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Infant feeding

2 day old baby not interested in feeding

11 replies

GillL · 17/08/2007 15:46

My baby was born on Wednesday morning and so far I have only managed to feed him 3 times because he is just not interested. He is very sleepy during the day and wakeful at night but even when i try to put him on the breast he just puts his mouth on and does nothing. A midwife has helped me to get him to feed twice now but it is very worrying that he doesn't seem to be hungry.

I'm going to express this afternoon and try giving him some breastmilk by spoon or cup but I just wondered if anyone had any advice.

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saffymum · 17/08/2007 15:52

Did you have any drugs, pethedine or epidural, sometimes that makes them sleepy for a while after. If he's not crying and doesn't look dehydrated (dry lips, dented fontanelle) I wouldn't worry, too much. When is the HV coming to see you?

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saffymum · 17/08/2007 15:53

Try putting some breastmilk on your nipple and on his lips so he gets the taste and smell of it.

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Mumpbump · 17/08/2007 15:55

I don't actually remember ds feeding much in the first day or two. In fact, I didn't get out of hospital until about 17h on the following day because they wanted to see me feed him, so he must have gone a long time with nothing. When we got home, he fed more and had hardly lost any weight at all at his 5(?) day check.

How much did he weigh at birth? Was he premature at all?

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YummyMam · 17/08/2007 15:57

My dd went over 12 hours without a feed while in hospital. Although we did wake her up and force her on the breast after the 12 hours, we were told that it was perfectly normal for breastfed babies to go a long time without feeding, and as long as she was content, not to worry about it. She soon got going properly over the next few days.

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tiktok · 17/08/2007 16:01

Gill, the most important thing you can do is to hold your baby skin to skin with you for as much of the day and night as you can. You also need to start expressing 6-8 times a day and giving your baby colostrum/breastmilk on a spoon, cup or with a syringe.

It's true that drugs can make the baby sleepy, but that really doesn't mean you can wait until he perks up.

Saffy, the dehydration signs you mention do not apply to a newborn. Dehydration can happen without those signs. Not crying not a reassuring sign either.

A non-feeding 2 day old is a not a cause for panic, but it is a reason for taking action, to make him a 'feeding' baby.
Good luck with this, Gill - keep up the expressing and the skin to skin and watch for soft, yellow poos by about Sunday, as these will show he is feeding well.

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choosyfloosy · 17/08/2007 16:06

tiktok, I don't know much about it, but sleepy during the day and wakeful at night sounds very like my jaundiced ds? could it possibly be jaundice and if so is there any additional advice would you give?

don't want to say what I did as it didn't work!

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geekgirl · 17/08/2007 16:13

could you get him checked out by a doctor?
TBH, my dd2 was the only non-feeding baby out of my three and it really seemed to get alarm bells ringing with my midwife after a day. Dd2 turned out to have various health problems.

(won't even try to say 'please don't worry' now) - but as tiktok said, it is a genuine problem and can sometimes be a sign of health problems, so should not be taken too lightly.

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tiktok · 17/08/2007 16:23

Everyone with a new baby has a community midwife and can get in touch with the midwifery service at any time round the clock - this is a great safety net, as it means no one need to be worried about their baby's health, and if this little one is jaundiced, or if Gill wants to check out jaundice, then there is someone to ask about it. Sleepiness can be a sign of jaundice, that's very true. The 'treatment' is to get breastfeeding going well - bringing the baby back into hospital for lights is sometimes needed.

It doesn't sound like this baby needs a doctor's intervention at the moment, but Gill can decide. Front line checking out at this stage is almost always done by the midwife, who should be able to support the feeding and assess whether anything else needs doing.

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GillL · 17/08/2007 18:26

Thanks for all the info. In reply to your questions:

The only pain relief I had was gas and air.
He weighed 7lb 10oz at birth and was 4 days early.
HV is coming here on 29th.

My midwife called earlier as she was concerned. He hadn't fed since 9am so she asked me to try feeding him. If he wouldn't feed then to take him to hospital. He did actually take a feed at about 4:30 this afternoon after some persuasion. I was a bit sore from earlier so only let him stay on for 15 minutes. I was reluctant to take him to the hospital because the lady who did his newborn check this morning (as I had a home birth) said he was absolutely fine.

I'm going to express shortly as I'm feeling quite engorged on both sides anyway. If he's difficult to latch on later then I can give him some of that. Will definitely try the skin to skin contact tiktok. Thanks.

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Mercy · 17/08/2007 18:33

Does you ds have any signs of jaundice?

When you say your midwife called - do you mean in person?