EASY Nights

[ladycoreopsis]

I am breastfeeding my three week old. I cannot get her to do an EASY night. She feeds around 7pm, sleeps a few hours, feeds again around 11 or 12, and then from 2-7am, she snack feeds. She'll eat 10 minutes, falls so dead asleep so I can't wake her, and then 40 minutes later she wakes on her ownand wants to feed again. When she does this, its hard to get her started in Easy again during the day. Can someone please offer suggestions?

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Welcome to the board!  It takes a few weeks for babies to settle into a routine - so not to worry.  A couple of questions first to check on her intake... What's her weight gain like? Is she getting lots of wet diapers? Are you cluster feeding at night and how often is she feeding during the day? Also, does she have good moments of alertness during the day too or is she sleepy all the time? First, you'd need to make sure that your milk production is good and she's eating well.  Excessively sleepiness can mean that your baby's not quite getting enough milk. 

But if her intake during the day and evening seems good, then she might just be sucking for comfort in the wee hours of the morning. What you want to do is try to get her to take full feeds at every feed - use breast compression, change her diaper when she gets too sleepy, rub her back, strip her down to her diaper - that sort of thing, so that she stays awake for a full feed.  I'd hesitate to recommend a pacifier until you're sure that the intake and weight gain is ok, but that can be a great solution for those babies that love to suck!

[ladycoreopsis]

Thanks fgor your response!

Her weight gain has been ok, as of last week. We'll see tomorrow at her three week appointment. But I've been wondering the whole time is she getting enough milk. I don't think she has enough urine-filled diapers per day. It's hard to tell since we've started off with disposables until I have time to get the hang of the cloth diaoers.

This was yesterday's feeding routine, for example:
6:45-7:45 am both vreasts
10-10:30 am left
13-13:30 right
14:05.14:15 She had a little nibble feed off the left
15:46-16:26 left
18:30-19 Expressed BM
11:20-12:00 right
1:40ish unknown booib time (I was so sleepy I lost track) + 30 ml expressed bm
THen 2-7 am were these little 10 minut nibbles where she'd fall asleep during them and I would too.

[ladycoreopsis]

the 18:30 feed was 80 ml of ebm...sorry

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

In terms of wet diapers, you want to see about 5-6 wet ones per day. To tell if the disposable ones are wet, you can pull apart the seat and look for yellow discolouration - but by 3 weeks, you should be able to feel some heaviness in the diaper.  Poos can be every diaper to every few days - it depends.

A 3 week old should be nursing a minimum of about 8 times a day, really, so that means every 3 hrs during the day, cluster feeding of every 2 hrs in the late afternoon/evening, and maybe a slightly longer stretch overnight.

I noticed that you're giving EBM - is that so hubby can help out?  What time of day are you pumping?  Just remember that when you give a bottle, even of EBM and you don't pump that feed, it tells your body not to produce milk at that time.  This may or may not become a problem for you - depends how your supply is overall.

It kind of sounds like she might not be getting enough during the day, so is munching overnight, but is too sleepy to stay awake and get a full feed.  Can you try to fit in another cluster feed in the evening - you can do it as a dreamfeed? So you'd feed at about 7, 10, 1 - like you are, then maybe try spacing them closer together - 3:30, 5:30, 7:30 and a dreamfeed at 10:30 (or whenever you go to bed).  The times are just a suggestion - the idea is to get a few more feeds in before bedtime! Some babies even need to eat every 2.5 hrs all day long. She'll still likely need to eat once overnight (because she's still so small!), but you could see if it helps.  Also, when you're feeding, really aim for a full feed, using breast compression.

Finally, most babies are more restless in the wee hours of the morning - they stir, make noise, and come slightly awake.  If your snack bar is available, she'll take advantage!  :wink: And if she's nibbling, even if it's not really for hunger, then she'll be less hungry during the day. You might want to consider putting a bit of space between the 2 of you in bed, so your breast is slightly less available.

Let me know how your doctor's appointment goes and how the weight is!