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Sleeping all the time

Bridget - posted on 04/05/2011 ( 8 moms have responded )

448

My daughter is 8 days old and she sleeps all the time. Literally she sleeps about 20-22 hours a day. I have to wake her for feedings and each feeding session is hard work because I have to fight to keep her awake. Does anyone else have a baby like this? I have her 2 week appt on Monday, so I will be checking with her doctor to make sure everything is Ok, but in the meantime Im a bit worried. Im not sure if Im worrying needlessly because my oldest daugher was awake and active from the start. She has never slept much, and generally her sleep as required a lot of work to make it happen- she is 18 months old and rarely sleeps through the night.
Am I worrying needlessly?

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Leanne - posted on 04/16/2011

Make the most of it now cos it won't last long but yeah as people have said make sure you wake her for feeding if she isn't waking herself!

Shara - posted on 04/13/2011

My Daughter is exactly the same, all she wanted to do for the first 3 weeks was sleep she is nearly 4 weeks old now still loves her sleep but is awake much more during the day now. I was worried i would have to keep waking her for feeds for a long time and i felt so mean when my breasts just couldnt take it any longer and i had to wake her

Vanessa - posted on 04/13/2011

Yea that's nothing to worry about their post to sleep at less 16 hours

Bethany - posted on 04/07/2011

One thing that was a helpful suggestion for me was to keep your daughter in nothing but her diaper it will help keep her awake. Also if breastfeeding have as much skin to skin time this also helps...not sure if bottle feeding.

Bridget - posted on 04/06/2011

448

My daughter does wake up when I change her some times, but she goes right back to sleep. I change her diaper as often as needed to keep her fresh, but I usually take that opportunity to undress her and feed her, then I might get 5 minutes of active eating before she falls asleep again. Im lucky to get one fully awak feeding a day. She does occasionally wake up and cry and root around to let me know she is hungry, but again, after a few minutes she falls asleep. I guess I should feel lucky, after my older daughter being such a non sleeper this really is a dream, and I know they say never to compare one kid to another because they are all different, but boy is it difficult! My husband comments all the time that Annabelle, our 9 day old, is the first infant we have ever had!

Krystal - posted on 04/06/2011

My son is the same way. He'll wake up for his feedings maybe 2-3 times a day, and that's usually at night after I've fallen asleep. However, today he woke up and told me a couple times when he was hungry. He saw his dr yesterday and his dr said it was fine. My sister-in-law, who has 4 kids, told me to just let him sleep. You have to check on her to change her diaper, which will usually wake a baby up anyway, feed her then if that's the case.

Louise - posted on 04/06/2011

5,429

If your child is not waking for food and is falling asleep without eatting much then this needs to be looked at. A new born will sleep all the time at first but should stir every 4 hours or so for food. Ring the midwife if you are worried and get him checked out just for peace of mind.

Amy - posted on 04/06/2011

148

Yes you are so don't worry. NB's are saposte to sleep alot they start to grow out of it slowly!! My son is 2 weeks and 4 days old and he is just now starting to have more awake time. I have always found it hard to keep awake during feedings

I do this to help change his diaper inbetween or find some other way to wake him. You can always take off her clothing and wake her up.