Night sleep and supply question

[Mummato2]

Hi Guys,

I have a 5 day old and she is co-sleeping with me at night time (in her cot throughout the day)

She feeds every 2 or so hours during the day and then cluster feeds every hour from 6pm - 12mn then she sleeps til around 8am when I wake her up.

My question is if this is her natural sleeping pattern (it was for my son but he was bottle fed) - will it affect my supply or will the frequent day feeds be ok?

I am not concerned about her wellbeing - she never got jaundiced and she is clearly thriving - so it's more a question on my supply.

Thanks in advance xxx

[Jas]

I think you are absolutely fine. You feel confident she is fine, she is feeding every 2hrs during the day and then cluster feeding so she is showing she is perfectly able to let you know she is hungry, she's not underfed and unable to wake. I added that up and she's having 12feeds a day and thats fantastic so you ar doing really well and it won't affect your supply, she is drinking what she needs and developing a great sleep pattern!

ds2 started doing 8+hrs at 3weeks and he is still feeding and will be 10months tomorrow and it has never effected my supply

[MantaRay]

Hun, it sounds like you are your little one are doing a fantastic job. 8 hours is a long time for a baby of that age to sleep, but as Jas has said, it does sound like she is getting enough and doing very well. You have possibly heard that night feeds are the ones that do the most for maintaing your supply which is why you are concerned. It is true that the feeds between about midnight and 5 am are the ones that raise your hormone levels the most, and so can affect supply the most. However, the most important thing for supply is frequent feeding, and 12 feeds in 24 hours certainly does that.

The one thing you might find if your DD keeps sleeping so long at night, is that the contraceptive of bfing might be lessened by not feeding during those hours of 12am - 5 am. If falling pg again quickly is not in your plan, this is important to know so that you can make other arrangements.

[Jennifer13]

My DD cluster-fed in the evenings too, from only a few days of age. She wasn't sleeping quite that long immediately, but at least 5-6 hrs from around 11pm or midnight as well. Don't tell anyone!

As long as she is having plenty of wet and dirty nappies, thriving and it sounds like she is having plenty of bfs at other times, as the others have said, nothing to worry about. You might just be lucky (enjoy it, babies have a habit of not sticking to any particular pattern for too long!).

[Mummato2]

Thanks guys!