Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

So it looks like DD had a growth spurt this weekend. She was 6 weeks on Saturday and she has been wanting to eat almost all of the time from Thursday until now and she has slept very little.

I have been nursing and supplementing (low supply) and even the formula is not helping.

I nursed her 7 times so far today and gave her three bottles. The last time she nursed was at 5PM and she has been sleeping since then. I pumped at 8PM because I felt full and didn't want to get engorged.

This is a long stretch and I am afraid it is the long stretch that we would have preferred overnight.

Is this the hibernation stage where she may sleep a while? I am not sure what to do.

Any help would be great.

Re: Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

Nobody knows anything about growth spurts?

She has been sleeping almost five hours now and I don't know if I should try to wake her.

Re: Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

They say babies usually have a growth sput around 6 weeks. DD had one around 5 weeks and all she wanted to do was eat. I don't know if I would call it a hibernation stage but babies that age tend to sleep alot some days. Personally, I don't think there really is any rhyme or reason to what they do! I don't think this helps much but that's my two cents!

Re: Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

I think DS went thru some growth spurts when he wasn't acting "himself" - one of the symptoms is sleepiness, since most of the development occurs during sleep. as for if you should wake her, that is a tough one, bc she started sleeping at kind of an early bedtime (5 PM). eeek what to do.... i am no help LOL

Re: Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

Unfortunately I never had luck with waking the baby so she would sleep at night. If the baby is tired she will go right back to sleep.

6 weeks is about when my DD started sleeping longer through the night...I think at that time she was going to bed at 10pm and sleeping until 5am.

Good luck

Re: Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

From my own experience with Nikolas and also some things I have read, usually at the end of a growth spurt you will notice that your baby is sleepier (or sleeping for longer periods throughout the day). I've read that during a spurt their little bodies are going through some discomfort along with their increased appetitie...so at the end of the spurt, they are just exhausted.

Nikolas' growth spurt at 6weeks was the most significant 'jump' in weight he made (if I recall correctly). And I would always know when the spurt was over when he'd start napping a lot and acting sleepier in general ( since DS always was and still is a horrible napper and difficult sleeper, it was always fairly apparent to me that the growth spurt was over due to the fact he was sleeping so much ) His sleeping during the daytime never affected his nighttime sleeping, either, so I just let him sleep as much as he wanted during the day. (I don't get much napping out of him so I would actually enjoy these days! )

I don't necessarily think you need to wake Sabrina up, because if the spurt is coming to an end she might just need the extra sleep at this point. But you are her Mommy and you know her best.. so if you are concerned with her sleeping tonight then you might want to try and wake her (if you can wake her that is. I know sometimes when they are sleepy its hard to get them up!) Good Luck!

Message edited 3/26/2007 10:11:28 PM.

Re: Growth spurt question-Is this the hibernation stage?

Thanks for the help. I actually decided to just change her into pj's and see if she woke. She did and I nursed her for 20 minutes and layed her back down. I will check on her in a few minutes and see what she wants.

Maybe this is just the end of the spurt and she will be sleepy. I guess I was just worried because she was awake practically ALL day so I was surprised to see her sleep 5 hours.