Hi,

Congratulations on the birth of your little one. The information you recieve around feeding in those early days can seem so confusing. I guess the thing to do is closely observe your little one and be guided by her. But....(there's always a but, isn't there?)
When babies are born normally and at full term, they are optimally primed to breastfeed. They are alert and awake, and demand to be fed. Sometimes babies aren't born with a good sense of "appetite". It seems to be a developmental stage - maybe like crawling or walking. Some babies *get it* early. And some take longer. Sometimes a difficult birth, or drugs that cross the placenta during labour can make the baby sleepy and disorganised, and not inclined to feed. Sometimes a baby can develop a little jaundice, and these makes them too sleepy. For all these reasons, it is often suggested that a mum wake her baby to feed ever 3 hours or so. Often times this isn't really necessary, but it's a "belt and braces" approach that can often help a sleepy newborn get feeding established. While demand feeding is the go, in the early days, some babies don't know how to demand!
But which baby is yours? The demanding type, who can take care of himself and make sure he gets a fee when he needs it? Or is he content to sleep on and then is too low in energy to feed effectively, meaning he is more sleepy than ever.
A newborn baby will typically have 8-12 feeds in 24 hrs. He may have one *longish* sleep - maybe 3 or if you are lucky, 4 hrly. And another period of the day or night where he has a cluster or feeds close together. This is completely normal. But some mothers, having heard an "old wives tale" that babies feed 4 hrly think that is too much. On the other hand, some mothers have a great milk supply, and baby has a relatively big tummy (his tummy at this age is only the size of his clenched fist) and thrive on larger feeds less frequently. It can be normal for babies to lose up to 10% of their birthweight, but they will normally regain it by 2 weeks. In the first 5 days you will expect one wet nappy per day of life, and by day 3 -5 their poos will transition from black (meconium) to brownish and then mustardy, and they will have a couple per day.
If you are satisfied your baby is getting enough, and is full or asleep and your breasts are uncomfortably full, express a little so they are soft and comfortable.