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Infant feeding

48hrs old - baby very sleepy and hard to feed

21 replies

smaths · 30/08/2013 14:40

DD2 is 48 hours old. I fed DD1 til she was 12 months but that was 2 years ago and i am out of practice!

She was 7lb when born on wednesday afternoon. My problem is she is very sleepy all the time and I cant seem to get her roused enough to feed. Getting her to be interested enough to open her mouth wide to give latching a go is hard. If the latch fails I often don't get a second chance, she's back off to sleep...

I've tried stripping her off, being in cold room, tickling her feet/blowing to keep her going and did about 4 hours of skin to skin this morning, but she just wants to snooze. She wakes, I offer boob and she takes a few sucks and nods off again if the latch isn't 100%.
I've had a few good feeds (maybe 5 in total) lasting 20 mins or half an hour. Otherwise it's a couple of minutes and she nods off despite my best efforts to keep her awake.

She did 6 meconium nappies yesterday and 2 urine ones so i was happy enough, but the midwife this morning thought she was starting to get a tiny bit of jaundice. Today has so far not been very successful and it's now maybe 12 hours since she had a really good feed though I've tried a minimum every 2 hours (well, basically every time she has stirred really).

I'm just worried there isn't enough demand to get the milk to come in and why isn't she more hungry? Or is this ok for this early, can some babies just be a bit tired until day 3? It wasn't a traumatic birth btw, she was delivered on my bathroom floor by my husband, it only took 6 minutes (something of a surprise after a 36 hour labour and 2.5 hours of pushing for DD1, but that's a whole other story)

Please reassure me or tell me what else I can do to try and get her to feed. I did express a few mls (about 5) and feed her by syringe this morning as I was stressing out about her not latching.

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Forgetfulmog · 30/08/2013 14:43

If she has Jaundice then she will be sleepy. The best thing for Jaundice though is bfeeding! Just keep doing what you're doing for now, babies are actually pretty good at regulating their feeds (unless there are any extenuating factors - prem baby, low blood-sugar etc). If the MW isn't worried, I wouldn't be either.

Congratulations! Smile

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Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 30/08/2013 14:44

Lease take her back to hospital. My dd was very sleepy in the days after her birth. Turned out she was septic :( not trying to scare you but they can get very ill very quickly

Please get her seen x

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MarilynMoanroe · 30/08/2013 14:48

I'm about to pop out to take the children to the dentist but when I get back I'll dig out my sleepy newborn guidance sheet and see if there is anymore advice/tips. I'm a peer supporter and I've got lots of info that might be of use to you.

Congratulations by the way!

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MrsOakenshield · 30/08/2013 14:51

jaundice. I was in hospital when DD has jaundice (about 48 hours old as well) and I hand expressed colostrum which DH then finger fed to her. It took about 90 minutes to do the expressing but the difference was astonishing, she revived almost immediately (she wasn't sleepy, she was actually very floppy and almost looked dead). She was also very small, very tired at birth (I pushed for 2 hours, then they ventoused her out as she was so tired) and she was on ABs as well as she swallowed meconium on the way out, so all a bit of a quadruple whammy.

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oscarwilde · 30/08/2013 15:13

Cold flannel repeatedly until she wakes up and gives you hell? I've been there twice with two apathetic 7lbs disinterested in feeding girls and learned the hard way that you have to be brutal to be kind or the next thing you know, you are back in the hospital or mix feeding and feeling like sh*t about the whole thing. There seems to be a magic point when they hit about 8lbs and they suddenly get their act together but man it can be a mission to get them that far.

If this were me (and I was content that medically all was fine and there were no drugs in her system) with the benefit of hindsight I'd be getting out the breastpump and getting some milk into her via a syringe, cup or bottle. You don't need to pump gallons, but just be sure that she's getting an ounce or two in.

Someone will be along in just a minute to flame me for that saying that it will disrupt your supply, give you mastitis, cause nipple confusion, and a series of other considerations including that it has only been 48 hrs. I'll be the first to say that I'm no expert but I do feel your pain having trodden this road twice.

Best of luck - I hope that Day 3 will bring on her appetite and all will be well Smile.

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poocatcherchampion · 30/08/2013 19:05

I think if it was me I'd be getting the pump out too. partly to stimulate supply and partly so you have some available to give by cup or finger or syringe and partly so that if you were admitted in the future you could put ebm down the tube not formula. I don't expect the last reason is a concern but I would want to avoid that happening to me again. which it hasn't with dd2 who is laughing in the face of the problems we had with dd1.

but this is not expert advice, just what I would do. I don't think I'd be happy about that few feeds in that period.

how's this afternoon been?

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smaths · 30/08/2013 19:49

Thanks everyone - She fed for about 15 minutes at 3 ish this afternoon and I managed to express 5mls of colostrum which I fed to her by syringe. Then has been asleep since. I woke her at about 715 there, after 4 hours, in the hope she'd be ravenous, but she is just not interested in boob at all. Barely rooting and as soon as she's nestled in my arm she just goes to sleep. I tried pumping but hardly got anything. Had more success with hand expressing earlier. When awake she seems alert enough, but she just has no interest in feeding. And nothing in nappies. Getting a bit worried now. Midwife will be back tomorrow but I'm not sure I should wait that long to get her looked at :(

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Totesamazeballs · 30/08/2013 19:52

Go with your gut. If you are worried, take her in.

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Forgetfulmog · 30/08/2013 19:54

Ring the maternity ward. It sounds serious now, if there's nothing in her nappies she could be dehydrated.

Good luck

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noblegiraffe · 30/08/2013 20:22

My DD was also very sleepy, you have to be ruthless and feed every 2-3 hours. If she won't latch on then you have to syringe feed. Hand expressing is easier for colostrum. Otherwise you'll be in the position of too much weight lost and a readmission to hospital.
To try to keep her going when she's feeding, I found tickling the feet and circular stroking of the head most effective (as well as being stripped off). Offer her a feed after you've syringe fed her and she's possibly more interested. Set an alarm every two hours including at night.
When your milk comes in, expressing into a spoon and dripping into baby's mouth can spark some interest in feeding.

It's bloody hard work, but worth it if you don't want formula top-ups and hospital.

However, if you say there is nothing in her nappy, including wee, check her fontanelle. If it's sunken, take her in to be checked.

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dopeysheep · 30/08/2013 20:47

I would take her in. My dd had to go under the lights for jaundice and she was feeding but very sleepy.
They can change so fast when they are tiny. Rely on your instincts and get her seen.

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LEMisdisappointed · 30/08/2013 20:51

Take her in, you can ring the maternity ward still. Go with your gut instinct. I hope all is well x

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RememberingMyPFEs · 30/08/2013 20:57

I would also take her in (or at least check with NHS Direct) my DD (now 5 weeks) was very sleepy but still fed well every 3-4 hours in first 3 days. Good luck Thanks

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smaths · 30/08/2013 22:58

Told my husband I was going to phone the hospital and he suggested one more try feeding her in a nappy only in the coldest room. Now into third hour of cluster feeding, so relief all round. Phew!

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oscarwilde · 30/08/2013 23:31

Outstanding ! That's great newsSmile Ihope she keeps it up for you, but you'll need to be ruthless about the 3-4 hr feeds I suspect. Nice bowl of cold water and cotton wool for the pre feed nappy changes. Grin

Much easier than admission for jaundice and phototherapy and blood tests all the time, though the cannula insertion was by far the worst Confused

Wishing you a terrible nights sleep and some seriously heavy nappies. Smile

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RememberingMyPFEs · 30/08/2013 23:40

Great news! Enjoy Thanks

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AlmostPerfect · 31/08/2013 07:05

I was just wondering if you had had pethadine whilst in labour? I was given it, too close to the second stage ( ds2 was born in 11 mins ) and he slept for days, didnt want to feed, didnt cry etc i had a lovely rest Grin

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smaths · 31/08/2013 13:10

Much better today - I think she maybe is just one of those babies who have day and night mixed up at the start. We had 6 feeds overnight and the milk is in. She has an aversion to my left boob so I am expressing it every feed to keep it working til she changes her mind. The midwife checked her over and said she was doing great.

I am having to be ruthless with the cold flannel though


Breastfeeding is so hard at the start - you just never believe it's working because you can't see what's gone in. Thank you all for responding!

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smaths · 31/08/2013 13:11

No pethidine - popped 2 paracetamol 10 mins before she suddenly made an appearance on my bathroom floor after a 6 minute stage 2!

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Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 31/08/2013 14:57

So glad to hear she's perked up and doing great :)

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AlmostPerfect · 31/08/2013 17:23

Grin If only all births were like that! I filmed this one as couldn't really remember much of the others, im on camera ( high on gas an air ) chatting about how easy it is, actually my words are 'well that was a piece of piss'. We're some of the lucky ones Grin

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