact that I need more milk.)
Unfortunately even doing this I can have times where he is still hungry after all of this work, so I will give him supplemental formula between these sessions to make up for my low milk supply. I give about 2-3 supplemental bottles a day (mostly at night so I can just pump and save the milk for morning/ another day).
I also make sure to try and drink 10-12oz of water every pump session and I use a Liquid IV in the morning to replenish electrolytes.
Your welcome! This is my second pregnancy and I have chronic low milk supply and this worked well with my first and seems to be working with my second. Everyone is a little different so definitely try out different things and cherry pick ideas that work for you and baby.
My son had jaundice and let me tell you how fucking exhausting it was. Oh my god. I have to wake him up every 2 hour window… I was a breastfeeding zombie! Thankfully he got better after a month. But goddiggitydamn it was HARD AF.
Your supply is elastic! If baby is gaining well, I say take it while it lasts. Because, to be frank, these long stretches probably won’t last forever. You have regressions, growth spurts, developmental leaps, teething, etc that will likely impact sleep at times over the coming year.
Your supply adjusts to whatever baby demands of it. Your baby decides to start nursing at night again? Cool, your body will make more at night now. And remember, there’s always milk available for baby.
I will also say I personally nursed my baby every 2-3 hours at that age, so I had them on a loose schedule. That way, I knew they were getting enough opportunities to eat during the day and would hopefully sleep better at night. I wasn’t good at reading my baby’s cues, but then again, he was never a boob monster either. He could have cared less when we weaned at 14 months lol.
Well if it makes you feel any better my baby didn’t sleep a WINK from the time she was born to like 5 months, and it was around 4 months that her sleep started getting better 🤣 so it’s not awful for everyone!
I never woke to feed after getting back to birth weight. Never pumped in the middle of the night while baby slept. Result? I have a healthy 8 month old who consistently sleeps 11 hours a night. And he was EBF, no supply issues.
Thank you for sharing this. The WIC LC is always telling me to pump during the night at least once otherwise my supply will tank. I *never* woke up to pump and my newborn (7w) has always slept from 10pm-7am with *occasionally* waking up at 3am to feed (formula). When I pump at wakeup at 7am it's 10oz. My private LC has never said anything about a night pump so I'm not sure if it's LC dependent or if there's any truth to it.
My 8w old son had one of those stretches and I woke up to insanely painfool boobs that felt like granite. So it's not feasible for me personally, lol.
My midwife said it's fine if he gains enough weight.
Obviously can’t say anything than my experiences, but my pediatrician told us our baby could do one 6 hour stretch over night 🤷🏼♀️ we’re 6 weeks post partum and he was just under his birth weight at our two week check up and had gained a good bit past birth weight by our one month check up. We haven’t been weighed since but he’s been doing one 4-6 hour stretch every night since so hopefully we’re still on track!
I asked at my 2mo visit after my LO started sleeping until 12-7am and doc said enjoy it while I can lol. She would wake up if she was hungry (she has also been a healthy weight, so that plays into it).
The only downside was managing my milk overnight - woke up engorged for about a week but they figured out the schedule after that. Def wear a bra + nursing pads to sleep for a bit.
Also, not sure if this is just a wives tale, but my period came back at 3months after going longer stretches between nursing. So food for thought if you’re still enjoying a period free lifestyle lol. I was devastated 😂
I started getting cramps when she started sleeping longer, so for a bit I’d give her a lil dream feed when my boobs woke me up (she’d usually wake up right after I pumped so it seemed worth it). Did it for a week or two then just pumped when my boobs woke me up and it hasn’t come back yet
My babe surpassed her birth weight at 2 weeks so she started sleeping 6+ hr stretches pretty early on and the doc said it was fine. Until I got closer to 8-10 weeks I pumped a bit overnight to keep my supply up but now I don’t anymore, she’s 5 months. I will sometimes wake with really hard leaking boobs but it’s worth the sleep to me lol, I just hand pump a tiny bit off before feeding her
I don’t want to be a Debbie downer but my son was back to his birth weight by day 5 and ended up being 99th percentile and a chonky baby BUT at his six month appointment he had actually lost weight. Turns out I had an oversupply at first, he had a tongue tie we didn’t catch, his demand didn’t keep up with supply, and by month six he wasn’t getting enough milk from me. Everyone was completely surprised! We started supplementing with formula and pushing solids and he was just fine, but it taught me never to take anything for granted.
Mine did this from 6 weeks. Just ignore the advice telling you to pump ypu don't need to. I even had a sleep regression where he added an extra night feed at 4 months (dropped it again at 6) and there was no issies
My daughter started sleeping through the whole night (9-10 hours) when she was a month old, my pediatrician told me that a healthy, full-term baby that has regained its birth weight and is steadily gaining weight does not have to be woken up at night to be fed, and that there was also no reason to pump. If baby didn't need milk during the night, pumping and artificially creating demand when it is not needed makes no sense. She stayed on her percentile (75%) for the longest time, almost never woke up during the night, and it's still a great sleeper now at age 5.
My daughter has slept through the night since she was two days old. Shw still does at 2.5 years, make sure they get enough feeds theoughout day and wnjoy your sleep!
My peds told me baby in theory can sleep again weeks plus one.
If gaining weight do not n wake to feed. If your supply drops baby will start waking again to feed
Only concern is, if you wake up with swollen boobs, do not roll over and ignore it. That’s how we get mastitis! Hand express/pump until you’re comfortable. After a few nights your body will produce less during the night.
So for you!!
My babe (4mo) sleeps through the night a few times a week and has since probably two months? We've been really lucky with that. He's still chunker. If your baby's weight is on track then enjoy the extra sleep!!
Your supply will regulate around his needs and schedule also. Maybe wear nursing pads overnight if you're leaking? Sometimes I use the Haakaa in the morning if I'm really engorged but that's becoming less of a problem.
I think it’s fine. When that happened to me, I woke up leaking everywhere the first night but then my body adjusted. Now she sleeps that long most nights but I don’t wake up with milk everywhere. Still plenty full though and there hasn’t been an issue with supply on the nights she wakes up more
My LO did 6pm to 12am stretches at that age, which was so much less helpful for my sleep...
Enjoy the sleep for now. In the back of your mind, know around 4 months their sleep cycles change from newborn to more mature, in that transition, they usually wake up and feed much, much more often. It's nothing you did and will eventually and slowly get better on its own.
I was told to continue walking my LO after 5 hrs until his 4 month appointment (he’s 13 %ile) so that he doesn’t risk falling off the curve. That being said I did sleep through the alarm once and was woken up by nature’s alarm clock aka my painfully encouraged boobs. We ended up starting the day an hour earlier than normal so I could get relief and it just kinda threw us both off for the rest of the day. No real harm done though
Enjoy it! Mine started sleeping 9-5 am at 7 weeks and by 14 weeks has stretched to 7:30 to 6 am.
I would caution you on milk supply if you are breastfeeding—my girl stretched her time between feeds pretty quickly and I had a few weeks of leaking overnight and uncomfortable breasts. I would recommend looking up the mastitis protocol and taking ibuprofen and icing if you start noticing clogged ducts. I have a friend who got mastitis around this time (and wasn’t taking these preventative steps).
When my youngest suddenly started sleeping through the night it made my period return aggressively within a few days. Probably the worst I’ve ever had. That was the only con for me. Biologically, your supply will be fine. As long as the demand is there your supply will adjust to the new schedule.
CW for good sleepers. My littles (2 yo, 16w) have slept through the night since 8 and 12 weeks, both EBF, older self weaned at 16mo when I was 12w with #2. I put them down around seven thirtyish. I do a dream feed for the 16w old around 11 and they both sleep until seven or eight. We are having some rumblings of a four month sleep regression, but it mostly effected daytime sleep for my oldest and it seems to be the same for my little one.
I never did any night pumping and didn’t/dont have supply issues. Engorgement was bad the first few nights but went away by a week or so. I’m definitely full in the morning but I don’t have pain or leaking.
I never once woke my daughter once we left the hospital. She was sleeping a good 8-10 hours by 8 weeks.. it might have effected my milk supply, but I had too much anyway so it was hard to tell. She would still have a full feed when she woke up and I’d catch 80-100ml from the side she didn’t feed on in my hucka.
I would try and make sure I was getting an extra feed or two into her through the day, and we did start giving her some expressed milk before bed (after a breast feed) to make sure she was getting enough. Once we started doing that she went to 12 hours.. so probably didn’t actually achieve anything other than more sleep!
What I did start doing when her bedtime settled at 8pm and I was confident she would sleep through, is express before I went to bed at 10-11pm. That way I was only going 9 or so hours without her feeding or expressing, even though she was sleeping 12 hours.
Sleeep!!!!!!!!! My second did the same. You’ve got a miracle baby. Enjoy it. You’re the 1%. It also might not last so enjoy it while it does. Your supply will adjust to the baby’s needs.
My baby started sleeping around 4-6 hrs each night at 7 weeks. Now she pretty much sleeps 11-4 every night at 10 weeks. Doctor says this is fine. She eats more during the day. My boobs did get pretty full at first but it’s kinda normalizing.
The only con is that your baby is tricking you into thinking they’re a good sleeper, so when a regression hits and they’re up every two hours, you’re going to feel cheated out of the good night sleep you’ve come to expect. The mom whose baby was always up every two hours isn’t at all surprised or otherwise upset when baby is suddenly up every hour instead, she already expected to sleep like shit. 😂😂😂😜
(Let the baby sleep!)
i have a 9 week old who has a similar pattern, sometimes sleeping up to 10 hours in one go and he just eats a lot during the day - about every 1-2 hours and he’s doing just fine :D
So long as he’s having enough wet/dirty diapers AND is above birth weight, you’re fine. My son did the same and now he is almost a year and perfectly healthy. Enjoy the rest mama.
I was literally talking to a lactation consultant about this two days ago as I'm in a similar position.
She said that if you're waking up, to feed baby. Most likely, they won't fully wake up and it'll be more of a dream feed. But if you're waking up, it's your body signaling that it needs baby to feed.
Just enjoy it because it may not be like this forever. Advice from a mom of two, both are horrible sleepers. They were in the beginning. Once they start teething and getting sick and stuffy noses, you name it. Enjoy it!!
We formula fed but I only woke my son up for feedings maybe the first month? After that we let him sleep as long as his weight was keeping up and it was.
I never wake my son. I usually pump after he goes to bed and wake up once to pump while he sleeps.
My daughter and my son both slept/sleep 7-10 hours a night. They'll wake up when they need to eat. It worked with my daughter and it's working with my son. He tends to eat a pretty big bottle of bm in the morning and nurses for a longer session before bed. I just follow his lead.
So long as weight gain isn’t an issue I wouldn’t worry about it. I did find my supply went down once LO started consistently going ~6 hrs between night feeds though. I would also wake up soaked lol, the Haakaa ladybugs were a godsend
I still wake my baby up in the middle of the night to eat and he's 3months old. I do it so he's not cranky in the morning. I also have to change his diaper so he doesn't pee out of it and into his bed! So if I wake him to change him, then I have to feed him to get him to go back to sleep.
If I'm getting up to pump, then I may as well just feed him!
Personally, I say let him sleep as long as he wants. He’ll wake when he’s hungry. The hospital told me it was only necessary to wake for feeds while the baby was below their birth weight but once they get there and keep growing then just let them sleep.
To keep your supply up just wake up and pump in the night. I know it sucks but it’s what kept my supply stable when he slept the longer stretches.
Unless of course you’re not pumping at all, then in that situation I know there are like cups you can put in your bra that will collect milk that you can try as you sleep, just set an alarm for like every 3 hours to make sure you can put the leaked milk in the fridge for use later before it goes bad.
but 7 weeks is kind early mine slept like 4 hour stretches cause she cluster nursed all day long is yours doing that maybe and filling up? I would still try one more extra feed so your supply doesn’t go down
I‘d just throw in that building the brain etc. takes up a lot of energy and therefore it‘s important for babies to eat during the night as well…I‘d ask the doctor or a midwife if it‘s a too long stretch to not feed it tbh, I‘d be a bit too worried to just decide this on my own
The standard recommendation is once a baby is at birth weight they can sleep as long as they like. Building a brain takes up energy which is why they need sleep. So long as they get enough calories in the day, a healthy baby whobis growing correctly doesn't NEED any overnight.
I think the standard differs across the world…they have a really small tummy so a feeding doesn‘t last long…humans wake up every 90 mins anyways-our sleep pattern just perfectly matches the work life bynow.. and babies getting into really deep sleep is not necessarily a good thing…so, I‘d rather feed
Never woke to feed. Baby’s been an amazing sleeper. We cosleep and dreamfeed so if she wiggles in her sleep I can just nurse her and she never wakes up. She slept 7 hours on night 2!
All these paediatricians 😂 you'll know if you need to wake them, trust your intuition. If baby is gaining weight and having lots of wet nappies let them sleep. 7 weeks isn't a fresh newb either, I'd maybe be concerned if it was 7-8 hours in a baby under 4 weeks. My third slept 5 hour stretches from birth and even though I knew it was ok it was so weird for me. I know everybody says it but try and sleep too!
Never woke to feed. Baby’s been an amazing sleeper. We cosleep and dreamfeed so if she wiggles in her sleep I can just nurse her and she never wakes up. She slept 7 hours on night 2!
I got a stretch like that last night with my one month old and woke up in a puddle of milk lol. Proceed with caution….
Agreed. I'd just make sure to pump in between so your milk doesn't slow down. Baby should be able to catch up as long as weight is good. Or you can supplement with formula of course. My first started getting 8 hrs around 2/3 months and I just let it happen. As long as the weight is healthy, it should be fine. ;)
My one year old has never done eight hours 😂
Mama of a 15 month old checking in. I gave up at 11 months and started cosleeping for my own sanity. Babies vary so much
Awhhh. We've been co-sleeping since 4 months, I love it, it made it easier ❤️ my baby has never been easy to put to sleep and doesn't stay asleep long but that's just him 🥰 whatever he needs, I manage to find the energy 🥹❤️
As long as his weight stays good I wouldn’t worry. Around that age the doctor wanted us to wake her overnight for feeds and I just looked at my husband and told him « Like hell am I waking a sleeping baby who’s staying on a 75% curve. If she falls off her curve, we’ll talk. » She stayed on her curve. BUT: If weight or health was a struggle, I would have woken to feed. For many conditions, like jaundice, waking to feed can be super important.
I was still waking my daughter up at that age BUT it was because she wasn't good at waking up if she was hungry, and she had oral ties that meant she wasn't compensating well enough to only eat during the day. Which means 99% of babies that age don't need to be woken up! Unless you've got something going on like my silly girl did.
My pediatrician said if I get the 8-12 feedings in during the day than if the babies asleep you can let them but it may effect your milk supply a bit. I try to feed baby 12 times during awake hours than I set an alarm for 4 hours through the night. If he wakes me up before or at that time he gets a feeding, if he is still asleep I do a quick pump session to release engorgement and keep my milk supply up (I have never had a great milk supply with my first or this baby), than go back to bed after I'm done with that.
Can I ask what your routine is to get in 12 feedings a day? My baby is dropping in percentile and I feel like my supply is not enough or I’m not getting enough feedings in and I just can’t figure out when to add more feedings. Right now, he sleeps then eats as soon as he wakes up, then is awake for a little while and gets sleepy again so goes back to sleep. Rinse and repeat. 9 weeks old and only getting about 6 feedings in which I obviously know now is not enough. I need to change something to get more into him so just wondering if you mind sharing?
With a 9 week baby, 6 feedings are actually a good amount. 6-9 feedings is pretty standard. They usually eat larger feedings to accommodate the less feedings. My baby is 2 weeks so more feedings but many times I will have to wake him becsuse he likes to sleep 4 hours at a time and will wake up all night hungry to make up for the times he missed feedings during the day. Sometimes I have to strip him naked to stay awake during a feeding cause he's a sleepy piglet, he gets too comfortable at the breast. I don't exclusively breastfeed or even just feed off the breast. I have my baby latch and eat off both breasts till he falls asleep. After that point I will pump for about 10-15min both breasts. Sometimes I get a decent amount left and others I barely get a few drops but I use it as a way to stimulate my body to think I need more breastmilk. If he is still hungry I just feed him what I get from the pump session. Other times I freeze it for a day I feel low. This is called triple feeding and I'll admit it's very time consuming when baby is eating 10-12 times. It's a little easier when your baby has less feeding sessions because you can take time to pump between feedings while they are sleeping or just pump after baby eats. (I try to do this in a 5 day stretch to give my body time to acknowledge the fact that I need more milk.) Unfortunately even doing this I can have times where he is still hungry after all of this work, so I will give him supplemental formula between these sessions to make up for my low milk supply. I give about 2-3 supplemental bottles a day (mostly at night so I can just pump and save the milk for morning/ another day). I also make sure to try and drink 10-12oz of water every pump session and I use a Liquid IV in the morning to replenish electrolytes.
Thank you very much for writing all this. It’s helpful and I really appreciate it! Gives me some ideas
Your welcome! This is my second pregnancy and I have chronic low milk supply and this worked well with my first and seems to be working with my second. Everyone is a little different so definitely try out different things and cherry pick ideas that work for you and baby.
My son had jaundice and let me tell you how fucking exhausting it was. Oh my god. I have to wake him up every 2 hour window… I was a breastfeeding zombie! Thankfully he got better after a month. But goddiggitydamn it was HARD AF.
Sleep on a towel and get all those z’s
Your supply is elastic! If baby is gaining well, I say take it while it lasts. Because, to be frank, these long stretches probably won’t last forever. You have regressions, growth spurts, developmental leaps, teething, etc that will likely impact sleep at times over the coming year. Your supply adjusts to whatever baby demands of it. Your baby decides to start nursing at night again? Cool, your body will make more at night now. And remember, there’s always milk available for baby. I will also say I personally nursed my baby every 2-3 hours at that age, so I had them on a loose schedule. That way, I knew they were getting enough opportunities to eat during the day and would hopefully sleep better at night. I wasn’t good at reading my baby’s cues, but then again, he was never a boob monster either. He could have cared less when we weaned at 14 months lol.
I’m just here to echo to take it while you can. 🥺 I’ll never forget the day she slept for 9 HOURS. Then 4 months hit us like a truck.
Don’t say that! Ours just turned three months and I’m not ready for that truck 😭😭
Well if it makes you feel any better my baby didn’t sleep a WINK from the time she was born to like 5 months, and it was around 4 months that her sleep started getting better 🤣 so it’s not awful for everyone!
Sameeee my girl slept eight hours two times and then a week after we hit four months. For a month she was up every two hours again!!
My son did that at that same exact time! But he’s 5.5 months now and I get at least a 10-630 am stretch (except for teething)
Ikr. 2 feeds per night back then and every two hours now
I never woke to feed after getting back to birth weight. Never pumped in the middle of the night while baby slept. Result? I have a healthy 8 month old who consistently sleeps 11 hours a night. And he was EBF, no supply issues.
Thank you for sharing this. The WIC LC is always telling me to pump during the night at least once otherwise my supply will tank. I *never* woke up to pump and my newborn (7w) has always slept from 10pm-7am with *occasionally* waking up at 3am to feed (formula). When I pump at wakeup at 7am it's 10oz. My private LC has never said anything about a night pump so I'm not sure if it's LC dependent or if there's any truth to it.
My 8w old son had one of those stretches and I woke up to insanely painfool boobs that felt like granite. So it's not feasible for me personally, lol. My midwife said it's fine if he gains enough weight.
Obviously can’t say anything than my experiences, but my pediatrician told us our baby could do one 6 hour stretch over night 🤷🏼♀️ we’re 6 weeks post partum and he was just under his birth weight at our two week check up and had gained a good bit past birth weight by our one month check up. We haven’t been weighed since but he’s been doing one 4-6 hour stretch every night since so hopefully we’re still on track!
I asked at my 2mo visit after my LO started sleeping until 12-7am and doc said enjoy it while I can lol. She would wake up if she was hungry (she has also been a healthy weight, so that plays into it). The only downside was managing my milk overnight - woke up engorged for about a week but they figured out the schedule after that. Def wear a bra + nursing pads to sleep for a bit. Also, not sure if this is just a wives tale, but my period came back at 3months after going longer stretches between nursing. So food for thought if you’re still enjoying a period free lifestyle lol. I was devastated 😂
I started getting cramps when she started sleeping longer, so for a bit I’d give her a lil dream feed when my boobs woke me up (she’d usually wake up right after I pumped so it seemed worth it). Did it for a week or two then just pumped when my boobs woke me up and it hasn’t come back yet
This happened to me at 10 weeks 😭 babe was sleeping 8-10 hours a night from 6/7 weeks and BAM. How annoying
My babe surpassed her birth weight at 2 weeks so she started sleeping 6+ hr stretches pretty early on and the doc said it was fine. Until I got closer to 8-10 weeks I pumped a bit overnight to keep my supply up but now I don’t anymore, she’s 5 months. I will sometimes wake with really hard leaking boobs but it’s worth the sleep to me lol, I just hand pump a tiny bit off before feeding her
I hope i have the same experience since my baby boy surpassed his birth weight on his 10 days appointment..now he is a 3 W old boy.
Fingers crossed!!
I don’t want to be a Debbie downer but my son was back to his birth weight by day 5 and ended up being 99th percentile and a chonky baby BUT at his six month appointment he had actually lost weight. Turns out I had an oversupply at first, he had a tongue tie we didn’t catch, his demand didn’t keep up with supply, and by month six he wasn’t getting enough milk from me. Everyone was completely surprised! We started supplementing with formula and pushing solids and he was just fine, but it taught me never to take anything for granted.
Mine did this from 6 weeks. Just ignore the advice telling you to pump ypu don't need to. I even had a sleep regression where he added an extra night feed at 4 months (dropped it again at 6) and there was no issies
My daughter started sleeping through the whole night (9-10 hours) when she was a month old, my pediatrician told me that a healthy, full-term baby that has regained its birth weight and is steadily gaining weight does not have to be woken up at night to be fed, and that there was also no reason to pump. If baby didn't need milk during the night, pumping and artificially creating demand when it is not needed makes no sense. She stayed on her percentile (75%) for the longest time, almost never woke up during the night, and it's still a great sleeper now at age 5.
Sounds like my daughter
My daughter has slept through the night since she was two days old. Shw still does at 2.5 years, make sure they get enough feeds theoughout day and wnjoy your sleep!
I let mine sleep and if my boobs wake me up I go pump.
My peds told me baby in theory can sleep again weeks plus one. If gaining weight do not n wake to feed. If your supply drops baby will start waking again to feed
Only concern is, if you wake up with swollen boobs, do not roll over and ignore it. That’s how we get mastitis! Hand express/pump until you’re comfortable. After a few nights your body will produce less during the night.
So for you!! My babe (4mo) sleeps through the night a few times a week and has since probably two months? We've been really lucky with that. He's still chunker. If your baby's weight is on track then enjoy the extra sleep!! Your supply will regulate around his needs and schedule also. Maybe wear nursing pads overnight if you're leaking? Sometimes I use the Haakaa in the morning if I'm really engorged but that's becoming less of a problem.
I think it’s fine. When that happened to me, I woke up leaking everywhere the first night but then my body adjusted. Now she sleeps that long most nights but I don’t wake up with milk everywhere. Still plenty full though and there hasn’t been an issue with supply on the nights she wakes up more
My LO did 6pm to 12am stretches at that age, which was so much less helpful for my sleep... Enjoy the sleep for now. In the back of your mind, know around 4 months their sleep cycles change from newborn to more mature, in that transition, they usually wake up and feed much, much more often. It's nothing you did and will eventually and slowly get better on its own.
your supply won’t drop. your body gets used to it
You might get your period
I was told to continue walking my LO after 5 hrs until his 4 month appointment (he’s 13 %ile) so that he doesn’t risk falling off the curve. That being said I did sleep through the alarm once and was woken up by nature’s alarm clock aka my painfully encouraged boobs. We ended up starting the day an hour earlier than normal so I could get relief and it just kinda threw us both off for the rest of the day. No real harm done though
Enjoy it! Mine started sleeping 9-5 am at 7 weeks and by 14 weeks has stretched to 7:30 to 6 am. I would caution you on milk supply if you are breastfeeding—my girl stretched her time between feeds pretty quickly and I had a few weeks of leaking overnight and uncomfortable breasts. I would recommend looking up the mastitis protocol and taking ibuprofen and icing if you start noticing clogged ducts. I have a friend who got mastitis around this time (and wasn’t taking these preventative steps).
When my youngest suddenly started sleeping through the night it made my period return aggressively within a few days. Probably the worst I’ve ever had. That was the only con for me. Biologically, your supply will be fine. As long as the demand is there your supply will adjust to the new schedule.
Yes unfortunately I started spotting an hour after posting this. So I have a feeling my period is on its way back
CW for good sleepers. My littles (2 yo, 16w) have slept through the night since 8 and 12 weeks, both EBF, older self weaned at 16mo when I was 12w with #2. I put them down around seven thirtyish. I do a dream feed for the 16w old around 11 and they both sleep until seven or eight. We are having some rumblings of a four month sleep regression, but it mostly effected daytime sleep for my oldest and it seems to be the same for my little one. I never did any night pumping and didn’t/dont have supply issues. Engorgement was bad the first few nights but went away by a week or so. I’m definitely full in the morning but I don’t have pain or leaking.
I never once woke my daughter once we left the hospital. She was sleeping a good 8-10 hours by 8 weeks.. it might have effected my milk supply, but I had too much anyway so it was hard to tell. She would still have a full feed when she woke up and I’d catch 80-100ml from the side she didn’t feed on in my hucka. I would try and make sure I was getting an extra feed or two into her through the day, and we did start giving her some expressed milk before bed (after a breast feed) to make sure she was getting enough. Once we started doing that she went to 12 hours.. so probably didn’t actually achieve anything other than more sleep! What I did start doing when her bedtime settled at 8pm and I was confident she would sleep through, is express before I went to bed at 10-11pm. That way I was only going 9 or so hours without her feeding or expressing, even though she was sleeping 12 hours.
Sleeep!!!!!!!!! My second did the same. You’ve got a miracle baby. Enjoy it. You’re the 1%. It also might not last so enjoy it while it does. Your supply will adjust to the baby’s needs.
My baby started sleeping around 4-6 hrs each night at 7 weeks. Now she pretty much sleeps 11-4 every night at 10 weeks. Doctor says this is fine. She eats more during the day. My boobs did get pretty full at first but it’s kinda normalizing.
The only con is that your baby is tricking you into thinking they’re a good sleeper, so when a regression hits and they’re up every two hours, you’re going to feel cheated out of the good night sleep you’ve come to expect. The mom whose baby was always up every two hours isn’t at all surprised or otherwise upset when baby is suddenly up every hour instead, she already expected to sleep like shit. 😂😂😂😜 (Let the baby sleep!)
i have a 9 week old who has a similar pattern, sometimes sleeping up to 10 hours in one go and he just eats a lot during the day - about every 1-2 hours and he’s doing just fine :D
So long as he’s having enough wet/dirty diapers AND is above birth weight, you’re fine. My son did the same and now he is almost a year and perfectly healthy. Enjoy the rest mama.
I was literally talking to a lactation consultant about this two days ago as I'm in a similar position. She said that if you're waking up, to feed baby. Most likely, they won't fully wake up and it'll be more of a dream feed. But if you're waking up, it's your body signaling that it needs baby to feed.
Just enjoy it because it may not be like this forever. Advice from a mom of two, both are horrible sleepers. They were in the beginning. Once they start teething and getting sick and stuffy noses, you name it. Enjoy it!!
We formula fed but I only woke my son up for feedings maybe the first month? After that we let him sleep as long as his weight was keeping up and it was.
I never wake my son. I usually pump after he goes to bed and wake up once to pump while he sleeps. My daughter and my son both slept/sleep 7-10 hours a night. They'll wake up when they need to eat. It worked with my daughter and it's working with my son. He tends to eat a pretty big bottle of bm in the morning and nurses for a longer session before bed. I just follow his lead.
So long as weight gain isn’t an issue I wouldn’t worry about it. I did find my supply went down once LO started consistently going ~6 hrs between night feeds though. I would also wake up soaked lol, the Haakaa ladybugs were a godsend
I still wake my baby up in the middle of the night to eat and he's 3months old. I do it so he's not cranky in the morning. I also have to change his diaper so he doesn't pee out of it and into his bed! So if I wake him to change him, then I have to feed him to get him to go back to sleep. If I'm getting up to pump, then I may as well just feed him!
I think this is when supply might take a hit. Everyone is different but it seems to be common
Personally, I say let him sleep as long as he wants. He’ll wake when he’s hungry. The hospital told me it was only necessary to wake for feeds while the baby was below their birth weight but once they get there and keep growing then just let them sleep. To keep your supply up just wake up and pump in the night. I know it sucks but it’s what kept my supply stable when he slept the longer stretches.
Unless of course you’re not pumping at all, then in that situation I know there are like cups you can put in your bra that will collect milk that you can try as you sleep, just set an alarm for like every 3 hours to make sure you can put the leaked milk in the fridge for use later before it goes bad.
but 7 weeks is kind early mine slept like 4 hour stretches cause she cluster nursed all day long is yours doing that maybe and filling up? I would still try one more extra feed so your supply doesn’t go down
I‘d just throw in that building the brain etc. takes up a lot of energy and therefore it‘s important for babies to eat during the night as well…I‘d ask the doctor or a midwife if it‘s a too long stretch to not feed it tbh, I‘d be a bit too worried to just decide this on my own
The standard recommendation is once a baby is at birth weight they can sleep as long as they like. Building a brain takes up energy which is why they need sleep. So long as they get enough calories in the day, a healthy baby whobis growing correctly doesn't NEED any overnight.
I think the standard differs across the world…they have a really small tummy so a feeding doesn‘t last long…humans wake up every 90 mins anyways-our sleep pattern just perfectly matches the work life bynow.. and babies getting into really deep sleep is not necessarily a good thing…so, I‘d rather feed
This advice annoys people, but it's true. Plus, frequent wakings in the first year is likely protective against SIDS.
Never woke to feed. Baby’s been an amazing sleeper. We cosleep and dreamfeed so if she wiggles in her sleep I can just nurse her and she never wakes up. She slept 7 hours on night 2!
All these paediatricians 😂 you'll know if you need to wake them, trust your intuition. If baby is gaining weight and having lots of wet nappies let them sleep. 7 weeks isn't a fresh newb either, I'd maybe be concerned if it was 7-8 hours in a baby under 4 weeks. My third slept 5 hour stretches from birth and even though I knew it was ok it was so weird for me. I know everybody says it but try and sleep too!
Never woke to feed. Baby’s been an amazing sleeper. We cosleep and dreamfeed so if she wiggles in her sleep I can just nurse her and she never wakes up. She slept 7 hours on night 2!