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Worried- anyone else have to wake their baby for feeds?
We've had a difficult first 2 weeks with our boy. Initially he had problems latching onto me and when we sorted this I thought he had gone on some crazy cluster feeding frenzy and had me up all night. At his first week weigh in he'd lost quite a bit of weight and I had my suspicions that my milk supply wasn't adequate. Whilst it's made me feel like the most inadequate mother ever I've had to resort to combination feeding since Monday (when he had lost even more weight), expressing, feeding from breast and a small amount of formula. When he was weighed yesterday he had put on 3oz in 3 days which was a good sign although he's still quite a bit under his birth weight.
The concern I have is the amount that he is now sleeping. Could it be that he's trying to catch up after a really tiring first week or could there be something worng? 2 nights ago we went to bed around midnight and all of us slept through till 8am which I know is far too long between feeds. I felt massively guilty and so last night I set my alarm to get up and feed him in the night in case he slept through again. 4am my alarm went off and I had to wake him to be fed. He went back down fairly easily and slept till 8am. He's fed a couple of times this morning but is asleep again now (has been nearly 2 hours now). I'm really not sure what I should be doing and am worried there could be something wrong. Has anyone else experienced this?
The concern I have is the amount that he is now sleeping. Could it be that he's trying to catch up after a really tiring first week or could there be something worng? 2 nights ago we went to bed around midnight and all of us slept through till 8am which I know is far too long between feeds. I felt massively guilty and so last night I set my alarm to get up and feed him in the night in case he slept through again. 4am my alarm went off and I had to wake him to be fed. He went back down fairly easily and slept till 8am. He's fed a couple of times this morning but is asleep again now (has been nearly 2 hours now). I'm really not sure what I should be doing and am worried there could be something wrong. Has anyone else experienced this?
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I've had a similar experience with my little girl. She initally lost quite a lot of weight and this (as I was told by my midwife) led to her being weaker than those babies that hadn't. She too didn't cry to be fed, and she would sleep for long periods of time if I let her. I was very upset when her weight went down and started a 3 hour plan to get her back to her birth weight. I set my alarm every three hours, day and night, and would wake her to feed her. At this point she wasn't latching correctly so I would let her have 5 minutes 'practice' before giving her a 3oz bottle I had previously expressed. At times it was difficult to the milk into her as her tummy was so so small. I would strip her off, tickle her etc. It worked and she is not 6oz above her birth weight - yey!! Now she is stronger I have found I no longer needs to express as she is getting enough from me - it just took her being that bit bigger to be able to do it.
Sorry if this is waffly, I've now been trying to post for over an hour - feeding baby at same time!! x
I also have this problem with my little girl... she is a week old now (at midnight tonight!) and we have to wake her up as she went almost 5 hours without a feed last night. It gets me sooooo paranoid. It gets me so stressed which is not good for me or for Holly. Breastfeeding is so hard!! I had difficulty with her lathing on but cross fingers we seem to be getting better. xXx
we had an awful first 10 days where my milk just wasn't coming in and i was nursing for 2 hours out of every 3 but baby wasn't settling after this and still seemed hungry. Her weight continued to drop passed day 5 and she was becoming more drowsy and i noticed her nappies were drier than they should be. I ended up quitting breast feeding as I clearly wasn't giving my baby enough milk and she was becoming unwell for it. We now formula feed and to begin with because she had lost so much weight, I made sure I woke her for a feed every three hours. She soon started to put on weight and is now a pound heavier than her birth weight at 4 weeks old. The HV told me I could relax a little with feeding and just feed her when she woke, however she goes through the four hour marker all the time and I don't like leaving her too much longer so I am pretty much always waking her for feeds, the thing is once i wake her its like she realises she is hungry all of a sudden and starts wanting her bottle straight away! She never cries for a bottle and I guess that's because I always tend to wake her before she reaches this point. I discussed this with the HV and she said to continue waking her 4 hourly during the day if this routine suits, but to leave her to wake at night. The thing is she starts to stir about an hour before the 4 hour mark and this wakes me but she never full blown out wakes! I therefore tend to hear her stirring, leave her till the 4 hourish mark then get up and feed her. HV says she is obviously just a contented baby who doesn't cry much and to carry on doing as i'm doing. To be fair, she is putting on weight as expected and is following the 5oth centile line exactly. Anyway, just wanted to say you are not alone with the feeding issues and having a baby who doesn't wake for feeds. As I am formula feeding I know exactly what baby is taking so I don't worry too much about leaving her if she has taken good volumes at the last few feeds.
I know how worrying this can be, I totally worry if she takes 10ml less than she should which is just silly!
How much is he taking in one go? xx
Mrs Binks - Babies shouldn't be sleeping through the night until thye are least 6 weeks old. The maximum the suggest is 6hrs. If your lo likes his sleep, I overheard the mw in hospital suggesting to another mum that you wake them after 5hrs by stripping them down and changing there nappy to wake them, so by the time it comes to 6hrs they would have had their feed. Whereas if you wait to wake them at 6hrs, it will probs be nearer 7hours if you get me. Personally if your lo can sleep/ willing to sleep and would leave it around 4hours before waking. I say this, becuase with my 1st we had to feed every 2-3hrs as she was early, I think this contributed to her waking more frequently at night and not sleeping through til about 12months,. Whereas with Henry in hospital he was sleeping for 6hrs, and our 1st night at home he slept for 5hrs before feeding. Don;t feel guily for not waking him, you were obviously so tired you slept. Like others have suggested I would try settling your alarm for 4-5hrs to start getting your lo into a routine - routines dont always work of course so don;t beat yourself up.
In the first few weeks it is normal for them to spend most of the time sleeping or feeding. Don't expect your lo to be awake during feeds throughout the day. Your doing fab and no your not a bad mummy!
Just to day that it is ok/normal for bf babies to lose weight in the first 10days so long as its not a big drop in weight. The more your baby feeds/you express it will encourage your milk supply. I have found with Henry that he feeds for a bit then stop and looks like he is falling asleep. I have since learnt that if he stops feeding its actually because I need to wind him. He burps and then goes back on for more. Obviously this isn't thec ase for everyone, but I actually forgot about winding him until day 3!
Make sure you are feeding from alternate breasts to encourage milk supply in each of them. Remember that yourlos tummy is only small so we cant expect them to drink loads. Is he always showingsigns for more after each bf - presume this is why you are topping up with formula?
I believe I am right in saying that bf babies often need feeding more frequently than ff babies, this is normal as the bmilk is digestited more quickly.
What has your hv suggested? If yo are concerned about bf, remember there are dropin clinics that should be available to you in yor area who can help.
If you don't mind me asking, how long is he feeding for in one go, does he start and stop when he is latched on? How often is he feeding during the day?
care_bear - Henry is slightly jaundice and was informed by the mws that feeding well will flush the jaundice out.
Hope something of the above is useful. hth xxx