3 day old wants to be on breast all night but falls asleep after minutes. Wakes up second i move him..help!!

[Jellybabie3]

He makes clicking noises to feed all night. I get him up and feed him sometime s 20mins a go. He falls asleep. Lift him back to cot he wakes up and screams until i start agen. Had 7 hours of this last night. Please help!!

Yes i am. Having an effing nightmare with (what i feel) are incompetent doctors mucking us about something rotten. DS was born Saturday....is never going to be putting weight on. I will be day 5 tomorrow but i know milk is coming. Alot of my friends milk didnt come until day 5 or 6. His weight 'problem' would never have been noticed if i hadnt been kept in for an infection now we are stuck here. Just wanna take him home so i can be with him n DH. Be so much easier with him here at night.

Something similar happened to us when DD was born, but she was a tiny bit early with jaundice. Hosp recommended cup feeding which we duly did (a right faff) using formula/expressed milk for a few feeds. I would think that your bubba could have some formula now to keep the hosp happy, and then you can start back on the breast when get him home. A few teeny formula feeds won't stop you breastfeeding him longterm, especially if you pump when he has the formula.

I remember feeling really helpless at this point and never getting consistent advice from the midwives either.

Good luck Jelly

You can leave, you know. Sounds like you know what is best and what is right for you! Good luck

This too shall pass. Let them top him up for a couple of feeds until your milk is in (keep pumping in the interim every few hours) and it won't make any long term difference. As soon as your milk is in, make sure the staff know you will be breastfeeding on demand.

We found that while they had the baby's best interests at heart, we were prepared to relax our grip, but as soon as it switched into staff convenience and away from the baby's best interest, we were v firm.
(In our case she was tube fed, with the intention to train a suck using a dummy - the staff were just sticking the feeds down the tube instead of trying to trigger a suck reflex first).

Anyhoo, all the tube feeding and bottles didn't interfere with my milk supply at all, so don't worry about that. Just stick to pumping and keep reiterating your intention to breastfeed, and continue to ask what is the best way of establishing feeding so that they know you won't be robbed off with ff.

Good luck - in a day or two you'll be at home and can relax a bit more which will help.

My sympathies and congratulations, OP.
When my DC1 was born the birth was traumatic and DC wasn't putting on enough weight. Was moved to NICU and fed through a tube while I pumped round the clock. They tested for every potential issue known to man. Was so incredibly upsetting and stressful.
Turned out the awful birth had knocked out DC jaw alignment and a chiro/osteo massaged DC face and latched immediately. Put on weight after that like a little milk demon!
Try not to let it upset you. I understand how you're feeling - I was angry and emotional with the 'the doctors wouldn't even have noticed a problem were we already at home' / 'all these tests are making it harder for feeding and milk production'. Get baby checked out and be creative to work out if there is an issue. Baby is your priority here. Good luck.

You can just say no you don't want to feed him with anything other than your breast milk.

And yes you can just discharge yourself and go home.

Hang in there. I know it feels like hell.. or at least it did for me. He needs you and he is trying to bring in your milk supply. Make sure your nursing station is comfy.. lots of water, snacks, the remote, books, dvd box sets, your phone and charger.. if you intend to breast feed, know that this is it for the long hall. Cluster feeding is common. For the first six weeks I was glued to my sofa and bed with the baby permanently attached. He’s 7 weeks now and barely settles down to sleep anywhere but on me or someone else close to him. Breast feeding will get easier and less relentless but be patient with yourself and him and you’ll get through it. You’re doing amazingly mama. There is no greater challenge than breast feeding. You are keeping a human alive with your body. Incredible.

Oh I didn’t realise you are both still in hospital. My baby dropped weight for his first few weigh ins. Have you supplemented in formula now? Is he gaining? I see you had a traumatic birth and lost a lot of blood. That is going to effect your supply considerably so be patient. I had post partum blood loss and felt bloody awful for several weeks. It took my milk a while to come in but it did eventually. Stay strong and I hope you get to go home very soon.

I was in this position exactly with my newborn earlier this year. I know how desperate it feels. Hang in there. It's a short phase and it will get better.

We too were put on a feeding regime at 5 days. My milk was slow to come in after a c-section so baby had lost 12.7% and was too slow to gain for their liking so we were made to feed every 3 hours, then top up with whatever I'd expressed, then top up with formula. It's gruelling and didn't help my milk to establish. The formula will make baby feel full and they then don't make as much effort on the boob to give the milk the message that it's needed (so as long as you are topping up with formula, the expressing is vital to get that message across).

I would give your baby the formula just to please the doctors, make DS put on enough weight that they'll let you get home, hopefully within 48 hours (this is what happened to me). Once you're home I'd remove the formula (maybe gradually rather than suddenly?) and let your milk take over within a week. I didn't do this (because the bloody hospital put me on the feeding plan but didn't tell me how or when to come off it) and it wasn't until 4 weeks that I just dropped the formula altogether and lo and behold my milk suddenly fully established!

Be prepared for your community midwife and health visitors to want to perpetuate the feeding plan as they'll be wary and want to follow the doctors' orders. But this is your baby and if you want to breastfeed you will need to take control of the situation a bit, which I eventually did but I regret waiting 4 weeks to do so.

Make use of your time in hospital by asking for as much help with breastfeeding as is available. There were a couple of excellent feeding experts at my hospital who helped a lot to give me the confidence that baby was actually getting something from me.

Drinking plenty of water and eating well will help your milk supply.

My oldest lost 14% of his birthweight when they did the check, he then went up rapidly from 40th to 97th percentile: put on loads the following week, sometimes these things happen please do not feel bad. My youngest lost 4% and went from 55th to 6th percentile, both stayed on the high / low percentile and still are on them, your milk will come and hopefully all will be well

Thanks all. We made it home last night after implementing the plan with formula. 3 hour cycle of bf, expressing for 45min and then feed plus a top up of formula. Was brutal and floored me through the night. waking an already full DS to force feed whilst he cried was horrendous but he put on 200g very fast taking him from 13% to 8%. So proud. Milk has come in in past 18 hours or so so i am hoping to ween off the formula and top up with expressed now. Made such a difference last night being home and comfortable though. I found the last week the most stressful of my life - really didnt cope well after birth and pressure of feeding so i am hoping some much needed family time is just whats required. Thanks all xxxx

Congratulations, Jellybabie3! Be kind to yourself now - stay in bed (or make a nest on the sofa) and just focus on healing, cuddling and feeding him.