Fussy/sleepy newborn - 36 weeker...tips needed

[sparky]

Hi everyone

Baby Isla is only 12 days old, we had a bit of trouble with skin to skin at birth as she was whipped away for me to be stitched so didnt get much immediate attention. I expressed a wee bit of colostrum for her first two days and luckily my milk came in on day 3 and i've been able to exclusivly express for her.

She was and still is extremely sleepy, we were told this was due to her prematurity..i really really want to bf, but she just falls asleep after a few seconds..MW thinks that shes not stong enough to get a good enough suckle going to get anything for herself.

She also takes AGES to take a bottle, i feed her every 3 hours...we're trying to get her back to her birth weight and shes sleeping too much for demand feeding just now. I offer her the breast first and strip her off, then we move onto the bottle, it can take 30 mins sometimes for her to take 2.5floz which is about as much as she can manage in one sitting...is she getting enough??? i'm worried that she isnt back to her birthweight...the health visitor said that they would like to see a bit more weight on her, apart from that shes healthly, not dehydrated and has grown in length and head circumfrunce.

Just wondered if anyone else had a similar experinace/tips to share?

Feels like the three hour lengthy feeds, preceeded with booby time and followed by expressing is endless!!

I can express more than i need, usually 5floz every 3 hours and will start to freeze that soon.

 

[Sherlock]

She may not be as strong as a baby who has a few more weeks in the womb. That might explain her nodding off on your boob so soon. Having to put the effort in when she does not have so much strength.

You sound like you are doing an amazing job though, the way you are going about it. Expressing isn't easy. The three hours to take a feed sounds normal to me tbh. To give you some idea, a newborn full term baby has a stomach the size of a walnut. So they can only fit in tiny amounts of milk. So taking a long time to take in x amount of fluid ozs isn't surprising. My LO used to have regular feeds lasting up to 3 hours in his early weeks. Then sleep for an hour and wake and we'd start the feed process all over again.

Keep going with her and the feeding. I'd say she is doing fine and it may take her a little while to build up strength to feed on her own off your boob.

I'd maybe look to feeding her a bit more often than every 3 hours if she is on breastmilk. It digests quicker than formula and when I was feeding Galen in the early weeks he'd often feed every 2 hours. Or less as I said above. She may take less if fed more often but it might give her more energy. Not saying you need to do it all the time, but perhaps if she had smaller feeds more often in the day you may find it less time consuming than trying to get a larger amount in to her tummy every 3 hours. If that makes sense. Just a suggestion.

Also what bottles and teats are you using? Something nipple shaped will hopefully encourage her to suck better on your boob. Also the flow might be too easy on the bottle and she may prefer the expressed milk from the bottle as she does not have to work so hard to get it out. I know she is early and of course you want her to have her milk but if the milk from the bottle just flows out without needing much work she may well prefer that Or maybe its a bit too hard for her to suck on so she is slow to feed. Things to consider and look in to maybe

Good luck and keep going. Were here to support you and I do hope she starts being a bit more wakeful for you as she gets bigger

 

[flowergirl]

It sounds as if you are doing everything right- try not to worry although I know it is an almost impossible task in the first few weeks!

I was actually impressed that you can get her to take 2.5oz- sometimes my 19 weeker will only take 3oz for a feed! Also when I was in hospital after having Kathryn there was a 35 week gestation baby in the bay opposite- her mum was able to bottle feed her 30ml at each feed at 1 week old which is about 1oz I think- it sounds to me as if your LO is right on track.

Well done for expressing- if you end up having to exclusively express then don't worry it gets easier getting the milk out- try learning how to hand express- I have used manual and electric pumps and neither beat me doiing it by hand! I am convinced that your LO will get better at breast feeding from you just go with what you are doing and as she becomes less sleepy she'll get better at sucking!