Sleepy baby - not feeding enough?

[LittleMissPear]

Hi, my DS is 12 days old. We were in hospital for just over a week after he was born as he was small for his dates and was jaundiced. He is now breast feeding successfully after his tongue tie was sorted. When we were in hospital we were told to feed every 3 hours and to wake him if necessary. The last few nights he has been very sleepy, not waking for a feed and going beyond 3 hours since the last feed. When I do wake him he is furious and won't feed! It takes ages to settle him enough for him to have a reasonable feed. Is it ok to leave him longer and let him wake naturally? Or will he not be getting enough food? Thanks

I had a similar situation and was told not to go beyond 5 hours a time by special care. Try leaving it a bit longer and just get him weighed regularly to make sure he is gaining weight.

Hi there, I don't really know the best advice but I would say that I was told not to let them go past 3 hours at that age. My baby was a big baby and at 6 weeks the HV said ok to let her go longer. I would say, speak to your HV if you can but I wouldn't leave it too long especially as so little and young. It's hard to give proper advice as my baby always wanted feeding! I hope someone comes along to answer better.
Congrats on your new baby

I was told to wake them every 3 hrs in the day and 4 at night until they had regained their birthweight.

DD was a small baby and I was told not to leave more than three hours between feeds. If he doesn't feed his blood sugar will drop and he will be more drowsy. This is what happened with DD when still in hospital. They had to give her some formula to get her blood sugar up.

Are you still under the midwife? If so I would ring and ask for advice, if not talk to your health visitor.

Small babies have tiny tummies and need to feed often BTW.

How much does your baby weigh now?

Mine was 6lb 10oz when they said 5 hours so that might make a difference. He struggled with blood sugar levels hence why he wasn't allowed to go beyond 5 hours.

Besides the sensible points already made about your baby's weight gain and blood sugar, please consider the impact that less frequent feeds will have on your milk supply, which will still be getting established over the next few days and weeks. (My DS1 was sleepy and jaundiced and my milk supply took ages to recover after difficult early days when I didn't get the best advice and left him too long between feeds. DS2 I fed as frequently as possible wanting to avoid the same issues, and we both did much better.)

I had a prem baby, also v sleepy. I was told 3 hours in the day and once feeding well, 4 hours at night. If you can manage to feed him more often (like 2.5 hours) in the day then that would help counteract going longer at night, but still, with a sleepy ex jaundiced newborn who was small I wouldn't leave it much longer than 4 hours at night.

Thanks for all the good advice. I rang the midwife and was advised that I should be led by him but leave it no longer than 5 hours. She felt that since he was feeding well yesterday he might just be having a less hungry day today. He's just had a good feed that I woke him for which is a relief as he didn't seem to feed well earlier this evening and with the sleepiness I thought his blood sugar must have dropped. He was 5lb 2oz at birth and has just got back to his birth weight.
It's all a bit scary this parenting thing!