snacking cycle

[Webber]

My wife was in the hospital for 10 days after the birth of our son, and so he was fed with a bottle during that time.  Once my wife came back home, we started to breastfeed, but have now got a strange cycle where often he'll feed for 5-10 minutes, fall asleep (can't wake him up), have his diaper changed (my attempt at the Activity), but then will start crying again rather than sleeping, and will need to be fed again.  Even after the 2nd feed he will fall asleep but then will often wake up a short while later (5-10 mins) and be very fussy.  It's difficult for him to get a full 2-3 hours of sleep.  My wife feels that maybe he's not getting a lot of milk in him, that maybe he can't suck very well.  When I was feeding him those first few days, he was on a regular routine with 2-4 hours between feeds, and sleeping well.  Now he seems to be snacking all the time, and his sleep is often short.
He is only 3 and a half weeks old.  Any advice?  I live in Japan so it's tricky getting information that I can fully understand, and my wife has been reassured by a nurse to just feed him whenever he seems hungry.  But this pattern seems wrong.

[deemum]

{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}} to the three of you this sounds tough. your lo got used to the bottle for those ten days and probably needs a bit if time to get back in the habit of breastfeeding. I think I would start by trying everything to keep him awake and get a good feed into him, then try to establish a routine for putting him down in his cot. when my dd was about this age it helped her a lot to start her on the s's as tracy suggests, swaddle her, sit with her, soothe and shush pat if neccessary.
hope this helps,
Dee

[LyndaManus]

As the previous poster said, I think it will just take a bit of time.  bfing takes a bit more effort than eating from a bottle (sucking to regulate the flow) and it will take him a while to get use to it.  I would go with what the hospital said and, at least for a few days, just feed him every chance possible just to get as much practice as possible.  As he gets the hang of it I am sure his old schedule will emerge.  The first few weeks are definitely the hardest.  If she can get passed this, things will get a lot easier.  Good luck to the three of you!

[Webber]

Thank you for the advice and reassurances.  It's good to hear that this is normal.  I think a better routine for putting him to sleep would help as well, since that is one thing that is currently lacking, and he relies on being held to drift off.  Will give it some more time and work on some tips to keep him awake and sucking so he can get as much milk as he can in one go, and not worry so much if he needs a follow-up feed.

[RachelC]

Hi and welcome to the Baby Whisperer boards!  Sounds like you have had a tough begining.  The first 6 weeks, or so, are really tough because your baby is really sleepy (naturally).   Now that he is trying to get accustomed to the breast, that is hard too.  It may take some time.  Do you have access to a lactation consultant who could meet with you to check his latch to make sure it is a good one?
 
Here is a link from the FAQ section... it discusses EASY in the first 6 weeks.  There are also some great links there about keeping your baby awake during feeds
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64627.0

[Webber]

Thanks for the link.  I have been trying to stretch out the time between feeds to eliminate a lot of the snacking that seems to be going on, but maybe I shouldn't worry so much.  We now feel more relaxed about feeding him after 1 hour, though my preference is closer to two.  I think part of the problem is that while he falls asleep easily during a feed, recently it has been very difficult to get him to sleep during the day.  Yesterday he went for 7 hours without sleeping.  That doesn't seem very normal, and even today, he's been awake for 4 hours and is having trouble falling asleep.  Which means that he will be fed without any real sleep in between.  Don't suppose long periods of being awake (and not too fussy) are normal as well...?

[RachelC]

7 hours and 4 hours are long periods of time for being awake for such a little one.  You can pop over to the sleep boards for help with naps as well.