3 days old - how long is too long between feeds?

[Isean]

My baby was born by section at 9.39am on Friday & I'm breast feeding.
She latched on quickly after birth & had a few feeds that day, but never staying latched on for more than 5 minutes & never feeding the whole time. The hospital midwives helped me to ensure she was latching well & on Saturday evening through to lunchtime yesterday she wanted to be on the breast all the time, not settling unless she was feeding or getting comfort. I was told this was normal second day feeding frenzy. Since lunchtime yesterday it has tailed off with just a few feeds.
Her last feed was at 1am for about 20 minutes, as usual it was wee short spurts. I have tried 3 times since then to get her to feed, but she just won't even attempt to latch on.
I was told by the hospital midwives she should be fed on demand, but no longer than 6 hours without food. She is now 9 hours & I'm worried.

Any advice?

That seems a long time, I was told no more than 3 hours between feeds in the early days until they had reached their birth weight again

Have to tried skin to skin? Please call your midwife who will advise what to do

Congratulations on your newborn!

It's confusing to be told "never wake a sleeping baby - they'll tell you when they're hungry" and "don't let them go more than five hours without a feed".

Does she seem dehydrated? Having wet nappies, mouth wet? Alert or very sleepy?

Ring the ward. They can talk through with you in relation to her birth weight and gestation, jaundice if any, and other factors.

That's probably a little too long - and I think she's probably a bit tired now which makes feeding harder. Plus cuddling into you for the feeds is lovely and warm so if they're tired, that sends them over too

Can you hand express a bit? Get DH to go out to the chemist and get some syringes and you can feed her with them. In the interim, you can use a sterilised spoon just to tip some in her mouth but make sure she is sitting up and you are holding her under the chin so she doesn't choke

Get her up, take all her clothes off bar nappy and blow on her face, tickle her feet to get her awake before you start feeding.

Also - get the midwife in today to discuss and check for jaundice. That makes them sleepy too and the lack of fluids means the bilarubin isn't getting flushed out which makes them sleepier and less likely to feed again.

With the expressing - I just mean feed her a little just to get her going again and then get her back on the breast

9 hours seems a very long time. Could she be a bit jaundiced? Is the midwife coming today?

9 hours is too long. Express some into a cup and syringe feed her. If she's too sleepy you may have to be a little bit cruel to be kind. Strip her naked, make her a bit chilly so she wakes right up. Maybe even stick her in the bath for 5 minutes to rouse her.