feeding/changing 'routine' and poo

[mrsalwaysawake]

Hi,
My baby is 19 days old, and is breast fed. I try to stick with the midwife's advice to let him feed on one side, then change his nappy (unless just done it or middle of the night and doesn't seem to need doing), then offer the other side.
However, he actually does most of his poos while the nappy is being changed. I try to give him a chance to poo before changing him, by holding his legs up in bum-wiping position, and applying gentle pressure on his belly, but it still usually takes him til the nappy is off before the poo comes out, so mostly I can catch it in the nappy, but quite a mess can be made!

We went to a BF support group today (not great, but that's a different story), and for the nearly 2 hours we were there, only 1 mum changed 1 bum. I wouldn't have wanted to change him in that environment, given that he often poos everywhere!

So now I wonder, do many people do the first side, nappy, second side 'routine', and does anyone have any advice to get the poo in the nappy?!

If I skip the nappy change, he might settle after the first boob, but will often wake again very shortly after, still hungry. The nappy change does help to rouse him for the second boob. I've tried burping to wake him for 2nd boob, but doesn't really work.

Any pearls of wisdom gratefully received!!

I think, from my experience, that I would change the nappy after I#d offered both sides. The idea of doing it in between sides is just one idea of ways to rouse the baby a bit to remind them that they might want a bit more milk.

DD always used to have "great timing" with her poos too, I think it's just sod's law, to be honest! At 19 days old, things are just getting established, but I can assure you that things usually change!

You could try putting the new nappy underneath the baby before you take the old one off, that might help to catch it. As far as I recall, the cold air on their bottom often prompts them to wee or poo, so it's a bit of a losing battle! It won't last forever.

I think what the midwife asks you to do is to wake the baby up with nappy changing so you can offer the second breast. A lot of newborn are very sleepy and often fall asleep at the breast. If you wake them up and they'll take the second breast, it means they still have stomach for more milk. This will help you go longer between feeds. Can you ask the midwife if that's what the nappy change is supposed to achieves?

When my DD was that young she was very sleepy. I often resort to take all her clothes off and put them all back on to wake her up I've also used wet cotton wools to wipe her butt or chest

Personally I wouldn't bother changing her midfeed when I'm out and about. I'd always use the changing facilities as well since now at 5mo she still haven't learned that she shouldn't pee/poo when she is getting her nappies changed Maybe you could just wake your baby up with other methods?

BTW pampers do a disposable change mat. It's a life saver in the early days when they go so often.

I wouldn't worry about changing the nappy until your baby has finished his poo. I think Lil is right, the MW is trying to encourage you to wake your baby up a little when you swop over, just to make sure that when you offer the second side he isn't too sleepy to accept it. You could do this by stroking his face or under his feet, but ultimately if he is gaining weight nicely and has plenty of wet and dirty nappies I wouldn't fret too much if he isn't interested in the second side either.

Thanks everyone. I am mostly concerned with getting him to go longer between feeds as if I let him fall asleep at the breast and then put him down he wakes up shortly afterwards. He pretty much always has a good long go at the 2nd breast so I do need to wake him properly for it.
But if I leave the nappy change til after both sides, he'll be more awake and harder to settle to sleep. Hmmm, this is tricky.

I tried to do a nappy change between boobs as well, in the hope that the 2nd boob would then send baby off for a nice long sleep after a good feed. But sods law she would usually poo as I was winding her from the 2nd side and I'd have to do it all over again :)

I think in the end, I stopped trying to make the nappy change part of a her feeding routine and just changed her when I thought she needed it, usually just when she'd poo'd as she did so often in the early days that it was enough.

Like others have said, there are other ways to rouse a sleepy baby enough to take more milk without having to change a nappy that doesn't really need changing. You can just rearrange the nappy or take some clothes off etc.

If its about trying to get DS to stay awake to feed why don't you try stripping him down to vest? My MW suggested this and it worked most of the time.
Also the stroking hands and feet might work.
I used to change the nappy in the middle of the night feeds so the second side would send DD off to sleep again.
You can always feed one side then offer second straight away until you hear him go, change and then offer the first side again to send him off to sleep.

tbf he's probably waking just as much because he's being put down as anything else, they are programmed to want to be all warm and snuggly in your arms. He's only been outside of you for such a tiny amount of time.

How do you ladies know when babe is 'done' on either side? I can't go by sleepiness, I can't rely on when he pops off as he does that quite a lot - sometimes windy, sometimes not. If going to offer both boobs, what is the point where you swap?

You can tell I am a first-timer! I worry about everything. I know he's growing and has plenty of wet/dirty nappies, I just want to get the best little 'routine' for us so he gets both fore and hind milk and we both get some good sleep! Sometimes he will sleep for over 2 hours at once, but not very often.

Also, if you strip him down to feed, can you really dress him again without waking him up too much to settle down again after?

I used a completely non-scientific three goes and you're off approach, ie pops off three times or doesn't want to latch back on three times and then switch.
I'd dress him again after his poo and change and then offer boob again to settle. I swaddled at that point too so you really can feed to sleep.
But just remember you can't overfeed so just keep offering it.
In the early days the best advice I had was 'if in doubt, feed'.

Don't worry too much about the foremilk hindmilk thing. It used to be a problem when people actually unlatches the baby looking at a clock. You can do all sorts of unscientific methods to decide when to change sides. Like everytime he unlatches or if he falls asleep.

And I agree he probably just wakes up coz he's put down. Young babies prefers warm cuddles. Have you got a swaddling blanket?

Just trust your milk supply and you'd do fine. (I assume you don't have a problem with weight gain). They change so much in the early months! It's not so long ago mine poos multiple times a day and I have to rouse her to feed. Now I have the opposite problem of overtired baby.

Oh the strip down thing. I don't know about yours. Mine can sleep through me pulling a vest over her head multiple times. They are all very different aren't they? If yours can't you can put all the clothes back before you offer the second side? Also you can try swaddling and rock to sleep as well? That's what my DH do. He's really good at cuddling my DD to sleep while she'll only feed to sleep with me.