How long constitutes an ok feed for a 1 week old?

[RememberToPlaywiththeKids]

I'm feeding him every couple of hours in the day. Having quite a bit of trouble as he's so sleepy but on top of that he sicks his whole feed up quite alot too so now I'm panicking he's not getting enough. It's an absolute nightmare trying to wake him enough to start sucking and then keeping him awake long enough.

I fed him sitting upright for the last feed and that stayed down so I think I'll do that from now on. He burps really well and I'm doing that every couple of minutes to try and keep the feed down. It's been a balance of not over filling him to keep the feed in and keeping him awake for long enough to actually suck. He's hopeless at night time and we only manage a few mins. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies though his poo seems more on the solid side than I'm used to. It's like yellow curd cheese but no thick yellow stuff accompanying it.

I remember this well with my DD!I thought she wasnt eating enough and must be starving as since being born her feeds have been very short but if your LO is happy in himself and is having plenty of wet nappies I wouldnt worry. I worried so much about feeding my DD when she was a newborn and now she is 4 months old I feel sad when I think back and all I was doing was worrying about her and not just going with the flow and enjoying her. Your LO will tell when he is hungry!!!!

I know it might seem like his whole feed is coming back up, but it's almost certainly not true. Babies do posset and it can look like a lot but it's probably just a mouthful.

Poo sounds normal to me but I'm not an expert.

Plenty of wet nappies is the key, so all sounds well from what you have said.

How old is he? Has he regained birth weight?

I had a similar situation, the health visitor noticed that dd was lying too flat whilst feeding. She was having to work too hard to swallow and was prone to projectile vomiting afterwards.

We rearranged how she was lying so she was at a 45o angle whilst feeding and then over my shoulder for at least half an hour after a feed.

We got used to the sickness, we had vast amounts of muslin cloths and babygrows. I had boobs like watermelons cos after she'd been sick she'd want to feed again for another hour!

She's a healthy 4.9yr old now.

Thanks everyone.

So far so good with the sitting bolt upright during a feed - I sit cross legged on the sofa / bed and put his bottom near my ankles and have his turned slightly to latch on. So far no more projectile puking, so that's a relief.

Still having trouble keeping him awake though - he's slightly more than his birth weight but has gone down since he was weighed a few days ago but he was on IV fluids then for another reason, so I guess it's natural that he'll be a bit lighter.

I just want to do everything to avoid them insisting on putting a tube down his nose to feed him.

I have just been having the sleepy problem with my newborn baby. She wasn't feeding properly due to a poor latch, so then lost energy and couldn't rouse her to feed.

I went to see the specialist feeding midwife and her advice was:

1. Strip the baby down to its vest to feed, if they're a bit chilly they'll wake up.

1. Change the nappy before a feed - again to wake them up.

1. To keep them awake during the feed blow on their face, rub their arm/hand (quite hard, you don't want them to think it's soothing), gently tap the boob they're feeding from, or tickle feet.

1. If they can't wake up to latch on (this was our problem) express a small amount and cup feed to rouse them. She gave us a little hand pump and some cups to use. I just pumped a really small amount and instantly had a baby who was roused enough to go on. I only had to do this two or three times and by then she could go on herself.

With those and having fixed our latch problems I've gone from having a baby who I couldn't get to wake up or stay awake, to one who spent this morning practically permanently attached to me!

Thanks Muser - thankfully he has started to be a bit more wakeful naturally - absolutely nothing was working before! He's been a bit more sleepy again today but hopefully that's just a one off