Advice needed! Feel like I'm starving my 3 day old baby!

[morningglory]

DS2 was born on Monday at 38 weeks, and he was surprisingly small (5 lb 13 oz...DS1 was 1 pound heavier). He wasn't keen on feeding immediately, and I had to coax him to breastfeed. Latch was an issue as his mouth is small (to go with his small size), and he won't open it wide. Tried to use my finger to push his chin down to open his mouth, and he resists strongly. Once I manage, he suckles just fine.

I had to wake him at 2:30am on the night he was born to feed because he hadn't fed since 8pm, and it didn't seem to bother him (I had tried to wake him at midnight, and he refused to feed).

He passed several meconium poos on day 2, but only 2 wees. I woke him up at midnight to feed, but didn't set my alarm for further night feeds. He slept happily until 6am, when I woke him for a feed.

I put him frequenly to the breast (won't let him go longer than 2.5-3 hours between feeds), and he has only done 2 wees total today. He has yet to cry for a feed (probably because I'm so anxious, that I'm feeding him frequently). This last feed, though, he was sucking for 1.5 hours in total, and still seemed discontent, so I feel like I'm not giving him enough sustinence. I placated him with a dummy, but he doen't seem completely happy with it. The last time he did a wee was noon (4 hours ago!)

I know my milk is not in, but is what is going on abnormal? DS1 was so different...a guzzler, and it was obvious that I was feeding him fine (lots of wees, etc)

Thanks in advance for all your advice.

I know my

Re latching on: Put your nipple to just above the baby's upper lip gently and "tickle" it. This should encourage baby to OPEN WIDE!

Diagram here:

here

morningglory, congrats on new baby

Your baby is so new and it's normal to be concerned and to want to get bf off to a good start. Best way to do this is to keep him close and in skin to skin contact as much of the time as you can - crying for a feed is a late sign so you are doing well to try to watch for earlier cues that that...moving his hands, mouth, head, flickering eyes, anything that shows a less than 100 per cent zonked out sleep, in fact

What made you think he was discontented last feed? Because he showed he did not want to stop? Normal.... Dummies do not support early breastfeeding - the only thing that supportes early breastfeeding is, um, breastfeeding

Has he passed mec today?

The wee thing is hard to judge as you may be using super-disps this time round, and little newborn wees just get slurped in. Place a cotton wool ball or two inside the nappy if you want a clearer idea.

HTH

Oh yeah - congrats from me too !

I've tried the tickle mouth thing, and his mouth doesn't budge. The thing that works best is to squeeze my areolar area and lunge for his mouth (sometimes takes several painful attempts!).

Tiktok: I did place a cotton wool ball in his nappy yesterday at 11ish, and didn't get a wet one until 5pm. The other wees, I've caught in action. He's passed I small meconium today.

I didn't think that he was satisfied because he sucked until the nibbling stage (the not really sucking, but sleepy nibble-nibble, very long pause), and I would remove him from the side. I'd settle him into his bouncy chair to nap,then he'd waken, root and make unhappy grunty sorts of noise, which made me think that he hadn't drunk enough. I'd put him back on the breast, when he'd eagerly suck until the nibbling stage. We repeated this about 3 times.

I've been having trouble bf over the last few weeks and a bf counsellor told me that squeezing the areola and "lunging for his mouth" is not a good idea as he doesn't get the right part of the tissue in his mouth and it's harder for the nipple to go to the roof of the mouth. Can make it more painful too.

She taught me some better techniques and they have made some difference. Is there a bf counsellor you could see/speak to. I also found some useful diagrams and videos on the internet.

Some of the latching on videos on here were helpful.

videos

Good luck

MG - his feeding behaviour sounds normal. A 2-3 day (or even older) baby will certainly grunt and twitch and want to be on the breast a lot when he is put somewhere else.

Just keep him close to you, and if you do put him down and he grunts and so on, just put him back on

Wees and poos - can't really draw any conclusions from what you say, but they sound on the normal spectrum. Look for changing stools tomorrow - greenish/brownish.

What does midwife say?

First of all, congratulations!

My ds didn't feed properly for the first 3-4 days, and I only realised that something was wrong when he kept crying. I mentioned this to the health visitor (who I didn't trust much), but she just said it was normal for new babies to cry. Still, I felt that he wasn't a child prone to a lot of crying, so we ended up taking him to the hospital on day 4.

He was admitted immediately as they found he hadn't been feeding enough (he couldn't latch on properly), so my instincts were right. He was crying because he wanted to feed but couldn't and then didn't have the energy to try again. He was in hospital for a few days with a tube down his throat, so they could monitor how much he was taking in.

We were then allowed home, but I had to express (to make sure that he was feeding and to monitor the amount). That worked fine, as I had plenty of milk! We didn't have any more problems and he's still eating normally and healthily at 8 years old! (He also turned out not to be a crying child either, just a very happy chappy!)

My advice would be to see a doctor or a health visitor (one that you trust!) if you are concerned that he's not feeding properly.

Louise, good for you to insist on proper help.

MG - it's certainly true that babies can look as if they are feeding, but they are not actually transferring milk. I actually don't think (from what you say) this is happening with you, as you have bf before, you are making sure he does feed, and you are keeping an eye on 'output' (wees and poos). I'd just ask again to check with the midwife, and to ensure you look at the colour of his poos tomorrow - if they are changing, then that's a good sign. But I would never dismiss your assessment of what's happening, either.

I'll bring it up with the mw (if she comes...she was supposed to come today!

Uhuh Ds2 is screaming...better go!