too sleepy to feed

8 replies

jade83 · 09/03/2006 13:34

my DS is only a week old, and I am suffering from engorgement. The problem I have is that I feed him on demand, about every 2 hours, but every time he latches on he dozes off, and no stimulation can wake him fully. As a result, each feed takes up to an hour to finish, and the engorgement gets no better, and the nipple pain worse. At the end of this he also tries to feed more, so we sometimes have to top him up with formula. Can anyone help? Is a pump the answer?

OP posts:

WigWamBam · 09/03/2006 13:39

The advice I was given when dd was a sleepy feeder was to keep her cool while I fed her, and to either tickle her feet or flap her arm (think the Chicken Tonight adverts). Tickling didn't work, but arm-flapping did.

LucyJu · 09/03/2006 13:57

Jade, are you sure you have a good latch? Problems with the latch could account for sore nipples and also for ds not seeming satisfied after a long feed. (But it has to be said that it is very common for babies to have many long, frequent feeds during the first few weeks. It won't always be like that!) I would recommend going to a bf clinic, if there is one nearby, or calling the NCT/LLL for advice.

If you are very engorged, this can make it more difficult for baby to latch on, so it might be worth expressing a little before each feed to help ds latch on more easily.

As for sleepy baby, I think this is quite common when they are so young. Keeping ds cool during feeds can help as can stroking the palm of his hand or his cheeks (the area in front of his ears, towards his jaw). If this doesn't work, try laying him on the floor to wake him up - usually seemed to work for my dd.

HTH.

tiktok · 10/03/2006 14:53

jade, you need proper help and someone who knows what they are looking for to watch you feed from start to finish.

It's hard to tell from your post whether your baby is doing ok or not.

What about her poos - they should be frequent, soft and yellow by now.

dinosaur · 10/03/2006 14:59

jade83, I don't want to worry you, but my DS3 was like yours, a sleepy feeder, and although I thought he was feeding fine, in fact he was just not getting enough calories and kept losing weight, he also had jaundice. I felt so stupid as he was my third baby and I still didn't realise that anything was wrong.

In my case it was problems with the latch (again, I felt so stupid, I hadn't realised even though I'd breastfed my older sons) coupled with the jaundice.

What does your midwife say? Is he back up to his birthweight yet?

bluejelly · 10/03/2006 15:20

Ring the NCT or LLL and get them to help, they can usually do home visits within a couple of hours. LLL totally sorted out my latch when I was very sore-- about 8 midwives had told me I was doing it properly but I wasn't...
I'd get the experts in!
Good luck

tiktok · 10/03/2006 15:43

bluejelly - the visits thing is just not true, and please don't raise the expectations of people here by saying it :) It's great you were helped but it won't happen this way with everyone.

NCT and LLL are all volunteers, and nowhere do they undertake to do home visits 'usually' within a couple of hours. We all have jobs, children, houses, transport issues....and I would say it would be extremely unusual for someone to visit a mother within a couple of hours of the call. I don't think I have ever managed to do it un less the moher was literally in the next street! You may have been lucky with the person you called, but this is not the usual thing. I often take calls from mothers who seem to assume I can come along at any time to see them, and I just can't and nor is it necessary in many cases. I do see women, but rarely even on the same day they call.

Jade can certainly call one of the telephone lines, and it may at some stage lead to a visit. But she is still seeing the midwife, and she may not even have asked the midwife to check out her positioning and attachment - maybe the midwife will be able to help....and it is, after all, her paid job to at least try :)

bluejelly · 10/03/2006 15:52

Oh maybe I was just lucky! I rang LLL and the lady jumped in her car and came straight away. I totally appreciate that people have busy lives and can't drop everything.
All bf counsellors are heroes as far as I'm concerned, they do an amazing job.
Sorry didn't mean to raise expectations

tiktok · 11/03/2006 11:12

Thanks, blue :)

I know a lot of people just don't think that we are volunteers, or if they do, they don't think through the implications of that. I have also spoken to many women who think they are ringing a call centre when they call the telephone lines, for instance, even though we say on the voice prompts that we are taking calls in our own homes.

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