In messages:
<<I bet a 2 week sleeping through the night is a temporary situation.  Even
though the baby is nursing frequently during the day, the kidlet seems to be
doing well.>>
<<.... she has slept for very long stretches also, 6-8 hours at night, then
nursing frequently all day, particularly in the mornings and in the
evenings.>>
<<I have encountered several babies that have done just what this 2 week old
baby is doing: sleep through the night, then nurse lots during the day to get
their 140+ minutes in. As with this baby, they all thrived: smiled, peed,
pooped and gained weight.  The mothers were happy to get a long sleep, and the
trade-off was that the babies nursed all day. I believe that this is a
variation of  normal...>>
<<As a practicing general pediatrician for over 20 years, I can attest to the
fact that sometimes a baby actually does sleep all night very early on.  Even
ones that sleep with adults.  I don't get concerned at all about them as long
as they are growing well and nursing vigorously and often enough through the
day.  The all night sleepers are certainly the exception, rather than the
rule, but some babies do seem to develop a long sleep block early on.  I agree
with post that to have the mom count her blessings.>>

Isn't this known as "cluster feeding"?  After which usually follows a longer
sleep period - in some babies. Yes more typical in the older baby.

To answer Sue with a little more detail from my experience, regarding these
non-typical moms: Occasionally in our new moms group, a new mom will voice a
concern about a baby with a regular pattern of this type of cluster feeding
followed by a longer sleep period. The mom is concerned because she is a GOOD
MOM and has probably been told to expect otherwise.

If she has been trying to reconfigure this pattern set by the baby, and
meeting resistance and frustration, she comes to group looking for the fix to
the problem. If she has been reluctantly going along with the baby led pattern
of eating and sleeping, she comes to group looking for reassurance that she is
not a terrible mom for negligently letting this unexpected pattern persist.

If I don't hear or see ANYTHING that indicates a problem (based on 23 years of
perinatal nursing and mothering three of my own babies), I point out 1) all
the assessment criteria that indicate that her baby looks pactically perfect
to me,
2) absent signs and symptoms that would indication a problem, 3) all the
things she is doing just right for her baby. And then I ask the other moms
what they think.

The other moms in group typically moan and groan and let her know how lucky
she is, and tell her to enjoy it while it last, and they tell their more
typical senerios,  similar to Patricia's ;-), of babies that seem to be intent
on avoiding any sleep longer than short naps. The non sleep deprived mom
usually, and happily, takes a little good natured ribbing and goes home with
an increased confidence in her ability to assess what is normal for her baby,
what would indicate a problem, and in her ability as a mother.

Deborah Tobin RN BSN IBCLC LCCE
Springfield, Virginia USA

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