5 week old - low temp and won't wake for feeds

[Angeliki159]

My 5 week old strains all day and during naps he wakes up startled every few mins (the falling reflex thing I think) so bot really managing to sleep.
When he eventually does fall asleep at night he sleeps really heavily.
Can't wake him long enough to feed. He opens one eye or stirs a bit then konks out again.
This also happened this afternoon - fed at 4.30pm. Missed his 7.30 feed. Eventually woke him at 10.30pm
Was grunting and farting loads till about 1.30am
I tried waking him at 2.30am for his feed - nothing
Tried again at 3.30am - nope.
When I tried waking him at 3.30 I checked his body temp as the room is 23c at the mo and thought he might be hot but he was cool to touch on his chest.
Wrapped him in a thick blanket for about 30 mins and took his temp. Was 35.4
Changed him but still only stirred.
He is wearing a vest, a long sleeve/long leg onesie and a cellular blanket is over him (unfolded).

Should I be worried/call the doctor??

Don't know if he has silent reflux

The feeding guidelines from the doc was:
In a 24hr period baby should have 150ml for every 1kg of their weight.
For example if baby is 9lbs that's 4kg
Baby should have 150ml 4 times a day.

What are the signs of overfeeding?

That's ridiculous. My babies were both more than 9lbs at birth. Should I have only fed them 4 times a day?

Firstly you are absolutely not doing anything wrong and it sounds like you're doing a great job.

I had a really hard first month trying to bf a small baby had to use formula too and at 4 weeks switched fully to formula. He was around the 5lb mark at this point as he'd gone down quite a lot and was lbw. He had around 6 x 4-5 ounce bottles a day and at six weeks had a growth spurt where he'd have 7oz still six times a day! This seemed ridiculous but it was what he wanted, He was never sick and became a content baby whereas he'd been very unsettled previously.

Follow their lead, not the formula box or your GP.

4x a day is nowhere near enough feeds for a 5 week old. None of this sounds right at all.

What kind of thermometer do you have?

NHS guidance is 150ml - 200ml per kg
Think OP is using the 4x per day purely on 150ml bottles. NHS still say feed on demand it would really be 20oz min per day for a 4kg baby
I wouldn’t try to reduce OP if baby is happy (I don’t know over feeding signs though) if you do decide to reduce I would be basing on 200ml per kg not 150ml

Added a screenshot of the signs of overfeeding.
Got a digital armpit thermometer.
It's so hard being a new parent at the best of times. Then there are all the different rules and guidlines

Please go with your instinct OP. DD2 was 10lbs at birth and, I kid you not, would take full 230ml bottles from a few weeks old, every couple of hours. Her weight increased exactly as it should have, although at the top of the centile. I never considered reducing the amount she wanted. I don’t believe you can over feed a baby

Can you contact your health visitor for some proper advice?

She is now a slim, sturdy, sports mad five year old!

Please don't reduce his feeds! He's drinking that much because he wants that much. How is his weight? That is the ONLY sign of overfeeding. Everything else could be simply colic, silent reflux, fussy baby or something else.

Keep feeding him as you were, he doesn't need to fit into guidelines on a box.

I would suggest seeing your HV with any concerns regarding feeding, but demand feeding has always been heavily pushed where I am, and it's worked with all 3 of mine.

For what it's worth, mine fed NOTHING like the guidelines. I used to look at the box of formula in my sleep deprived days and think '4 feeds?! I'd give anything for 4 feeds a day!' But my babies wanted 6 feeds, so they got 6.

None are obese.

So please don't cut down your babies milk. The first 6 weeks are very intense and the baby is still getting used to being on the outside (look up 4th trimester). Keep doing as you are, you're doing a great job. It will only get easier.

You haven't mentioned what other symptoms of overfeeding he apparently has, but I'm sure you'll find they're similar to those of colic or intolerances, or silent reflux. It's easy to read the symptoms online and agree your child has them, but the symptoms are not exclusive.

I'll say it again as it's so important, the only real symptom of overfeeding is weight gain.

Sorry, Cross posted. The symptoms you have posted are the same as the conditions I described.

I very much doubt you're overfeeding and I'd urge you to follow babies lead and see your health visitor if you are worried.

I can’t believe the doctor said you are over feeding him, it’s not possible at that age. Go with your instincts and if he wants more milk, give it to him. Don’t try and reduce if if he’s taking it willingly and not sicking it all back up.

My DD was having 75ml at birth and was up to about 150ml by his age, in 6 bottles a day. We weren’t waking for feeds. She was going 4 hours during the day and 5 hours at night.

Also I’d recommend getting an ear thermeter, we had an under arm one with DD1 which was a pain in the backside, the ear one has been so much easier and more reliable with DD2.

My LO is nearly six months old now and I have always been told by HV and midwives you can't over feed a baby they take what they want/need, every baby is different though but we took this advice on board and fed on demand and still do some days when a growth spurt catches us unawares :) hope you get it sorted OP far too much advice out there your baby you know what's best xx

Overfeeding to me means using lots of tricks to try and get more milk than your baby demands into them, not feeding them what they are demanding.

NHS website says 150-200ml per kilo as a guideline. Your GP is talking nonsense.
How can you be overfeesing if he went 10 hours berween feeds?

Is your GP over 60?? That is shockingly stupid 'advice'
My son slept through 6pm to 6am at 6 weeks so the ten hour sleep is fine. He also downed huge bottles and my HV said that as long as he had enough over the course of the day so that he was hydrated then to make an ounce more per bottle every time I started emptying the previous number of ounces at each feed.
He gained a pound a week, was born on 25th centile and at one point I was warned he'd be obese. He is now 23 and 6ft 1" and weighs around 8.5 st!! He phoned me all excited a few years ago to tell me he was finally a 28" waist and could shop at normal shops and not just those who did special skinny sizes.

On temperature, don't use a thermometer unless ill and then use a digital. Don't feel his face or his hands and feet as they will be the coolest part of his body. Feel the nape of his neck or his tummy.

Some of you have said to contact HV.
I don't have any way to contact her. I am just told to get him weighed once a month. That's it. I don't hear from her at all.
I don't have a midwife either.
HV said if I have concerns to see gp and if out of hours call 111.
Do you all have contact with your HV then??
Am I being really daft or something?

As others have said your GP is giving you outdated advice. You should be demand feeding and not restricting his feeds. I would absolutely go with your gut feelings. Also unless you have had complications the not driving for six weeks after a section is a myth. Contact your insurance company and see what they say. I was driving 10 days after my section. There was no way I could have been housebound for six weeks!

Where do you go to get him weighed and who does it?

Your health visitor normally contacts you after you have been discharged from midwife care and will come and do a home visit and give you all their contact details and info about baby clinic etc.

Find out when/where the nearest baby weighing clinic is. You should be able to talk to the HV there.

Oh I am so sorry OP, I have been through everything you are feeling split across two ds and it's horrible. I second others, your GP is giving you bad advice. My 9lb ds was up to 150 ml feeds within 4 weeks and my 11lb ds has been on that much since 1 week. I read a post earlier where a mummy was struggling with pumping breast milk and her 5lb premature baby could occasionally knock back 90mls of milk so please try not to be convinced you are overfeeding your baby unless you are experiencing alot of of copious vomitting after feeds. Some babies do actually sleep, I freaked out that my 11lb ds slept for 6 hours the day after we got out of hospital, I thought something was wrong with him as I could barely wake him for a feed. My midwife said as long as baby is gaining weight, has good skin colour and with lots of wet and poopy nappies and no sunken soft spot on his head then it was fine, although I imagine that if baby was low birth weight she would have encouraged waking baby up to feed. I believe weight clinics in the uk are run by heath visitors, also you should be able to Google a number for your local community midwife team who should always have a midwife on hand to answer any queries. Last week I had to call about a suspected umbilical infection in my youngest ds as he wasn't registered with my GP yet. Wishing you lots of luck and hoping it's just a sleepy phase xxxx

It's likely that your red baby record book (I'm assuming they're red everywhere) should have details of your local HV team and how to contact them. Once you've been discharged from the HV home visits then you don't have to see them regularly. But they remain available until your child is school age, if you want to contact them. They are also usually available for ad hoc queries at the baby weight clinics where you get your baby weighed.

Absolutely bizarre that your GP has said that. You shouldn’t ever restrict food for a baby