VERY sleepy newborn... she has not once woken herself for a breastfeed...

[icravecheese]

Hi All,

DD (baby no.3 - you'd think i'd be experienced & all that!!) is 6 days old. She is a mega sleepy baby & I have to literally wake up her for every single feed. She has never yet woken herself for a feed.

She is awake more at night than in the day (eg might not settle for 2 to 3 hours at night after a feed, so I just keep on feeding her til she conks out).

My problem is, I'm finding it really hard to stir her for feeds - she lost 9% of birth weight by day 3 (but she is a ELCS baby & was carrying alot of mucus / fluid after birth so potentially birth weight inflated due to the excess fluid, plus she had tongue tie, which was cut on day 2, so didnt feed all that well days 1&2 until tongue tie was cut) & on day 5 was at only 6% birth weight loss, so midwives happy with that. She is being weighed again tomoro on day 7.

I wake her every 3 hours in the day to feed (in fact, usually start trying to stir her after 2.5hrs), and at night its variable - some nights she sleeps soundly so I wake her after 4 hours sleep, some nights she feeds for England (as per above - won't settle again for several hours so I just keep feeding her til she conks out!).

I know its early days, and she will probably change very soon & become mega wakeful / feeding frenzy baby, but in the meantime, does anyone else have experience of a very sleepy baby & how did you go about waking the baby for feeds / keeping them awake during feeds? THe tickling toes, nappy changing mid-feed stripping babygro off doesnt always work & I'm getting desperate for new ideas!!

ps apparently the HV's in our area are 'happy' with a bf baby putting on 3oz per week (like it to be nearer 5oz, but happy with 3oz). Kellymom says 5-7oz per week is avg weight gain for 0-4month old BF baby, but I guess if HV's are happy with 3oz then that is what DD has put on since dropping 9% birth weight. I guess I should be happy with that?!

Midwife is right - babies are not weighed often like this because you cannot get a bigger picture. It's hard to be accurate about a new baby's weight, anyway - scales differ, just-having-wee'd or just-having-poo'd makes a difference, there can be errors in weighing and errors in translating metric to imperial, and some scales are not up to the job because they are in need of servicing.

If it is really thought she needs more milk than she is actively seeking, then you can try breast compression (google it or look in mumsnet archives) when she has stopped sucking at the breast - this is easy to do and a lot less faff than expressing and/or topping up with formula/ebm.

Have you tried just keeping her skin to skin all the time, so she sleeps that way too?

I remember being told to stimulate her chin and beneath her bottom lip by a HV...mine kept sleeping during her feeds and I tickled her chin and she would feed again.

I did a fair bit of chin ticking aswell !! It is stressful. When really this all shouldn't be, should it, so thats a bit of a shame. Try not to let this get to you too much OP.

thanks ladies, you're all so kind :) We had a bit of a breakthru tonight - DD woke herself for a 6pm feed (bang on 3hours since last feed). Woohoo!

I have no advice but just wanted to say congrats cheese Hope the birth went well in the end :)

My DS was born 22nd sept, after my AFI rose to over 33

DS2 was like this he never woke, I remember I'd put him on the breast for 40 mins and then top up with a bottle of formula and he'd take 4 oz so obviously not taking anything off the breast. I literally had to put a bottle in his mouth and tickle him to keep him awake and sucking. He really did sleep 22-23 hours a day, hardly woke up for nappy changes and barely opened his eyes in the bath. Just as he was referred to the hospital by the HV he decided he was going to wake up and that was it then.

Now he's the child who has the least sleep.

Glad the MW reassured you! DS2 (after surgery) definitely went through a phase of not putting much on too, it's just the way he was. Was also going to echo what tiktok said - breast compressions v good, also lots of skin to skin.

DD lost 10% of her birthweight and didn't regain it until she was 3 weeks old. She was exclusively breastfed, but small at birth and needed feeding every three hours. She did wake up for feeds, but her weight loss was worrying at first (she was slow to latch on and needed formula in hospital because her blood sugar levels plummeted).

However, by week four she had gained 8 oz and then continued to gain 7 oz per week after that. She was just a slow starter.

Big Hello alovelybunch!! Did you have c-section in the end, or induction? Was it like Noah's flood when your waters broke??! Big congrats to you & your family.

Never again do I want a c-section (not much risk of that actually, after 3 babies, DH is muttering about off to the drs for the snip!). My already low blood pressure dropped so low I permanently felt faint / shaky / nausea / was wretching / boiling hot. Not a pleasant experience! DH loved it tho, because he got to hold DD for ages whilst I was being stitched back up / sorted out. Think we've turned a corner (almost) with DD's feeding now....she's feeding for longer, gaining weight & every now & again wakes herself for feeds (yay!). Thank god for mumsnet, a total saviour!

No section in the end. to cut a long story short my hospital told me to stop worrying as it was not a problem. Wasn't happy with their care so tansferred to a different hospital, and was admitted within two hours of getting there as things became too dangerous for me to be at home. AFI up to 33, measuring 48cm fundal height.

Was kept in for a week and was induced when DS became head down at 38+5. Had four sweeps and a prostin, and controlled ARM in theatre. Absoluitely flooded everywhere. The doctors in theatre had to change their scrubs as I soaked everyone! Labour progressed well until it came to pushing. Was then back into theatre, prepped for EMCS as was pushing for three hours and DS became stressed. But they managed to get him out with forceps in the end. Phew! 8lb 12oz and all perfect. NG tubed and xrayed at birth to rule out oesophagus problems and allowed home the next day. So 8 days in hospital in total.

sorry for hijack

Glad DD feeding better :) We had a few problems with feeding in the first week as well with jaundice and sleepiness but now at three weeks DS is already on 5oz and eating like a piggy! It does get easier!

Oh my goodness you poor thing! Glad all ok in the end tho. I was nearly kept in hospital for wk leading up to section due to unstable lie & risk of cord prolapse. Luckily she went head down the next day so was allowed home.she then promptly went transverse again as soon as I got home, but I didn't.tell hospital & all.was fine. Lovely to.hear from you :)

Re: codeine - breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/Codeine-in-breastfeeding-June-08.pdf