Constantly rooting for food in evenings! Help!

[BareFootMomma]

My new little twins seem to be having an issue of wanting food (or suckling) constantly in the evenings. They are only 5 days old. We have been trying to keep them to eating every 3 hours and they usually eat for 30-45 minutes. They are tandem nursing so they eat at the same time. The rest of the day they usually sleep except for diaper changes and some short tummy time once a day. There is never an issue of putting them to sleep for their naps, they just go to sleep quickly and easily.

When their last feeding of the evening comes around, usually between 8 and 9:30pm, they are suddenly impossible to get back to sleep. When we hold them up for some shh-pat they both root around our collar bones, chins, necks, shoulders, anything they can get to, seeming to try to find a source of food. This is even after they have just nursed for 40 minutes! We end up either nursing them again, but they usually just want to suck, or we give them a paci. Sometimes the paci works to get them to sleep, but sometimes they spit the paci out over and over and keep rooting for a nipple. Last night it went on and on until 3am when they finally fell asleep. I think I must have put them to my breast a half a dozen times between 9pm and 3am and only once did they take a full feed!

What is going on?? Are they not getting enough to eat during the day? Are they maybe sleeping too much during the day (I know, probably should ask that over on the EASY or sleep board) and it's keeping them up at night? Why the constant rooting? I thought babies only did that when they were legitimately hungry. I don't understand why this problem only pops up at night.

[jessmum46]

((hugs))....those first few weeks are so exhausting even with one, so I can't imagine how tired you must be with two.  Were your twins prem or low birthweight?  Any jaundice?  Are they having plenty of wet/dirty nappies?  Do they ever seem hungry before the 3h mark during the day?

I think many (most) babies have fussy periods in the evening during the first few weeks of life during which they constantly want to suckle/nurse - the rooting is as much for comfort as it is for feeding, although some babies naturally want to cluster feed at that time (my DD definitely did for the first 8 weeks or so).  I wouldn't have thought they are sleeping too much at only 5 days old - sleeping and feeding is pretty much all newborns do! 

I'm sure everyone will have a different way to approach this, but honestly, at only 5 days old, I'd say to relax as much as possible, feed if they're rooting for it and try not to stress about a strict routine at this point - you are not going to develop any bad habits at such an early stage.

Good luck, and congratulations on your babies:D

[Fiver]

I agree with Katherine.  Are you pushing them to 3h or do you think they would feed earlier than that?  A lot of BF newborn will feed more like 2 to 2.5 hourly to start with.  If they're giving you hungry cues, I'd feed rather than waiting (if you are, of course).

Another option is that they might have a bit of wind.  I used to find my two would root if they were windy as well as hungry (yes, very confusing!)

And big congratulations on your double blessing

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Congrats Brittany!!!! No advice but super happy for you

[anna*]

Yay!!! Such a happy story

How old are they now, a few days? Is your milk in? As hard as it is to hear, I think wanting to suckle constantly alllllll evening long is pretty much normal, will get the milk supply on, comforts them... it's all good (except, it's not because it's exhausting and stressful etc - but you know what I mean).

[anna*]

Oh I meant to say too that the first weeks are pretty much chock full of mini growth spurts, so I think if they're acting hungry and a paci won't cut it, nurse em. Nothing you do in these early days is going to be impossible to 'fix' if it starts to go wrong later (talking about nurse to sleep associations or whatever).

[Erin M]

Congrats sweetie!
TBH, they sound very day/night reversed to me, my ds was exactly like that with the sleeping all day and wanting to be up for much of the night.  Can you sleep while they sleep during the day?  My kiddos all nursed quite frequently in the evening as well, I think that's just a fussy time for many babies in general. 

[BareFootMomma]

Thanks ladies!

During the day many times they seem like they would sleep for hours if I wasn't waking them to feed. I am having to wake them for every feeding. They were full term, both over 6 lbs, but they do both have a little bit of jaundice. I have a 3 yr old daughter so, I can't sleep much while they are sleeping. DH is home from work for this week so he lets me nap whenever I feel like it. I can't get too used to it though because after this week it will be all me during the day.

I have been trying to relax and just go with their needs right now, but it's hard to remember that when they are up almost constantly from 8pm until 1 or 3am.

I have been nursing them every 3 hours without fail and they usually nurse for 40-50 minutes. This evening I purposely fed them every 2 hours for a few hours. I swear my nipples are about to fall off they hurt SO badly! We also tried to keep them more active right after each meal. So we will see if they stay down for longer tonight.

[Fiver]

Has your milk come in yet?  You may want to keep an eye on how long they're feeding for/how sore your nipples are getting.  It may be that positioning and attachment isn't optimal, so they're not getting a really good latch which would result in slower feeding/more soreness.

If you've got a local BF support group/LLL group that you could access for them to check that out for you, I would take advantage of it if it were me.  It's good to get these things sorted out in the very earliest days, especially if you have someone around to take you there, help you out with carrying them both and entertain your 3yo while you have a chat

[Erin M]

You really just described my ds with the feeding patterns.  I just kept feeding him every 3 hours during the day (I had to wake him too) and he eventually sorted himself out.  It's so hard though, I did so many stupid things when he was small because I was so, so tired.