falling asleep during bottle

[Proudest mum]

Hi I'm new to the site and I've just started my lo on E.A.S.Y. I'm having trouble with the E and A as he keeps falling asleep after only having 1-2 ounces I've been changing his nappy to re wake him then i give him the rest of his bottle after which it's time for his nap which he goes down fine for until after his last feed then he stays awake and fusses on til his dream feed at bout 10pm. Does he need more awake time through the day? And how do I achieve this? My lo is 5 week 3 days old

[Bobbyc]

HI If you could post your routine we could see how your day goes ..Might need more day time sleep..

[Archies mummy]

Hmm your lo is still very young I would try not to stress too much about keeping him awake during the day. How often do you feed? Falling asleep on the bottle is a sign of tiredness, ideally they should have just woken from a nap at this time so shouldn't be tired. Easier said than done though! You want to disassociate feeding from going to sleep if you can. I had to stop feeding at this sort of age once my los eyes started to droop and give him bottle back once his eyes sprung open.

[Proudest mum]

yesterday it went
E. 7.30
A. 8.15
S. 9.00
E. 10.30
A. 11.15
S. 12.00
E. 1.30
A. 2.15
S. 3.00
E. 5.00
A. Stayed awake from 5pm right through bath
E. 7.00
He then fussed on maybe sleeping for 30 Min's at most til after his dream feed which he finished at 11pm
he then slept 3 hours between feeds through night.

[* Paula *]

It is not uncommon for a lo this young to fall asleep at feeds.  It is a combination of them getting tired from sucking, and taking in air and needing to be winded.  We found that as soon as we saw our DD falling asleep, we would stop the feed, wind her, this would rouse her again, and then offer the feed again.  I think we probably winded about 3-4 times between feeds.

Also late afternoon / early evening, is a very fussy time for young lo's.  It is a combination of overtiredness even if they have napped well, the day is just very long for them.  This time is generally known as the whitching hour, although it can last a lot longer than an hour

I would definitely try and aim for a 45 minute cat nap after the 5pm feed.  A lot of mums find it difficult to get their lo's down for this nap, as they are extremely fussy.  A lot of mums resort to APOP (accidental parenting on purpose) for this nap and will put their lo's in the sling, swing or pram just to ensure they get a short nap.  Might be worth a try.  It is a lot easier to try and break a bad habit that break the OT monster.

[Bobbyc]

So true the cat nap is great..Its sometimes very hard when they are so young to have activity time.Stick with it.
Tracey recommended that you rub their little hands while feeding to try and keep them up and it worked for us..Every day is a new day so you can keep trying to work towards your goal.. It will come in time..Are you feeding with formula or pumping?? Breast milk has oxytocin for the first 5-10 minutes its like a sleeping pill you can read up about it in the BW ..You can look up how much activity time you baby should have on this site...Just to give you an idea..