Sleepy breast feeder

[kbaby]

Hi me again. Sorry only just started breasfeeding and have loads of questions.

My DD seems to fall asleep at the breast really easily. She will only feed for 8 or so minutes and then falls asleep. I have tried changing her nappy, stroking her face and undressing her but she still wont wake up to accept any more. She then wakes about 1 1/2 hrs later crying for more food and wont settle until she gets it. This is leaving me knackered during the night.
Does anyone have any advice

I have no advice as such only words of doom...both of mine fed every 1 1/2 hours for several months.

dd used to feed for ages, about 45 mins but ds has always got what he wanted in about 8 or 10 minutes.

I'm sure someone else will have more positive advice!!!

Could you express and get dh or significant other to help you feed her during the night?

Hi, kbaby

My ds was a very sleepy baby -- some just are. He did fall asleep after a short feed in the very early days, but quickly learnt to take more at each feed and then sleep for longer in between. He was a very user-friendly baby!

One tentative suggestion I suspect she's falling asleep so quickly because she only fed half an hour ago and therefore isn't terribly hungry. It might be worth trying to get her to go a bit longer between feeds, either by keeping her going when she's awake lots of jiggling, patting, letting her suck your finger or a dummy, or otherwise by persuading her to sleep for longer than half an hour at a time, eg. by going for long walk with her in the buggy or sling.

Either way, if you can manage to push her at least two and ideally three hours between feeds then she will have had time to work up a decent hunger, and might be less likely to fall asleep so quickly.

I'm no GF junkie, but FWIW I do think it's worth trying to get them into a pattern that suits their needs and yours if at all possible, and frequent short snack-feeding is not a habit you want to encourage!

hth

kbaby - You haven't said how old the baby is? Don't forget that little ones feed regularly to stimulate the milk and 1.5 hours isn't too bad for a start really.....As soon as they start putting on the weight and getting bigger so do their tummies, and so they can hold a larger volume of milk. My advice is to feed on demand as required and then sleep when they sleep in the early stages(if you can, within a few weeks you will see a difference in the time between feeds, although in my experience they never go as long as bottle fed babies.... I breast fed both ours (still feeding DS 13 months) totally and neither have ever had a bottle, it's not easy but really rewarding and easy if it works out OK for you both. Good Luck!!

hi kbaby
its great that you're breastffeding and don't worry, she'll soon start to stay awake longer
in the meantime, have you tried changing her nappy and undressing her before feeding as well to make sure she's properly awake? then perhaps another nappy change after she's fed from one breast to try to get her to wake up enough to feed some more
tickling toes might work,or washing face or bum with a bit of warm water if really desperate
also try to stroke her during the feed, the side of her face or neck, toes or tummy are all quite tickly
hope the sleepless nights get less so soon

kbaby, I see from other threads your baby is less than 2 weeks old. This behaviour is normal - I think it would not be sensible to try to make her go longer between feeds as with the current warm weather she needs to feed when she wants to stay hydrated. There are ways of making night feeds easier, such as safe co-sleeping...but as has been said, she may start to go longer as she grows

Totally agree with you Tiktok

Thanks all. The nights seem to have got better now and she sleeps for 3 hrs she still only feeds for 10 minutes and then I change her nappy and shell feed for 2 minutes more, which is a start. However during the day she is snacking quite a lot which is probably whats stopping her from taking a good feed. I shall try the suggestion of taking her out for a walk etc when she starts looking for a feed to try and extend it to 2.5hrs. A silly question but someone suggested sucking on a finger, this does help her but as I have to sterilise all the bottles etc how do I know that my finger is ok to suck on. Im afraid of making her ill.

At 2 weeks I'd feed her when ever she wants tbh. I think 2 and a half hours is a long time for her to go with out feeding at this age. It will get better but for now not feeding her when she is hungry isnt a good idea especially in this weather. i rarely go this long without a drink.

I really wouldn't recommend trying to extend her feeding at this early stage either, especially in this weather. I know it seems as though you are constantly feeding but that it what it's like in those early days (it's just that nobody tells you!). Stay with it and you will notice a change in her over the days and weeks, they seem to regulate themselves as they get bigger and more efficient at feeding. Don't forget that the regular feeding at this age is stimulating your milk production trying to make her feed at longer intervals will hinder this process. If you are still worried then have a word with your HV or speak to a BF counsellor and I am sure that he/she will echo the advice given. The books are great as a starting point, but one of the problems I found was that neither of our babies had read them!! Consequently they didn't know what they were 'supposed' to do and so did what they liked!! Relax and go with the flow I am sure things will be OK.
PS solely BF both ours if it helps? (DD until 16 months, DS still at 13 months)

kbaby, sorry to repeat myself, but extending the feeds is really not a good idea with such a young baby, and especially not in warm weather. She may well need to feed as often as she is asking at the moment - she's still very young. There is nothing wrong at all with what she is doing. The risk with tryiing to extend the gaps between feeds is you get a distressed and hungry baby, and one that might be thirsty as well. How would you like it if you were hungry or thirsty and someone tried to make you go longer between food and drinks?

Hi all,
I didnt realise id written the same type of message twice. Shes now extended herself to about 2.5 hrs although shes quite a sucky baby and i cant work out if shes crying because she wants comforting or feeding as sometimes its only 1hour after feeds.
can you see my other thread for more info.
thanks again for all your help