Newborn won't wake up to eat

I'm posting on behalf of my friend who just had a baby on Thursday. She is trying her best to BF & I am trying to help her since obv it's tough for a first time mom....

Her prob is baby just wants to sleep. She has problems waking baby to eat; baby just can't be bothered. My friend is concerned & dr is putting pressure on my friend to supplement with formula (which she doesn't want to do). I told her to try taking all baby's clothes off except diaper to try to wake her & to tickle her feet. Baby wakes up but then falls asleep again when my friend tries to feed her.

She thinks she has her days/nights confused too so I told her to keep lights on, be loud, try to talk to baby/engage her during day & at night low lights, no talking/singing/eye contact.

Baby was born at 8.2 & is down to 7.8. Any advice/suggestions? I'm no help bc I didn't have this prob with DD. TIA!!!!

Re: Newborn won't wake up to eat

I know nothing about BF so I can only advise on what I know about babies falling asleep while eating. Can she pump and bottle feed so at least hes getting BM?

I had this issue with twin 1. She is FF and was a premie though. They get too comfy especially with mommy. I had to hold her away from me. Id have her in a onesie with a blanket loosely wrapped that I could remove. You cant make them too cold though because they exert calories to maintain their body temp so if they are too cold they are just burning up their calories.

There was also a way I had to hold the bottle and feed her while supporting her chin with my middle finger and using my pointer finger to mush her cheek if she stopped too long. I'll try to find a youtube video so it makes sense lol) They had me on a schedule with her though and I know BF is feed on demand. I had to feed her every 3 hours and she had to finish 45ml in a half hour. After a half hour I had to stop feeding so it didnt mess up her schedule.

Maybe a lactiation nurse can offer a technique to keep him feeding and awake longer how I did with the cheek mushing.

There are times now where she wont finish and is just out cold sleeping and I cant wake her. But she is gaining so it's ok.

Newborn won't wake up to eat

I had this problem for about the first 2 weeks with DD. Everyone told me to tickle her feet or rub a cold wash cloth on her face but that did nothing. I would wash her whole head down, pinch her little thigh, take her outside, and nothing. She would sleep for hours and be impossible to wake. We just barely got by without supplementing when she finally started to wake more and be more interested in eating. I actually only got by bc the doctor gave me a few days to see a LC if I didn't want to supplement and the extra few days was what we needed.

The one thing I didn't read until after the fact was to latch the baby on while they're sleeping. If they stay there, eventually it can trigger a letdown and the baby may nurse even while sleeping.

I would suggest looking up "sleepy baby" on Kellymom.com. There are other suggestions there she can try. Honestly, I always felt like supplementing wouldn't really have helped since DD just didn't want to eat at first. GL to your friend!

Re: Newborn won't wake up to eat

Keeping the baby up for feedings is definitely a challenge. Your friend can try to feed on one side, and when baby drifts off, take her to the changing table and change her diaper. That worked for us a lot of the times. BFing is hard! It's a real commitment. If she doesn't want to supplement she probably won't have to - as the baby gets older she'll start staying up better - but it's going to mean spending a loooooong time feeding, waking, feeding, waking, waiting 2 hours and doing it all again. Nonstop for weeks. I'm so glad I hardly remember those days.

Message edited 1/13/2013 12:37:25 PM.

Re: Newborn won't wake up to eat

Here's my method (DD is 2 weeks old):
1. Remove baby's clothes except diaper - change diaper if needed. The diaper change really wakes her up.
2. Get her to latch on before wrapping her in blanket if needed. The cold really helps her get going.
3. She usually takes a break after 7 mins or so. I will let her sleep for maybe 1-2 mins. Then I try burping and switching breasts if needed.
4. After she has eaten a good amount and fallen asleep several times, I start the reverse process of getting her dressed.
5. I put on her clothes and change diaper if needed.
6. I try to give her more milk.
7. I put her in the swaddle if at night.
8. I try to give her more milk.

I find the up,down, up, down approach of getting her settled and then waking her by changing clothes, adding clothes, etc really helps.

Good luck. Some babies feed longer than others. As long as the baby is eating at least 10 mins at least every 2-3 hours, she should be fine.

DD went from 7 lbs 8 ounces to 6 lbs 15 ounces. She started chunking up as soon as my milk came in and regained to birth weight in 3/4 days.

HTH

Newborn won't wake up to eat

Thanks so much for ur responses ladies!!!!! My friend & I really appreciate it!

Newborn won't wake up to eat

Okay, some other thoughts as those early days come back to me.

I would definitely try to wake the baby every 2 hours to feed. If she falls or stays asleep, try again every hour until she gets her to feed.

As long as she's getting in at least 8 feedings a day, that's good. The time between isn't that important. Of course, the day and night mix up isn't fun but if she follows the first poster's advice that will eventually work itself out. Also, counting the wet and dirty diapers. I forget how many they should have in the beginning, but as long as she's hitting the minimum.

Lastly, my ped was always stressing that DD should be gaining an ounce a day. Well the LC I met with (who's also a pediatrician) said they are okay with .5 ounce a day in the beginning. It took over 2 weeks for DD to regain her birth weight. Probably closer to 3 weeks. Around 1.5 weeks old she finally got out of that super sleepy stage and started gaining her full ounce a day and was good ever since!