Baby sleeping too much?

[papal]

Hi,
It is 9.45am and my almost 6 week old baby is still sleeping! She went to bed at 11.00pm, woke up at 2.30am. I think that was more for a diaper change than for a feed as she fed for only 5-7 minutes and fell back asleep. And now she has been sleeping from 3.0am to now. I managed to change her diaper again at 8.30am without waking her.
Is this too much sleep for a 6 week old? I never thought i would be worried about her sleeping too MUCH.. i was prepared for too LITTLE!
Do babies always wake up on their own when hungry or do some need to be prodded?
If this is normal i might switch to a nightime disposable diaper (we CD right now) so that she gets an undisturbed night sleep..

Anyone face a similar issue?

Thanks,
Rashmi

[miki]

My baby sleeps so much very infrequently to my dismay. Our ped said we didn't need to wake her as long as when she was awake, she made up for the feedings she missed (i.e. nursing every 2 hours instead of 3) to get at least 8 feedings a day and to make sure she had enough wet diapers.

[Momof3Labs]

It might be that she is "recovering" from her 6 week growth spurt - babies tend to nurse like crazy for a few days and then sleep hard for a day or two afterwards. Unfortunately, it might not last for too many more days, so wait and see before making any big changes or plans.

And disposables will be worse than CDs - they only make nighttime disposables in size 3 and up, way too big for your baby, and with disposables you also have to deal with blowouts - blech! You can always add more absorbency to her CD, and a fleece liner to help her feel dry.

[starrynight]

I agree with Lori. About 2 weeks ago Eliza did this, she barely woke up to eat and was pretty sleepy for about 2 days. The 2 days prior to that she was eating constantly and was up more so I think it was the growth spurt. After a few days she went back to her normal routine.

[papal]

Ahhh.. so the dream will come to an end soon then.. i thought we were on our way to getting a full nights sleep.. oh well. I will call the ped if this lasts more than a couple of days then.
I also folded a cpf and put it in another cpf to give her twice the absorbancy in her diaper. Ofcourse her butt looks HUGE now but atleast she can sleep without being too uncomfortable. I will get some fleece and cut it up to line her dipes... thanks for the tip Lori.

Rashmi

[egoldber]

Well, you may be lucking out, and she may continue to sleep like a champ. My DD slept through since about 8 weeks old. It really does happen. Just don't count on it. :)

But as long as she's making lots of wet diapers and continues to gain steadily, I would let her sleep as long as she likes.

HTH,