Just some early days questions...

[cuckoochick]

Although I Bfed C until 18mos I didn't successfully get going with BFing until my milk came in so was doing a lot of bottle feeds in the early days so am pretty unsure about surviving these next few days.

So little Georgia was born yesterday and is just over 24hrs old.

Positioning and latch are ok. I have some soreness and am using Lansinoh. Have v large breasts so it's hard to see but am trying to make sure she's got as large a mouthful as possible. DH is helping with this too.

So in regards to feeds I've been told to wake her every 3hrs to feed. She is v sleepy though and seems to just fall asleep on the breast v quickly. I probably need to strip her off a bit more to wake her a bit better but am stroking, talking to her and blowing on her gently to encourage her to sick. I'm just worried she is not actively sucking.

In the 24 hrs we've had 2 muconium poos but I can't really tell about wees. Is this ok?

How long should she be sucking for? Like I say she falls asleep and is doing a lot of comfort sucking. Protests when she is taken off as she's not really unlatchig as seems to like the nipple in her mouth. Could account for some of the soreness right as I'm assuming she's slipping a bit??? Any tips?! When can you use a dummy? C never took one so don't know about this at all.

Should she be suckling at each breast for each feed ? Sometimes she is so sleepy I can't get her to the other. Do I need to be waking her more fully?

I'm just worried about her being so sleepy as I know this can be a slippery slope. Just beginning to doubt myself a little...

Thank you so much

 

[PaulsMom]

Congrats!

Your post reminded me of my dd.  poops but not a lot of pees.  In the first few days, she didnt take in much and got dehydrated.   so I did hand express colostrum which we tried to cup feed to her and I did give a few oz of formula until my milk came in on day 4. 

How is her weight? 

Wrt feeding, I'd feed her in just her diaper (skin to skin to help stimulate your milk).  Typical feeds should be 45 min.  I feed on both sides just so I could move her / wake her up a bit. 

[lily_layne]

I have no experience with a sleepy LO so I'm not going to give any advice about what to do about that.  DD was the total opposite - alert and screaming for most of the first few days  

WRT the dummy, the nurses in the hospital gave one to DD on her first day.  I didn't think I wanted her to have a one but I was so exhausted and she screamed when she wasn't sucking on me so I went with it and I'm really glad I did.  Having one did not affect her latch or prevent BFing from being successful.  I fed her every 2-3 hours (sometimes sooner) and used the paci in between.  If I remember correctly, she took about 20 minutes on each side.  Some people were shocked that she had a paci so early but it was a lifesaver for us.  I know that I couldn't have coped without it.

[cuckoochick]

Thing is she will stay on the breast forever but is not actively sucking. We've had another poop so things are obviously going in and out. C was very alert and a good feeder. We've had a much better feed this afternoon when she was properly awake so going to have to rouse her more.


Off to do her first bath which will no doubt wake her up! Thanks ladies

[PaulsMom]

Glad to hear the feed went better this afternoon.  My DS was a really slow eater so would hang on forever and suck just occasionally.  Compressions helped with that issue once my milk came in. 

[<Catherine>]

This was exactly how Ben was to begin with Nicola. I'm really new to the whole breast feeding thing so won't go giving advice, but I had to strip him, tickle his feet etc to keep him awake, and a bath was the best way to get him wide awake prior to a feed.

Once my milk came in properly things were very different.

[Shiv52]

Remember as well they only need a few mls of colostrum per feed. I would just keep doing what you're doing. Persevere with trying to wake her and do wake every 3 hours or so to feed.  Once your milk comes in it will so much easier.  Remember with BF babies they shouldn't be concerned with them getting back to birth weight until at least end of day 5.

Hopefully the bath will wake her up a bit. Hugs xxx

[Fiver]

What the others have said.  At this stage it may not seem like she's getting much, but any and all stimulation is telling your body that she's there and it needs to kick into a new gear.  If she's up for it, I'd try feeding from both sides - it'll give more stimulation, she'll get more in her tummy and it'll reduce soreness from her sucking on just one side for a prolonged period.

When DD was sleepy and in NICU, they told me to stroke her cheek upwards following the line of the cheekbone, but just below it (hope that makes sense) as it stimulates the suck reflex and will get her back to a more purposeful suck, even if she is asleep.

[Erin M]

Massaging the palms of their hands always seemed to work for me as well.  It's ok to unlatch too (using your finger to break the seal not by pulling!) if you get the sense that she's just sucking forever.

[ZacsMumme]

Hugs Hun. Great advice. Hey there is no reason you can't feed her in the bath too!

[roseola]

Was it Tracy who said a gentle rub along the spine can help them stay awake?

[eva026]

Congrats:)))
My DD was exactly the same, she'd sleep through all feeds and I was told to wake her every 3h during the day an 4h at night for the first 2-3 weeks because of weight gain issues.
To be honest she only "woke up" at around 2 months so for the first two our feeds lasted 1.5h each time with me trying to keep her awake enough to actually eat. So in our case my milk coming in didn't help a whole of a lot. However we survived by tickling, rubbing, stripping and burping her - man that sounds like baby-torture, lol

About the dummy, the midwife also just gave DD one in the hospital without asking me. It didn't cause us any problems either though.

[cuckoochick]

Thanks ladies! Well she certainly was awake last night. I woke her to feed at 10:30pm and then she pretty much fed constantly until about half 5 this morning when she eventually crashed and went to sleep until 9am. Kept falling asleep, would fall off breast/I'd unlatch her and she'd be frantic for the breast again instantly. DH tried to settle her but there was no way she'd settle.

Needless to say I'm exhausted and my nipples feel sore and grazed. I've got the Lansinoh smeared on. Now she's completely zonked out. I called the MWs in desperation at 4am as I was ready to send DH out for formula. MW was telling me this is all normal and just to establish my milk supply. Spoken to my community MW this morning too and she said its just a case of riding it out as well.

So this will settle down when my milk supply comes in or is it a case of some day/ night confusion or is if just fussiness. C was fussy for the first few months from 7pm-11pm where she was constantly on the breast and that was really tough. I know I can't go through that if Georgia's pattern is going to be 10pm-6am because how on earth am I going to function with a non-napping toddler to take care of. I need sleep. Sleep was the biggest factor for PPD for me.


Sorry this is sounding more like a couch post. I guess I'm looking for some reassurance that this might settle down in the next 2days or so when my milk comes in.

Thanks ladies. Think this board is going to be a lifeline. Xxx

[anna*]

It COULD be day/night confusion but more likely she's just hungry and getting your milk going. (((hugs)))

[enna77]

Hugs its tough but normal this happened with both mine - cluster feeding which basically = all night feeding exactly as you described trying to get your milk to come through around night 2 definitely settled down for me after milk came in hang in there