Two day old not feeding

[GeorgieJo]

Help!

My DS was born at 4am on Saturday morning.

We managed three feeds of 20 - 40 minutes during the day, and another three feeds during the night.

However his last feed was at 930, and he hasn't shown any interest in feeding since then.

He is dozing very peacefully, looks a good colour etc. But when I try to get him to feed (undressing him, putting him skin to skin etc) he just doesn't want to know!

Can I let him just sleep? Is it normal for them to be like this? Seems to be very conflicting opinions on the necessity of 3 hourly feeds.

Would really appreciate any advice!

Thank you

Let him sleep for now - if he's fussing later, he may have oral thrush - try Daktarin oral gel (you can check with the GP first if you like, but it's an over-the-counter treatment, the pharmacist can advise you).

Oral thrush makes it painful for babies to suckle and swallow, so they'll feed sporadically or very little at a time. If it's not that, go straight to GP xxx

It is really important to keep getting milk into him. DD1 was 8lb 11oz at birth but a reluctant feeder and needed supplemental feeding. DD2 was born at 36+1 and too tired, I am concerned that your little one will start to lack energy.

Can you hand express (I'm assuming that your milk isn't in yet? So it will only be colostrum. I would only expect a few drops which you can then use a spoon/syringe/dropper to slowly drip into LOs mouth.

If you are concerned, call the midwives or go back to the maternity unit. They really won't mind. They would prefer to see a baby who didn't need to be seen, than you sit at home worrying. Good luck. Keep us up to dae please.

And, congratulations.

Keep trying to feed him, do lots of skin to skin time if he's reluctant, just go to bed and snuggle up with him. It's a long time for him not to have fed, you should probably call up your midwife of hospital team, or a breastfeeding councillor on one of the national helplines.

Also I agree with the above poster mikkii, the less they feed the more sleepy they get, better to get some good advice now that leave it any longer, I really think you should get some proper advice from your midwife team ASAP rather than leaving it much longer.

Can you make your Lo colder or tickle their toes a bit and show them the boob. Is very important to keep them feeding regularly even if they want to sleep! They only need a little bit to keep going at this age. They definitely need to be fed tho :) good luck!

I was told to express and syringe feed four hourly before my milk came in as well as putting him on the breast to avoid jaundice.
Do you have a mw visit tomorrow? Or a bf clinic in your area? The nhs bf clinic here were fantastic and got bf sorted for us despite a tongue tie.

Highly unlikely to be thrush in a 2 day old.

Your baby does need to get colostrum/milk inside him somehow, and you can call the midwife to make a visit tonight because a non-feeding baby is an urgent situation. At least speak to a midwife on the phone.

he needs to be skin to skin with you with no fighting to get him 'on'. If he stays asleep, then hand expressing (as mikii says) is very important.

Hope he perks up soon :) Do call a midwife.

Thank you so much!

Called MWs and got two responses:

1. Don't worry
2. Give him formula

Neither of which were incredibly helpful.

However I managed to get him to do a short feed at 6ish and a longer feed at 9ish.

Now just worrying because he hasn't had a wet nappy since this morning (although he has passed meconium).

If he doesn't pass water tonight think I will take him in.

Can't believe I thought the worrying would end once I had a safe delivery...

Thank you for all the advice - really grateful

Georgie, good that you called, but :( at both those responses...when the dust settles, complain.

Yes, a baby not urinating is potentially serious. He may be doing so, and you can't tell if he has a super absorbent nappy on. Put a small piece of muslin round him instead - you will see better if he wees.

In the first days we had to put a cotton wool ball in ds nappy to see the wee.

Really good you've got 2 more feeds into him, hopefully you can get him to feed overnight too. I had a similar experience and I managed to hand express tiny little amounts of colostrum into a small syringe and squirt it into his mouth when he was too sleepy to feed, you might be able to buy them from a pharmacy and enlist your partners help in catching the droplets into it. You can feed via a cup too if you want, rather than bottle.

See how tonight goes then maybe call the national helpline in the morning 0300 100 0212 or go into hospital if the feeds aren't happening and no wet nappy.

Here are some ideas too...
kellymom.com/ages/newborn/newborn-concerns/sleepy-babies/

Glad you have had some luck with feeds. Hope things improve.

Mine had oral thrush from birth and wasn't diagnosed for nearly three weeks - had the same problem, tiny feeds, painful for both of us, dry nappies, and obviously exhausted too. Hospital was unhelpful and so was bf counsellor, I called lots of times and they assumed I wasn't letting dd attach properly (she was on me for 14 hours a day trying to feed, but not getting enough due to the pain she obviously experienced) - eventually they tried to admit us for 'observation' as she failed to gain weight, under a nurse who looked at everyone as though we were awful mums. Luckily a consultant came in straightaway, took one look at her tongue and said 'thrush' - sent us home again with a tablet for me and oral gel for her and it was all sorted.

You need to get past the unhelpful people and keep pestering - it's early days, but the sooner you make your concerns known the quicker you'll get through to the helpful people. Don't be deflected by call-centre responders who think we're hysterical over everything a baby does naturally xx

Hope things are getting easier for you... aim for lots of skin to skin and look out for any subtle feeding cues.

Terrible advice from your mws, I wonder if your hospital has Baby Friendly status and are working towards if, either way, somebody needs to know that staff are undermining breastfeeding.