Baby always falls asleep at breast after 5 mins of feeding - any advice?

[Lucy1977]

Hi Everyone

My DD is 6 wks old, she only seems to feed for about 5 mins (without two periods of big jaw opening sucking) and then falls asleep. I try to wake her up by changing her nappy, winding, stroking her, moving her arms and legs, touching hands etc but if she wakes up she falls asleep again 5 mins later. Sometimes I put her down to sleep and she'll stay asleep for an hour or sometimes she wakes up after about 10 mins and I try to feed her again.

As a result of this she feeds very frequently, she's been putting on weight steadily (7lbs 4.5 at birth and 8lbs 12 last Tues) and has lots of wet and dirty nappys (of late they have been greeny tinged and Thurs night had one that was green/black but only a tiny amount and HV said as the next one was mustard not to worry).

Does anyone have any advice? I wonder if she's not very hungry as she's feeding so often but I don't think I can delay her when she's screaming for food (I had been trying to feed her when she showed the early hunger signs because sometimes we have terrible problems with her fighting and kicking at the breast and getting really upset).

Thanks

Lucy

[ButtonMoon]

How often does she feed?

[heavenis]

I think she just gets comfortable, you could try removing her baby grow before you feed her.

Stroking the sole of her foot, and another one which I don't like is pinching their ear.

My ds1 would fall asleep an he just got to comfortable and if he was warm well that was it Zzzzzz in 5mins flat.

[cece]

I used to tickle their cheeks, reminds them to suck, even when sleepy.

[Racers]

Also wouldn't pinch ear, that seems a bit mean! Would do all the others though, and blow gently on face or clear my throat as this would often rouse her if needed (or pretend to sneeze - the things you do, eh?!)

[puddingz]

Hi Lucy. I have the same problem. My dd (10 weeks now) only feeds for 5 minutes then falls asleep. When we were in hospital, the midwife tried for 30 minutes to wake her but she wasn't interested! The midwife said that she had never seen a baby like it. At one point they done a blood sugar test to make sure that dd was ok. The result came back fine! Over time her feeding times have improved and she is feeding for longer (but still hs the some 5 min feeds). One of the things I noticed with my dd was she is oversensitive to noise so if she heard a sudden noide in another room, she would just stop feeding. I don't know if you have already ruled out external reasons. Dd is putting on weight and her nappies are definetly wet and poohy so we're not worried. Have you tried talking to a lactation/breast feeding counsellor about it? Or your health visitor?

[Lucy1977]

Hi everyone

BM - I lose count of how many times she feeds but during the night it's usually every 1.5 hours then at 7am she usually has a longer feed then sleeps for an hour or two then the day disappears with her feeding/sleeping/feeding/sleeping etc - if she's awake I put her on the playmat etc but then she starts sucking her hand and poking her tongue out/making eating motions with her mouth so I put her back on the boob.

I'll try the tip about removing her babygro.

Puddingz - I know this will sound so ridiculous but I keep forgetting to mention it to the HV/MW - we've had so many problems with the BF (during the feeds when she doesn't fall asleep she's fighting and kicking and screaming at the breast) that it's all become a bit of a muddle! I go to a local BF clinic on Wednesdays so I'll make sure I mention it then.

Thanks

Lucy

[iris66]

Lucy - my DS is nearly 10 weeks & did the hourly/5min thing but now does it only at certain points in the day (mainly 3-7am & 3-7pm) The thing I did was leave him until he wailed for food rather than a bit of grizzly rooting & to wail as long as I could bear in the hope that he'd learn to last a bit longer each time & then feed more - even if he only wailed a few minutes. Generally he now does 2 x 4 hourly stints at night & 2-3 hourly during the day. It's a killer at night, I know, but as her stomach grows she'll perhaps take a bit more at each feed. HTH x

[koolkat]

Lucy - this is from kellymom.com

An excellent website for bf matters. This page has 2 sections on sleepy babies. I hope it helps

have a look at\link{http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/bf-links-concerns.html#sleepy\this}

[sazhig]

6 weeks is usually a growth spurt so v frequent feeding is normal during this time btw.

[Lucy1977]

Hi again

It's nice to know that other babies do this - i was starting to think it was just me being sh*t at BF (its been difficult from the start).

Sashig - I think that has contributed to the frequency of the feeding recently - just took DD for 6 wk check and 6 days ago she was 8lbs 12oz and today she was 9lbs 11 oz

KK - lots to read on that page, thanks for posting

Thanks

Lucy

[blueshoes]

Lucy, my dd was a snacker and sleepy feeder at the breast too. I was obsessive in charting her feeds. When the HV asked me how often I was putting her on, I said 17 times over 24 hours ie once every 1.4 hours around the clock, though some are more spaced out because of naps and others close together. The HV nearly fell off her chair. Dd is not the sort who would wait for feeds either. I wasn't too bothered - b-fing is no real hardship, dd was my first anyway. If anything, I would have felt more supported if the HV could have told me that some babies are like that and yes, it would get better (it does and will over the coming months), rather than force me to try and lengthen out the feeds and wake her up.

Your dd is putting on weight nicely. Both of you are doing great!

[itsybitsy]

You're not s**t at bf - the fact that you're carrying on despite problems, means you're fantastic! It is a hard thing to learn to do, and some babies don't help by also finding it hard.
I had problems with both my ds's and felt embarrassed to need as much help as I did - I went to bf clinic every week, saw a La Leche League leader AND had a private lactation consultant come to my house with my second. I thought I was no good at bf, but it was just difficult to work out how to solve the problems we got into - it's something new to each of us when we start, and there are such a huge number of different 'issues', problems, ways of feeding etc, that it's not surprising that some of us struggle.
Give yourself a big pat on the back for persevering - you are a great Mum to work so hard at giving your little person the ultimate nutrition! And get as much help as you can...

[koolkat]

Lucy - you are doing a fab job !

We all need to support each other because bf is not instinct like it used to be to previous generations who had lots of mothers with bf experience to help them, bf has become a dying art.

If your DD has put on so much weight that is sign that you are doing amazingly well

[Cadmum]

Lucy: You really are doing a great job--Well done for keeping it up despite how hard it is!

Our ds1 was really hard to wake up for feeds as well and if memoy serves he was better after 9 or 10 weeks as he became interested in the world around him and had 'better' more restful naps. Keep seeking advice but know that it will get better.

[Hoopoe]

I'd also make sure they weren't too warm. My dd used to sleepy feed for hours so I used to strip her to her nappy, massage her back, change her nappy etc. to keep her awake. After a few days she was feeding much better.