1 week old - implementing EASY not being terribly successful!

[ShelleyE]

Hi Ladies

I hope that you are all well?  I could do with a little advice please and wondered if you could help.  I gave birth to my beautiful second daughter last Sunday and she is now nearly a week old.  Having not started EASY with my first daughter until she was 6 weeks ( hadn't come accross it you see) I have been very keen to start from say one with Tracys techniques.  I think however my expectations may be too high or maybe you just need to go with the flow in the first few weeks? She was 9lb 8oz and born at home so much more relaxed all round.  I can't post you a routine as we donlt really have one as yet for the following reasons:

The situation is that I cannot get my daughter to take a full feed  - I am BF - and she falls asleep at the breast after 10-15 minutes (15 minutes is a bonus if I can get her to go that long).  NOTHING will wake her.  I have stroked her cheek, rubbed her palm, burped her, stroked her tummy, changed her nappy, sung to her, sat her upright , biked her little legs - she has slept right through all these tricks that Tracy recommends to wake a baby and so consequently I am at a loss as to what to do as Tracy says in the second book that after 15 minutes to consider that you are in S time and to desist.  My DD will then sleep sleep sleep in the day (I manage to wake her regularly every 2.5 hours but it takes about 15 minues for her to come round) but the whole process repeats itself with very little A time - maybe half an hour througout the whole day.  She then wakes every hour and a half in the night, wanting to feed.  I have tried reading her cues and some are for wind for sure and I have managed to get her to go to two hours with the help of a dummy but this doesn't last.  She just wants to nurse and for 5-10 minutes so I know its not hunger really but she will not stop crying until she has the breast. 
Are my expectations too high?  The way that it comes across in the books is that EASY should be able to be implemented from day one and the earlier you start the better chance you have ......... Its not going that way for me at the moment! Please please help - my partner is only off work for another week and then i will have to cope with a 13 month old and a newborn by myself which is why it is so so important for me to have both my beautiful little ladies on a routine that we can cope with as soon as possible.  I have suffered badly with AND and PND so its very hard for me when things are out of control.

Many thanks in advance

love
Shelley

[Bryony]

Shelley - congratulations on your new daughter!!

Personally I would go with the flow for the first few weeks - they are so sleepy in the first two weeks it's really difficult to do anything else.  In my humble opinion.  I can completely see why you would like to get some kind of routine going - and I am sure you will really soon - but I think it will be hard in the first week or two. Maybe try and just fix a getting-up-in-morning time and a going-to-bed time, and try to differentiate day (more noisy, more going on, perhaps sleeping somwhere different) from night (quiet, sleeping in the bedroom) so that she starts to differentiate day and night.

I am sure others will have other views - I'm afraid I didn't manage to get any kind of routine going until about 6 weeks, although we managed to differentiate day and night after a week or two.

Lots of hugs to you - and I soooo know what you mean about the out-of-control thing.

Bryony

[Samuel's mum]

Have you seen these posts (apologies if you have):
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64627.0
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63428.0

[ShelleyE]

Hi ladies

Many thanks for your replies and links to other messages - this has been really helpful and I will keep on in there!  As mentioned its probably best to start each day at the same time and finish each day with bath etc and gradually the rest will come. It seems that many of you posting here all agree that six weeks is about the right time to be more full on with the EASY plan so fingers crossed!

Do you think it would be ok to start with EBM DF so soon or to hang on another week or so?

Thanks once again
Shelley

[Samuel's mum]

If the reasoning is so that you can get more sleep and sleep through that feed then I would say it's worth any possible risk for you to be well rested.
The 'risk' (and the reason why some LCs will advise holding off for a few more weeks) is about introducing the baby to a different method of feeding just as they are getting a hang on breastfeeding. A different method that involves a totally different latch, sucking technique, flow. Some babies do find it harder than others to switch between the 2 methods and can become frustrated with the slower flow and harder effort of the boob. If you have any latching issues at all I would leave it a little longer. (BTW Tracy recommended a bottle called a haberman feeder which lets the baby control the flow instead of the milk pouring out. She said it was a great way to avoid what she called 'flow confusion')
However if you are confident about the latch then you could consider giving it a go. Some may advise at this point to give the ebm via a syringe or dropper instead of a bottle to be on the safe side. A full feed at this age may not even be 2oz so quantities are small.

The second issue is about your supply. Your milk has likely only been in a few days and is still 'transitioning' from colostrum. The process takes about 2 weeks. Boobs are like delicate computers - balancing supply, considering the information they receive and adjusting quantities and fat content. I would suggest you want to avoid your boobs not being fed from for a really long stretch (or they think demand has lessened and supply doesn't increase). So if you are going to sleep at 9pm and your DH is going to try a df at 10.30pm it would be better to pump just before you go up to bed. So that way your boobs won't be unused for too long (does that make sense). It's also the case that pumps are less efficient at getting milk out than babies. A baby uses a wave-like motion with its lower jaw to stimulate the prolactin hormone and it's this hormone which governs milk supply. Another reason why some LCs suggest you hold off on pumping until your baby is a few weeks old.

However - having said all that - I would suggest if you aren't having latching problems and if it gives you the chance to have a block of sleep then go for it. But if you notice any changed behaviour at the breast (more frustration, fussiness) bear in mind you might have some flow confusion issues so keep an eye out.

(BTW if you pump and not much comes out - don't panic. Quantities at this point are small and not everyone finds it easy to get a 'letdown' with a pump.)