Newborn not eaten in 6 hours

[Motherof1and2dogs]

I gave birth this morning at 4:17am to my baby girl, she last ate at 8am this morning, I have tried since and she isn’t interested at all. She has slept since after her feed at 8am and is still very sleepy and won’t take my breast or even formula, she just wants to sleep. Any ideas please? Is this normal for a new newborn to be too tired to eat. Google says differently but I know to not always trust what google says!

Do you have a midwife you can ask?

We had to strip my daughter down to her nappy and tickle her feet and gently blow on her face to get her to wake enough to feed. If that failed we changed her nappy. We had to do this every feed for the first week or so and regularly for the first 3 weeks.

Yes very normal for newborns to be too sleepy to feed and the longer they go without a feed rh sleepier they can get

You do need to make her eat - they are sleepy, yes that’s normal but also needs you to intervene. Especially in this heat. Wake her up, tickle, maybe even a touch of room temp water sprinkled on her, anything you can to properly wake her up to get her to feed

Get your midwife involved now. I wish I had.

Congratulations! 🥳
are you in hospital? I’d say prompt to wake and feed, almost impossible with stubborn curled up newborns! It’s very warm so important that the baby doesn’t get dehydrated - ring the bell for help if you’re in hospital but 6 hours is a long time for a newborn to not feed.

Get a midwife to help, she needs to have some milk especially in this weather.

If you aren’t in hospital then you need to go to a&e. Not normal behavior for a newborn and they need to drink small amounts very frequently

My son did the same and I wasn't listened to.
He then was checked by the Dr and he ended up in the NICU. He couldn't feed because he couldn't breathe adequately.

X

This was DS when he was born. Midwife told me that boys are lazy and got me to express. We sorted ourselves out after a day.

Both my babies were small and born at early term. They were both sleepy and didn't wake to feed. Definitely ask the midwives for support if you are still in hospital. With my second, I found hand expressing some colostrum and popping it in her mouth with a syringe helped to wake her up.

Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Congratulations!

Was she healthy and full term? As she fed post birth, this sounds normal. Are you planning on breastfeeding? If so, start hand expressing some colostrum, you can use a syringe or a sterilised spoon.

However it is expected for babies (healthy, term, fed within a couple of hours of birth) to only feed 3-4 times in the first 24 hours. Day 2 will likely be VERY different!

Get her skin to skin and keep her there!

When my second was born, she fed right after birth, then again an hour later, and then she slept and slept for another 13 hours before she fed again. I kept trying to wake her but she wouldn’t have it, she just slept. I kept asking the midwives but they weren’t concerned, and after that first day she began to wake up more often. Massive contrast to my eldest, who woke every 1.5 hours from the moment he was born 🫠

Definitely ask the midwives as it’s not worth the risk of assuming it’s all fine, but I just thought my story might reassure you anyway.

My second has always been an excellent sleeper, I hope the same will be true for you OP! X

My eldest didn’t have a successful feed for about 12 hours so don’t panic. I agree with @CocoPlum that the first 24 hours can be slow (even my youngest who latched immediately). But you need to keep trying. Their tummies are tiny for the first few days so you don’t need to get much in, one or two syringes of colostrum will be fine. Both mine were born in heatwaves. How are her nappies? Make sure she’s in just a nappy too (or at the very most a vest), it’s too hot for clothes and will make her more sleepy.

Are there any other things that worry you about her? Has she been checked by the doctor yet? I would ask a midwife/doctor to check her over just to be on the safe side. Congratulations on your lovely new baby.

Just to say re nappies - we expect one drop of wee and one meconium nappy in first 24 hours. If mum had IV fluids in labour, possibly more wee, but at this point nappies are not indicative of dehydration.

I'm studying to be a lactation consultant and have over 10 years of BFing support experience btw.

Congratulations on your new LO. I’m hoping that you’ve managed to speak to a MW by now and LO has been chebkex over

I can't remember what my experience was, I don't think they had such a long gap but my memory is probably not accurate as it was a long time ago.
I just think that if you are in anyway even a little bit concerned, you should contact your midwife or the hospital. It's fine to do this, I remember several worrying things and turning up at the hospital in the middle of the night. None of them turned out to be anything serious, but at the very least it put our minds at rest. And if there is something, it will get sorted.

Is he jaundiced?

Terrible advice A&E is no place for a newborn. Call the maternity unit, she will be seen on the post natal ward if needed. Absolutely not A&E.

Yes I would call your midwife, or labour triage/advice line with a brand newborn, if you aren’t in hospital. Lots of advice here about how to wake baby enough to feed, it can be normal but needs to be addressed and monitored carefully. Congratulations and all the best with your baby x

Do you have any colostrum syringes? Hand express into a pot, and syringe it into her mouth teeny tiny bits at a time - that’s what they did at the hospital with my first. She’s wasn’t latching and they wanted her fed.

Congratulations!
He’s sleepy as he hasn’t got any energy as he hasn’t eaten. The longer you leave it, the more of a problem it becomes. If you’re in hospital, alert one of the staff; if you’re not in hospital, you need to go there now.
Its all to easy to think how wonderful it is that you have a baby who sleeps but, when they’re this new, it can be quite dangerous - and more so in this heat.

Congratulations 💐

I really hope he has now fed, if not though contact your midwife urgently as this could be very serious.

I assume they’ve now been fed / medical advice sought, but we had this when DD was 4 days old (jaundiced and low birthweight). Advice was to express onto a teaspoon and drip into her mouth. It worked and she perked up enough to properly feed

Please get baby seen asap x