does this sound normal for a brand new baby?

[StepfauxWife]

I had an amazing DD this morning! She is beautiful.

She has been dozing all day - we tried a breastfeed and she latched successfully on both sides but fell asleep after 6 or so sucks. This continued all day and now she is waking every half an hour and screaming blue murder! I'm guessing she is hungry - every time I get her to latch (not easy as I have to calm her down first), she sucks for a bit and then falls asleep. I've tried tickling her cheek to keep her going but it doesn't work.

Is this normal? I had a total disaster breastfeeding my eldest DD so have no clue.

She has been asleep on me all night and I'm so tired. I've tried to put her in a cot and she's having none of it. I haven't slept since Tuesday morning and these after pains are awful!

Help!

[StepfauxWife]

Argh this is so confusing!

So now we're back in that cycle again. DD's last feed was an hour ago - a few sucks and then fell asleep. She wakes if I put her down, she falls asleep if I pick her up.

I've struggled a bit with the latch but once I do get her on correctly, she just falls asleep anyway.

She is pooing (lots - meconium) and has weed. No other signs of dehydration.

I'm at a loss. I've stripped her, blown on her, tickled feet, prayed to all gods, etc, but she's not having any of it.

[xxjessxx]

Hello,

My baby was very similar to this again after very quick (2hr) drug free labour. She had jaundice which added to the sleepiness too.

What I did was each time she fed once she had fallen to sleep on the boob, take her off, express some milk onto a teaspoon and rouse her to give her a few spoon fulls. This meant that she was getting plenty but without me stressing about keeping her latched when she was just falling to sleep...this lasted about 4 days then she just seemed to find the energy to just do it for herself. Throughout this I was waking her every 1.5 hrs to feed.


I would also say every time you have a visit from a mw get them to re check latch - it's so much easier for other people to see problems. I was also advised to check once She was on by looking in mirror or have hubby look - their spine should be strait and their ear should be level with their shoulder and their hip ( this probably makes terrible sense).

As many have said before - it gets so much easier, a few weeks on my daughter in a good feeder and will go 4.5 hours in the night between feeds. It will be worth it in the long run.

Everything I did to get feeding going I was advised by a lactation consultant and it did really work for us. I hope it might help you too.

[xxjessxx]

Just too add, the only thing that got me through those 1.5 hourly feeds was my husband taking care of her in-between (over night especially) so I could just sleep..oh and coffee!


You are doing so well by the sounds of it.

In a few weeks this will all be a distant memory xx

In a few weeks

[xxjessxx]

Me again

Just remembered something else that helped.

Once my milk was in before each feed I would just express a little bit off to make my breasts softer - made latching so much easier.

[StepfauxWife]

Thank you for taking the time to respond - I'm finding this so difficult!

I've hand expressed what I can and also used the compression technique while she is latched on in order to stimulate her sucking and swallowing action. It's not much and nowhere near enough to make up for a decent feed. But she is getting something.

I imagine you're right and it'll be a different story when my milk comes in.

It's not enough to keep her content in her cot, however..!

[sidebarrr]

I had the same issue when my baby was born. No one told me until after that they cluster feed like this for a few days after milk to encourage your milk to come in - really wish id been told this befor and maybe wouldn't have Been so stressed, worried etc. The more they do this the better. And I agree with what another poster said - blowing on your baby's face. Was for sure the most affective thing to keep my baby eating. She would eat in her sleep every time I blew on her face.

[StepfauxWife]

Thank you; tried the blowing and it didn't work. I just managed to get her to latch first time but she fell asleep after four sucks. I'm now trying to tempt her with the other side but she's fast asleep.

I really hope my milk comes in; I can't do another night of this! DH is fast asleep next to me. He is poorly and also has to take sole care of DD1 tomorrow. So it's just me and Sleepy Sue here

[WellErrr]

You're doing great! My last one was like this - she totally changed once milk came in though. Just keep going, and remember, the more she's on the boob the quicker your milk will come in.

[outputgap]

Jess, thanks for that advice. I'm going to do that in a few days when dc3 comes. Am going to start sterilising spoons! I know that this will happen to me again....and as WellErr says, it all changes once your milk comes in.

Stepfaux, I did do formula top ups in a cup a few times and it did no harm to establishing breastfeeding, but then I wasn't doing as well as you at this point! But it was a good fall back for us as my milk took 5 days to come in.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Babies generally don't like cots. They want to stay with you.

Remember, until v recently, your baby was inside you all the time so it's understandable if they don't want to be away from you at all. Not wanting to be put down isn't a sign your baby isn't feeding well! It's a sign they are a normal newborn.

How do you feel about bed sharing? Most BF mums end up doing this, and there are some things you can do to make it safer. (UNICEF do a great leaflet: "Caring for your baby at night")

[ArriettyMatilda]

I don't know if it's normal, but it sounds positive that she's not dehydrated. I didn't see it mentioned already but in the early I used to feed dd on one side and if she started falling asleep I'd tickle her feet/cheek/ear like pp and then if she stopped sucking I'd change her nappy and shed usually wake and I'd feed her the other side. So I made sure she was fully awake in between offering the other noon. Also woke her every 2 -3hours in the very early days to help encourage my milk to come in and to produce more. Even if she is suckling a little it's her putting her order in for the next few days and telling your body to produce more milk. Newborns do feed little and often but don't be afraid to phone for more support with the latch, as that clearly helped last time. (Also ask them to check for tongue tie, it's surprisingly common and can have a an impact on babies latch)

[puglife15]

It's knackering isn't it. My Ds2 is 4 weeks old now but barely fed the first day or so. I just kept trying. As soon as my milk came in he was fine, it took 2 full days for me. He has just started in the past few days sleeping well not on me (he's next to me in a sleepyhead) waking for two feeds a night.

[StepfauxWife]

Thanks once again all.

So my milk has come in and DD has fed miles better today - about 15 mins on each side at best or 5 mins in each side. She had quite a dark wee earlier in the day so I've been offering her milk all the time to avoid dehydration. That seems to have done the trick thankfully and I'm hoping for a much better night tonight - I was in tears this morning, after a third night in a row without sleep.

As for the being held thing, she doesn't sleep for very long in the crib. We've made a make shift sleepyhead from a rolled towel but she's still not keen and wakes after ten minutes or so. I'm open to the idea of bed sharing. We didn't do it with DD1 but she didn't seem to mind the crib from the start (unless my memory has blanked out any horror stories!).

Anyway, I've ordered a sleepyhead and will give that a go. Just need to work out what to do in the meantime...

[crunchymummy]

Congrats :) Have you tried bf lying down? and then rolling your dd onto her back and sleeping next to her? Things seemed so so much easier when I started doing this with DS who is now ten weeks :-)

[StepfauxWife]

Thanks for your reply. I haven't quite got the hang of feeding in any position other than cradle A we have a small mouth/large boob issue. DD's latch is a little shallow so I'm working on that.

Nine days in and we're seeing a small improvement. Last night we half swaddled (arms only) and had her in the Sleepyhead and that seemed to work for a short period.

In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy the newborn cuddles!