Bottle feeding a super sleepy baby

[WillYuleDoTheFandango]

DS was born on Sunday afternoon and is a super sleeper. I tried to start him on the breast but having had GD I found that I hadn't made any colostrum. He also has a 75% tongue tie that made latching difficult. After a number of cup feeds I switched to bottle feeding formula last night but he's still not interested.

He sleeps through every feed and its taking an age to get each one down him. Any top tips for waking him up? Stripping him off and wiping his face with a cold flannel work a little but he can sleep through both sometimes.

Ive only come home this atternoon and I'm terrified I'm going to starve him!

My little man is also a super sleeper and constantly slept until 6 weeks old! Changing his nappy seemed to do the trick most of the time. A bath always worked (obviously not at every feed! :) too.

He'll be fine - mine was the same. He did lose a little weight and ended up at hospital by day 3, but we were home again on the same day. How much formula will he take at a time, and how often? Very new babies only need very tiny amount, they have very small stomachs.

Are you sure you're not making milk? I thought I wasn't making any either, but by day 5 WOW! Milk for everybody!!

He's taking about 25ml (1oz) every 3 hours but it can take an hour to get that down him. He has never woken fora feed and doesn't display any feeding cues. Even a nappy change will only get me as far as 10-15ml before he's asleep again!

Even with the help of the midwife I only managed to hand express 1-2 drops of colostrum from each breast but they do think my milk will come in in a day or two and said I could try again then if I wanted.

He is super cute and good natured though so I'm not complaining

You're making me broody!

Sounds very similar to my LO - easily took an hour to feed 1oz at 3 days old. Got the knack of it by the end of the week though. Mine also never did feeding cues, and never woke for feeds until he was about 3/4 weeks old.

You can try walking your fingers up his spine, blowing on his face and tickling the palm of his hand (used to get OH to do this for me!).

Don't want to come across as too rude - but if you do want to BF, you really should be putting him to the breast now, every 3 hours, even if he doesn't feed at all. You need to encourage the milk to come in by putting him to the boob.
I used to offer boob, then bottle, then express what I could. If you can get OH to feed baby bottle while you express, you'll save time!

Thanks visualise I'll stuck with him then. I need to make my mind up re breast feeding I think (I've only missed 1 attempt at feeding in breast). May persevere in the late feed and see how he does.

I am only 2 days post-birth and already broody! I know if be due a demon non-sleeper next time though!

Congrats on your lovely newborn. Now, NEWSFLASH: newborns are meant to be sleepy, (all the more so if you were induced or had a CS) and new mums do not usually have any milk. Keep trying. The skin to skin you get helps get your milk in and is nice regardless. I have just had DS2 and managed to express 0.2 ml of colostrum on day 2. I thought that was good! So don't let apparent lack of milk put you off at this stage. Get the tongue tie looked at and sorted. It won't help.

Apart from the tongue tie I had exactly the same with ds1 and ended up FF. for us it was the right decision. But he remained a reluctant feeder, and still is at 2yrs 9months! 1hr for 2 oz was pretty standard. It was frustrating. He was 5lb11 (2nd percentile) at birth, but regained all lost weight by 10 days and was 50th percentile by 12 weeks.

So, don't give up on BFing just yet, you've not really been in a position to begin. But if you do end up FF don't berate yourself.

Thanks Bonzo no one warns you of this and I was induced so even more applicable. I just sat in the hospital surrounded by women breast feeding morning noon and night, with their beautiful little babies squawking for more every 2-3 hours!

I know ff is not the end of the world but if he'd taken to it like a duck to water i think it would have been easier an would convince me it was the right decision iyswim.

He's quite a nice size 7lb 4oz but I had to get something into him on night 1 due to my blood sugars.

Lots to think about now, gonna to apply for the referal re tongue tie.

Too right no one tells you! It's one of those big secrets that you kick yourself for not knowing. I only found out after I'd already started FF that my experience had been normal.

Regarding the tongue tie, you might not need a referral. Round here at least one hospital has a regular walk in clinic for assessment and same day treatment. DN was done there and then, very quick and problem solved that day. Get it done before 10 weeks (or is it 12?) to avoid the need for anaesthetic.