Help! BF 9 day old, is this normal?

[pixsix]

My ds is 9 days old. He spent his first 6 days in NICU and then SCBU with respiratory distress and jaundice. While he was there he was tube fed my expressed milk. We have only been BF-ing for the past 3 days.

The first day he was still very sleepy from jaundice and I had to wake him for 3 hourly feeds. He found latching on very difficult and I was cup-feeding him expressed milk to top him up on the advice of the post-natal ward midwives. The second day he started to wake himself and seemed to get the hang of latching on and fed once every 2 - 3 hours. Today, I had to wake him 3 hourly this morning but this evening he didn't seem to be able to stop feeding. He fed at 5.30pm for 15 minutes, at 6.30pm for 30 minutes and at 7.30pm for another 20 minutes. He didn't sleep at all in between as he usually does and he was fussy and wouldn't settle at all when not feeding.

Does this mean he is not getting enough milk when he is feeding? How can I tell if he is just sucking for comfort without getting milk? I am so worried that he is not going to get enough milk to recover from his jaundice. I so want to BF him exclusively but I'm worried that his difficult start in life might mean that he can't learn to feed normally.

TIA for any help.

Bumping for someone more knowledgeable, but my thought from lurking on lots of these threads is that newborns can sometimes suck and suck because they like being with their mummy .

Congratulations This is very common in newborns. I found DD fed every three hours for the first few days, then sort of 'woke up' and started feeding like mad. Newborns are often fussy in the evenings and bf babies often cluster feed. I see it as tanking up for the night. DD used to start feeding at 6pm and not delatch til midnight! How are his nappies? At this age you are looking for plenty of soiled nappies. Here is a link with more information. They also have a lot of growth spurts in the early weeks where they feed a lot for a few days. Don't worry, set yourself up a feeding station on the couch with remote/drink/snacks/book and feed away. Good luck

Oh yes I forgot to mention that Cies All he knows is you, pixsix. He's been cradled, rocked and nourished by you for nine months. It's natural for him to want to carry on with this. And don't stress about sucking for comfort, it's normal and very good for the milk supply

TBH this doesn't sound like a lot of feeding for a newborn! There is something known as cluster-feeding which means they basically feed loads at a certain time of day and this seems to be quite common in the evening.

When DD was small I was defo sat on the sofa feeding as much as you are - it does settle down over time and then they have a growth spurt and it's back to mega feeding again!

Try not to worry it sounds normal to me. As long as your breasts are fairly comfy I'd just go with it - you will be producing enough milk so don't worry about that. If your breasts are getting uncomfortable then probably best to get someone to check latch etc before they get sore.

Good luck and congrats!!!

x-post with charchar and spookily similar post!

It's absolutely normal. Completely. Boringly predictable. Lots of people mention a growth spurt at around 10 days. His constant feeding will up your supply and let your body know he needs a few more calories.

Just take it easy and feed feed feed.

Well done btw. And congratulations.

pixsix - babies of this age SHOULD suck for comfort! It is a good thing. It does wonders for your milk supply.

You are doing nothing wrong - as long as he's having plenty of wet nappies and some dirty nappies too? Being tubefed in SCBU was the right thing so he didn't get hooked on a bottle. But now he has to do the "hard work" of learning how to breast feed for real just like a newborn even though he is 9 days old.

Try imagining he is 3 days old - and what you are describing is the behaviour of a newborn just before the milk "comes in".

Hopefully with all this extra latching on and feeding you are doing your milk supply will whizz up and sometime tomorrow you will end up full to bustiing with milk in response - and then he'll calm down.

That sounds totally normal and like he is getting the hang of this feeding lark - now he knows that boob=milk and lovely mummy cuddliness.

DS used to feed continuously from 6 till 9 in the evenings when he was tiny - I just took to the bed and rolled onto the other side every 20 minutes.

Am presuming you are giving both boobs per feed ?

Best advice I got was to just let them be at the boob as much as they want and go with the flow. Even non nutritive sucking stimulates your milk supply and strengthens his sucking muscles, so don't worry about that.

Normal!
Well done!

Don't forget to eat plenty of food and drink plenty of water! That will help keep your spirits up too...

Get some good DVDs in...

Normal. Comfort sucking, alternating with some feeding, cuddling with mummy. Normal. A bit tiring for you but lovely otherwise.
Congratulations!!!
(Echo cmot's post).
Hi cmot!

Thanks everyone. So glad to hear it's normal. I'm such a nervous wreck at the moment, I keep thinking every little thing that's different is a sign that something is wrong.

Thanks for the link to the Kellymom site CharCharGabor, he is having lots of dirty and wet nappies which is good.

I will just keep feeding him whenever he seems to want it then. DH has just brought my supper - I will let him know that he might be doing this every evening for a while

lol ChukkyPig I used to do that cmot, just swap and swap for hours.

The way I've always seen it is that lo wants to feed a lot for a reason. You've just been through a big life event and you need time to recover. The baby feeding all the time means you pretty much have to!

Oh BTW - not sure if this is the done thing here but one of my nurses in hosp told me to drink a Guinness to bring my milk in. It did. All over my nightie, DS, and the bed. Porn star boobs, overnight. Yowza.

Tell your DH he will be cutting up your food for you for a while so you can eat with one hand and hold baby with the other... or make food that doesn't need to be cut up, LOL!

xpost pixsix. It's difficult in the early days, you're both learning how to bf and you also have to learn to trust your body. Just remember, your body managed to grow him to the size he is now so it can produce enough milk to nurture him too. Definitely turn DH into your slave My DP did all the housework and cooking for ages whilst I established bfing. Make sure you've got lots of food in you can eat with one hand whilst feeding. And read more on Kellymom, there's lots of good info on there. Well done, you sound like you're doing great and so does he

Perfectly normal - DS was much 'worse' If you can learn to feed lying down or get yourself settled with tv/book/food/drink etc it'll feel less of a hassle. It doesn't last forever. It does pass!

Sounds like you're doing great!

You are all so lovely and reassuring. Thanks so much.

And when they are a hulking great toddler you will look back with fond memories on the time that you were able to lie in bed with a book propped against a pillow with them feeding. Dh used to bring me tea in a travel cup so I could drink it in the reclined position (generally they are great as they keep your hot drink hot but unspillable for ages), plus snacks. We had an agreement that I fed DS, and DH fed me - all food was delivered in a bowl with a fork, ready cut up. If its messy food, you may have to cover the baby with a muslin so you don't have to pick spag bog out of their ear

cmot - that sounds so familiar! I remember eating chopped up sausage mash and beans with a fork out of a bowl and spilling beans on DS's head.

I currently have a 10mo DS that is ill and only drinking BM so I feel all that cluster feeding pain!

I wont add to all the cries of "normal" you've already had, but congratulations on doing so well after a shaky start

There are lots of us with similar aged babies on the November postnatal thread and all going through similar issues. Come and say Hi when you have some spare time (as if you will ever again )

I spilled curry on DS's hair...

Thanks again for letting me know that it's normal and lol about the food stories!

Daisy thanks for the invite to the post-natal thread, I will probably take you up on it soon.

Going to try to get a couple of hours of sleep now as he has just gone to sleep.

DD spent much of her first few months covered in random crumbs or bits of rocket...

Hurray! Good for you and him that he is so voracious. It's tiring, but that's the dream - a baby that is going for milky times that often has definitely figured it all out.

I'm thrilled for you that it all seems to be going so well after what must have felt like a worrisome start.

Feeding lots doesn't mean he's not getting enough, it means he's signalling how much he needs. Think of it the opposite way around: it's not that he's lacking food, but that he's able to make his needs for food known.

Sound like he is feeding "normally", he is hungry and knows where to go to get food