Breastfeeding advice for newborn?

[loubaby1]

DS was born yesterday! I'm so pleased to have him here but am not sure I'm feeding him right. I can't tell whether he's hungry or not, when he cries and I try and feed him he falls back asleep before I can or will only feed for 10 mins before sleeping again.
I'm worried this is because he's not getting any milk from me or this will mean he's not eating enough. We were told to wake him every 3 hours to feed but sometimes this is not possible, others he seems to be hungry every 40 mins but only feeds for 5 mins!

Any advice welcome!!

Congratulations!

Just keep him close to you, skin to skin, and let him feed as often as he wants - let him feed and doze on the breast and enjoy the snuggles. Feeding every 40 minutes is fine too. He'll probably start feeding for longer once your milk comes in.

Oh and if he's sucking his fingers does this mean he's still hungry?

In the first few days DD only fed on 10 mins or so. It's pretty tiring for them.

If you feel like he's had lots of feeds then I wouldn't worry about waking him if he has 6 hours of feeding less. If your worried he's not having enough then tricks people normally suggest are stripping him down, doing a nappy change.

You can also do skin-to-skin via a mini babymoon. Just lie in bed the pair of you and do nothing but feed and sleep (hand over to DH for nappy and clothes changes). At any sign or movement, put him to the breast.

Congratulations and give your DS some time, heck my DD didn't even feed for 36 hours.

Yes, sucking fingers is a hunger cue - there's a good list of signs to watch for here - www.kellymom.com/bf/start/basics/hunger-cues.html

If in doubt, feed was my motto for the first few weeks

Sucking fingers can just be a comfort thing though - baby might then take the breast but not feed properly.

Just make sure baby gets weighed a few times in the first couple of weeks. If their weight stabilises and starts going up proprly, they're getting enough milk!