My 5 days old son is breast fed frequently and we're awake all night. When my wife starts to feed him he falls asleep we try to wake him up several times but in the end he doesn't respond to nose or ear tickling he's just completly out. The problem is that he eats in a very small dozes thus getting hungry frequently, any solutions?
2006-12-24 22:03:18 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
The more she nurses, the more quickly her mature milk will come in and the more milk she'll produce. Nursing for ten to 15 minutes per breast eight to 12 times every 24 hours is pretty much on target. According to the latest guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), she should nurse the baby whenever he shows signs of hunger, such as increased alertness or activity, mouthing, or rooting around for your nipple. Crying is a late sign of hunger — in other words, ideally you should start feeding your baby before he starts crying.
During the first few days, you may have to gently wake your baby to begin nursing, and he may fall asleep again in mid-feeding. To make sure your baby's eating often enough, wake him up if it's been four hours since the last time he nursed. Once your baby becomes alert for longer periods, you can settle into a routine of feeding every one to three hours (less at night as he starts to sleep through).
2006-12-24 22:44:25 · answer #1 · answered by beckhams_mommy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Newborns may feed as often as every one hour - my son certainly did. It was exhausting, but it's what is best for baby so hang in there.
As far as baby falling asleep while feeding, this is normal. Here's what I've done to keep my baby awake - while feeding, take off the swaddle so that baby is not too snugly warm, you may even want to take everything off but the diaper (if it's not cold and snowy where you are), if you manage 10 minutes before your baby conks out, I'd say taht's a success. Before switching to the next breast, change the diaper - yes, even if baby doesn't seem to need it. The cold will jolt him awake. Again, don't put the waddle back on, and feed on the other breast.
Good luck.
2006-12-25 12:24:22 · answer #2 · answered by mrs.izabel 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi when my son was first born I nursed and he ate about 5 minutes every 1/2 hour. I asked the doctors about it and they said he will determine how much he can handle. My son was 6.4lbs at birth. Depends on how big ur baby was on how much he can hold in his tummy. Dont forget their tummies are tiny and need to grow. The first 2 days of my sons life I maybe got 4 hours sleep alot to do with his feeding routine. Stick it out and he will eat less frequent when his tummy can handle it or pump and give the bottle. Pumping also helps increase ur milk supply. Good luck and congrats. They grow quickly. My son is now 12 weeks old and has changed so much from birth.
2006-12-25 00:06:26 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is completely normal. I was up every 1 to 2 hours right at first with my baby. They're tired and want to sleep, but they have small stomachs and breastmilk breaks down quickly in their system, so they must eat frequently. I promise that it gets better! Give it a couple of weeks and if he doesn't get better at being a more efficient nurser by then, contact a lactation consultant or La Leche League. But for right now, it's just something every new parent goes through. Good luck!
2006-12-25 02:29:17 · answer #4 · answered by Lacta-intactivist Mama! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
THAT'S THE WAY A BABY DOES! He will do this for a long time. Be patient. My son ate every 1 1/2-3 hours until he was 8 months old. He was a big 8 pounds 8.5 ounces at birth. It is normal. I strongly advise you to go get some books on breastfeeding.
2006-12-25 01:03:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most newborns will nurse for about fifteen minutes to a half hour and will eat every two hours. Most newborns are very deep sleepers once they are full or content and sometimes that means they will eat more often, unfortunatly! Yes, sleep will elude you for a while but it will get better.
Have you tried undressing the baby to wake him up? sometimes the air hitting the skin will wake them up. Also try putting him in somewhat of a sitting position while nursing.
Hopefully this helps.
2006-12-24 22:12:38 · answer #6 · answered by jujube 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
first of all congratulations!!!
my son did that too, after a month he probably found out how too eat more without less effort so he started to eat more and more, so that it became enough to make him sleep up to 8hours. just be patient, it's hard at the beginning but the baby is also in a completely new environement and he needs to get used to it first and he uses a lot more energy than he was used to(that makes him tired too!) and he needs to find out some little tricks p.ex how take his moms breast right, like i said eat more with less effort!!!
anyways, i hope i could help you out a little bit and i wish u and your wife all the best!!!
2006-12-24 23:36:38 · answer #7 · answered by mal_lam 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋