Help - newborn going hours between feeds, normal?

[Ozziegirly]

My DS2 is 1 day old born by ELCS at 39 weeks. Good birth weight and healthy.
He latched and fed in recovery and after that he went 6 hours between feeds yesterday. Today he fed at 5am and 830 and hasn't fed since and it is 2pm.

I have offered the breast and he latches (eventually) but then takes a couple of sucks and lets go.

I have flat nipples but he has fed ok once he's on. He has done 2 poos and a couple of wees today and although is sleepy, has been generally alert.

Lactation consultant is "busy" all day. My nurse is nice but also busy and not an expert afaik.

Would you be happy with leaving a baby to go this long between feeds?

I am a total novice as my DS1 wouldn't breastfeed (had v low blood sugar and never latched) so I am as inexperienced as it's possible to be.

Feel like 6-7 hours is ages to go between feeds but no one else seems concerned.

It is a bit long. I would try to either manually express some colostrum or use a breast pump to get out what you can (10 minutes should get you a few drops) and spoon feed baby. Still continue to offer the breast and work on latching. Baby needs the colostrum for hydration and calories and you need the breast stimulation for your milk to come in. Hopefully the lactation consultant comes in soon!!

Ds2 is 2 days old today. He was very sleepy yesterday and went 5-6 hrs between feeds. Today we're more like 3-4 hours (if that). I think sometimes they are genuinely tired from all the 'being born' stuff. Try not to worry and see how tomorrow goes. If baby remains sleepy get advice from your midwife. But don't panic about day 1.

I would keep trying to get some help from the lactation consultant or see who else in your health authority can help (midwife, breastfeeding councillor, etc) if he's still not that keen. Keep an eye on it though and if you find he's regularly going more than six hours without milk make sure you let someone know. We had this with DD (due to unhelpful paediatrician telling us "newborns don't feed often" so we didn't realise we should wake her for feeds) - we ended up in A&E where they got us to formula feed and she was absolutely fine.

Thank you - he just fed for about 30 mins so I feel a bit more chilled. He's still awake but kept stoPping and coming off the breast after about 20 mins on second so I assumed he was done? He would scream if he wanted more presumably?

Ozzie I offer 1 breast until ds unmatched naturally (with no fussing) then wind, offer same breast after winding, then bum change, offer same breast after. This gives the baby both the for and hind milk. And enough chances to get all they need. Good luck.

Excellent, thank you. Well he is now asleep after feeding, being wrapped and gazing at me with a look of adoration for a few minutes .

Wow. Roller coaster day of love and trickiness!

Oh and Stacey, congrats on your newborn too.

Sounds like you're doing wonderfully! Congratulations. Now if my LO would ever stop feeding I might get some sleep :)

Thanks :)

You need to keep switching regularly in the first few days, to stimulate production. You only get fore and hind milk once you're producing milk - it's colostrum until day 4

Watch out for the hormones on day 4 though, they're vicious!!

My baby was a bit sleepy too - I was told to set an alarm to make sure she didn't go for more than 4 hours between feeds, and work at keeping her awake while on the breast (gently tickle feet and hands, blow on face).

Some newborns need to be woken up for feeds in the early days. They're so used to being continuously fed through the umbilical cord that they are new to learning their hungry cues (others on the other hand are great and wake up every 2 hours!).

Great that he's fed for 30 minutes! You two will have this down in no time. Keep it up :)