Sleep after feeding

[Humphrey10]

Our nb is not settling down after a feed when the 'books' lead me to believe he should. Am I not feeding him poperly (is he getting enough). What do I need to do to check that he is getting enough or is this just a fact of life?

VMT

Are you bf-ing or formula? I only have experience of bf-ing but I always used to feed my dd to sleep. (Or rather just carry on letting her nurse on empty until she conked out.)

Assuming that you're breastfeeding, make sure you offer a feed every time he shows hunger signs. If you're not sure, ofer a feed. If he cries, offer a feed. It may only be 15 mins since he last fed, but that's fine. As long as there are no medical issues, you're offering feeds any time you think he might be asking for it, he's producing plenty of wet & dirty nappies you have no reason to worry IMO. Most bf babies will feed at least 8-12 times in 24 hours. I don't know about FF I'm afraid.

My DS stopped falling asleep after feeds at the age of 2 weeks, but that wasn't because he wasn't hungry (he went from 50th to 99th centile for weight!). It was quite a few weeks before he started doing it again. Now at 7 months he feeds to sleep very happily.

Thank you. He is BF and normally falls asleep whilst feeding, hence I'm not sure whether he's gettig enough. The main problem remains that recently he has not been settling down to sleep/falling asleep whilst feeding.

Am I being paranoid and is this just normaility for a while or should I be trying something different?

How old exactly is he? I probably wouldn't worry about it really.

After the first 2 weeks my DS stopped falling asleep feeding. After that, he would first of all fall asleep while being held, then by about 3 weeks he would cry lots when he was tired, and I'd have to jiggle / rock him to calm him down, which took a long time. By about 10-12 weeks he would feed to sleep at bedtime but not in the day, and by about 15 weeks he would feed to sleep in the day too. (He probably would have fed to sleep in the day sooner but I was misreading his tired signs.)

If your DS is struggling to settle sleep, you may find that rocking or motion helps. Many babies find it hard to sleep if they are put down. Swaddling can often help with this, as can using a fabric sling during the day and co-sleeping at night.

You might find the information here on bfing in the first few weeks useful (it includes a check as to whether your baby is getting enough milk). It is a fantastic site on breastfeeding and well worth reading.

You're not being paranoid - everything is a worry in the early days! Congratulations on your baby.