breast feeding my 1wk old 16 times a day and still hungry, any help advice please

[scarletribbonsforherhair]

Hi there,

My baby was born 8 days ago and didn't have a problem latching on. Suction was strong and mighty sore in the first few days, however the last 3-4 days it's doesn't hurt very gentle latch, more of a tickle feeling, Is this normal?

2nd point, she is feeding 16 plus times in a 24h period, I can't seem to satisfy her, she will get over tired and fall asleep on the breast then wake up a few mins later distraught her little mouth shaking and is too distressed to feed, we have had to resort to top up feeds of formula Aprox 30ml extra a time when it gets too much so she is probably getting an extra 120ml formula per 24hrs. This will then settle her for a 2-3 hr sleep if lucky, otherwise it's feeding on the hour for an hour non stop.

Please can anyone offer me any help or advise on what to do? Anyone had a similar problem?
I really want to breast feed or dual but not sure how to proceed as I really can't cope like this

I would guess the change in how her latch feels is due to the change from colostrum to milk.

I'd say the near constant feeding is within the realms of normal, as is falling asleep on the breast. Babies soothe themselves to sleep by sucking so it might not mean she's 'overtired'.

However the waking up and being too distressed to feed is the bit that sounds strange, and that does sound like it may be over tired behaviour.

How much sleep is she getting in 24 hours and how is her weight gain?

Ah I remember the early days. It's normal, she's doing her job and that means loads of feeding to get supply up. If you give formula and want to breastfeed totally then that's going to interfere with that.

Ideally new mums should be put in a comfy spot, be fed and watered without having to move and everything else taken care of around them while they nurse their baby..A proper baby-moon.

This stage does pass I swear.

I agree the very frequent feeding is normal. The waking up and distress could be due to colic. It's very common in babies up to the age of 12 weeks or so.

The other thing I got from your post is that she is having quite a lot of formula and if she is having this via bottle it may disturb the breast feeding. The sucking technique is very different and it may be that she is frustrated when breastfeeding and the milk doesn't flow as quickly.

One more point - if she has been sucking solidly for twenty mins or so are you switching to the second breast?

A good indication that she is getting enough milk is the number of wet and dirty nappies she's producing as well as weight gain. It's normal for babies to lose weight at the first weigh in at 5 days but she should be having lots of heavy wet nappies and at least two poos in 24 hours

My friend's 2 week old recently fed for 13 hours with just a 2 hour break. It's bonkers but normal and it will pass. This particular baby slept for 5 hours the other night so it really does improve!

Oh my goodness overwhelmed with the response already thank you :)
She's getting 8ish hrs sleep.
She did loose weight in the first few days from 7lb13 to 6lb1 and was slightly jaundice but managed to not need treatment and got her weight back to 7lb3 by day 5 so MW is not too concerned.

She's having plenty of wet nappies
But after passing her first poo in hospital went 4days until the mother of all poos arrived, then no poo again in the last 24hrs.

Congratulations on your new baby x

What you describe is 100% normal unfortunately, but it is a short phase and really doesn't last.

If you don't want to combination or formula feed (fine if you do) you really need to ditch the formula top ups as your supply will never catch up with her demands otherwise. We had to top up as our DD lost 14% birth weight and was hospitalised for jaundice but we then got a lactation consultant in who advised to reduce the top ups by 5ml per feed per day and then after they had reduced to 20ml to go cold turkey and drop them all together. She was welded to my breast for 72 hours after that and I was stranded in front of the TV just eating and drinking myself but then feeds started to space out and feel more manageable.

Good luck!

Constant feeding is totally normal. Hunger, building up your supply, comfort. Your baby knows what she's doing, she's putting her order in for the later months.
Make yourself comfortable, drinks, snacks a book or a box set and just go with it. It's pretty hard going at the start but it does get easier. My DP used to bring me drinks and cut up all my food into bite size pieces!