How to know baby wants feeding at night

[Charlottef94]

I have a 2 week old who I’ve been struggling to BF since the start and don’t feel like he’s getting enough milk despite good latch- I’ve been instructed to feed then pump 10 mins straight after every feed.

I've been trying to wake him every 2/3 hours at night to feed however sometimes he is passed out and other times he wriggles and grunts while asleep.

How do you know your baby wants a feed at night? Do they cry? I’m so tired atm I’m sure I’m sleeping through some of the rustling and grunting. Not sure if this is making the problem worse as sometimes he goes 4 hrs with no feed due to not waking/wanting it.

He will wake up and cry if he’s hungry. You shouldn’t need to wake him up. Unless your health visitor or GP has told you to because he’s having issues gaining weight?

Same way you know during the day, he will wake up and cry!

We woke DD every 3 hours if she didn’t wake herself, she was tiny and slightly jaundiced so it was important but also you need to keep your supply up- if they don’t feed enough you won’t make enough ready for the growth spurts.

DD has jaundice as a newborn so I'd have to wake her, take off all her clothes to really wake her up and try to get milk into her. But once that passed, she got revenge by waking me every 3 hours.

They wake up and cry. With the same hungry cues as in the day.

If he doesn’t have any medical needs I wouldn’t wake him to feed him. Let him sleep.

I’m no expert (mine is only 10 weeks!) but I would wake him every 3 hours max in your case to keep his weight up and your supply up.

Although reading your OP 4 hours is
not so much more. Maybe call the National
Breastfeeding Helpline for some advice?

I woke mine every 3 hours (set alarm) until he gained sufficient weight. He’s now 4 weeks, well above birth weight and weight gain was good during the past 2 weeks so I wait until he cries. Maybe check with your midwife, mine told me that as long as they’re very little and weak, it’s better to wake them to feed, but as soon as they’ve regained birth weight and generally are doing well with putting on weight, it’s ok to wait for them to wake you.

They don’t though always, mine didn’t. She couldn’t be arsed to cry very much to start with. If they sleep too much when they are small it can be dangerous.
Very different when they are a bit more robust, not suggesting you should wake at 6 weeks+ when they are sturdier. But my little 6lb skinny scrap (and she wasn’t early) needed waking in the first month.

Don't wake your baby.

Baby will wake up when he wants a feed. And will cry.

As long as baby is making wet and dirty nappies and putting weight then you are making enough milk and he is consuming enough.

You are doing a great job. Stop stressing about it.

A new born shouldn't go longer than 4 hours without a feed. Or they can drop their blood sugar.

If they are hypoglycaemic, they can be two weak to cry. So don't rely on them crying to let you know. (I'm
A paediatric nurse)

He'll wake up and cry basically. Is he gaining weight? Plenty of wet nappies? Yellow poo?

I think maybe you need to ask someone in real life who can see the baby. 2 week old babies are quite vulnerable and getting advice from strangers online when we can't see her might not work well. Can you go to the health visitor clinic?

Thanks everyone. Hes got plenty of wet and dirty nappies and I thought BF had been going better but weighed at 12 days yesterday and he was only 10g heavier than weigh in a week prior. he often seems constantly hungry and wanting to feed and I feel terrible.

Im now on a schedule of pumping after every feed, then feeding him the top up as per the midwives instruction.

He can be difficult to wake every 3 hours in the night to feed but makes a lot of noises, last night I kept turning light on to check if he was awake and he was sleeping but fidgeting.

I’m not going to tell you to ignore the advice you are being given about top ups but if it were me I would be maximising the amount of tine feeding from you, that’s what keeps supply up.
It sounds like the feeds are too infrequent- in the evening is he cluster feeding? You really want some long stretches with baby on you feeding as much as possible. I just used to sit for hours and hours and let DD feed off and on as much as we could. More effective than pumping.

I’d get in touch with LL for guidance laleche.org.uk

I'm alarmed at all the comments telling you not to wake your newborn. Mine was born at 37 weeks and was jaundiced. The advice was to wake them every 2/3 hours for a feed. She was very hard to wake, I would have to strip her down to her nappy and essentially annoy her.

Some babies will wake when they're hungry (babies without any concerns who have regained any weight loss since birth and continue to gain weight nicely). Some babies don't have the energy to wake and cry, and need to be woken! It can be really dangerous not to.

Not all babies wake and cry. That’s what I naively thought. My baby did not wake up and lost almost 12 per cent of his body weight in a few days. He’s not a crier, even now at 4 months I can count on one hand the number of times he has cried. Mostly he rustled and shuffled and was generally restless - i would then feed him. At around 2 weeks whilst ebf that would be every 1-3 hrs. My hospital was plastered with posters saying that crying was the final feeding cue, even when asleep.

My baby was born on the 9th centile and is now on the 75th so it did work in the end.

i would ask your midwife or health visitor for advice about this as they know you and your baby best.

The rustling and grunting is baby wanting a feed. Have you tried bed sharing so you can feed baby easier in the night?

Yeah I just shared a bed on the floor with my two and made sure there was no need they could go anywhere or slip under the covers by giving them their own covers next to me on top of mine and being really careful. They just slept next to my breast and fed as they wished.

It's really important you follow the midwives advice and wake at the frequency they have advised. You say he's only gained 10g in a week but is he back to birth weight yet?

I have had two babies who had lots of feeding troubles, and I've done the whole bf, pumping plus top ups. We were aiming for averages of 20-30g weight gain per day and it felt like such a massive amount when we were drifting off the centiles. It's so hard so I send lots of strength your way! Sometimes they are so tired and not taking on enough milk that they don't cry, which is very dangerous. Dd1 was below the 0.4th centile and it was so hard to get milk into her.

I found stripping baby down and changing nappy with the main light on the best way to wake them up enough for a feed. Lots of tickling of toes and gently blowing in the face to keep them awake. I was recommended to do switch feeding (swapping breasts every 5mins so L, R, L, R etc) for a full feed as the extra let downs wakes them up. Occasionally i would also do the top up first to give them a big energy bump and then pop them on to latch (i didnt do this often though in case it affected supply).

A couple of things to try - ask to be referred to the infant feeding team. They are the experts and can give better advice than the midwife team. If funds allow, see a private lactation consultant. https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/ I paid £50 for a consultation and mine spotted DD2 had a very severe tongue tie which is why she wasnt feeding effectively and so getting really sleepy during feeds. Check if La Leche League or NCT have breastfeeding drop ins near you. They can also give good advice. I've done bf + top ups for six months with both of mine, so it isnt the end of the world if baby needs to formula to help get to the size they need to be.

This is such good advice.

Please wake your newborn and feed them as advised by your MW. They are so vulnerable at this stage. There is so much focus on sleep and a baby sleeping through the night can be seen as such an achievement but, at this age, it's actually dangerous.

Ask your HV/GP/MW for advice. It's not an internet thing with a new born

I wouldn't let a 2 week old baby go without a feeding during night unless HV/MW/ GP says ok. But it's of course my view.

Agree with reaching out to LLL or a lactation consultant - there are also lots of groups on Facebook - BFYM is a good one v supportive and some experts giving advice on there.

Not going to go against what you have been told but agree with PP who has suggested maximising feeds, as getting into pumping and top ups is a lot of extra work on top of establishing breastfeeding!

These are the hardest weeks imo, keep going and it will get so much easier