newborn falling asleep while breastfeeding

[princessp]

My baby boy is 12 days old and breastfeeding has been going well so far. I am a first time mother so am new to all of this. For the first few days he was feeding little and often but about a week ago he started to feed well and we going about 3 hours between feeds. This was great as I was able to get some sleep through the night. He has regained his birth weight.

Yesterday he started wanting feeds every 30mins anf would feed for t mins and then fall asleep while feeding. When I try to put him down, he starts crying and looks for food. I don't know why he has changed..thinking maybe he is having growth spurt. But unsure whey he is falling asleep when on breast.

My MIL, Who is a nurse keep suggesting that I top him.up woth formula and asks 'do u thinking he is having enough milk form you'. I really do not want to give him formula for no reason. Mt argument is that he wouldn't be falling asleep at break is he was hungry.

I get the feeling my MIL wants me to introduce formula so that she can help put more. I think she feels put out that she can't babysit because of my breastfeeding.

 

[Maud]

Introducing formula will reduce your milk supply so, unless you want to stop breastfeeding, you should really try to avoid it.

It is totally normal for babies to fall asleep while feeding. They feel very comfortable and safe and milk has a soporific affect on them. There as things you can do to try to stop them falling asleep before they have had enough milk. Stroking their face, pressing their palms, pumping their arms (gently) up and down, squeezing the ear lobe, tickling feet - see what works best. It can also help to change their nappy between breasts to wake them back up.

 

[princessp]

Thank you.

No I don't want to introduce formula at all. I feel like I'm being pressured in to introducing formula or bottles expressed milk as family members want to be more involved in looking after baby. I keep hearing comments like, he is just using you as a dummy, he must need topping up. It's getting me down.

I have been reluctant to swap breasts as midwife said that they need to be on same breast for certain length of time to get hind milk. How long would you recommend om each breast?

 

[Maud]

There's no set answer as it depends on how efficiently baby suckles, how much milk is in your breasts etc.
This:
http://www.pah.nhs.uk/files/Suck Swallow pattern of a feed.jpg
is a useful diagram of how they tend to suckle though. Once baby stops noticeably swallowing you can try waking them back up and if that doesn't change anything then you should be fine to swap breasts.

It doesn't matter if you don't want to though. I fed on one at a time for the first few months because my daughter really struggled to latch on. Once she'd got it figured out we were able to do both in one feed.

The comment about using you as a dummy really annoys me. Baby uses the dummy as a boob replacement, not the other way around! Babies are meant to spend hours each day latched on. It's exhausting but totally normal and natural and breastfeeding mums need support to get through this period (it doesn't last forever I promise!)

 

[Rose83]

Hey, just wanted to say I totally get what you mean about family trying to pressure you. When I suggested that to my OH he said I was being a cow about people wanting to help but I said no it comes across as pressuring you to do something you don't want to. I know my SIL is really put out she can take my 8 week old daughter because I'm breast feeding. She has also expressed her opinion that her nephew from her other brother is small for his age because he was breast fed until he was two which is of course absurd. I don't know why family feel they have a right to babysit before you are ready to leave your child alone.

If you don't want to formula feed then absolutely do not listen to this 'top them up' rubbish. All the midwives I haven spoken to say this is completely the wrong thing to do, your baby suckling tells your body to produce what he needs, if you top him up with formula your body will never produce enough. It is so easy to feel like giving up when people around you aren't supportive but you just have to be stubborn and stick to what you want to do. At 8 weeks I am expressing almost all feeds because I have had thrush for 3 weeks and baby won't feed from me but she also isn't happy to settle to sleep unless she has snuggled me first (even her daddy isn't what she wants) so there is no way I'm leaving her alone with someone else. Also as awful as it sounds I wouldn't trust some of the family not to 'top up' my baby if she was crying and claim afterwards they had no choice when of course that would be rubbish! I know they fed the nephew things his mother specifically asked him not to be fed when he was starting to eat solids! X

 

[OMGbabyno3]

I remember first time round my LO always fell asleep. As well as stoking face, rubbing palms etc, HV told me to strip her down to nappy or vest (this time of year, inside) so she wasn't so super snugly and stayed awake longer.

It did help. X

 

[naomip]

As Maud has said it's totally normal for your little bow to fall asleep while feeding. And feeding little and often will help to increase your supply. I know it's hard but you have to have faith that your baby is definitely getting all he needs from your milk. There really is no need to top up with formula. I really do think there is a lot of unfair pressure on bf mums to top up with formula. As oh said your baby is gaining weight and so long as he has plenty of wet nappies, I wouldn't worry at all. I know what you mean about people wanting to feed the baby but those first few weeks of feeding are so important for you and the baby bonding. Also introducing a Bottle could lead to nipple confusion. I use to offer my lo both boobs but he only ever had one at a time until he was a few months old and had a bigger appetite x

 

[sorpresa_bea]

Princesp, as you know, my baby was born a couple days before yours, and I've been having the same problem. We tried all the waking up tricks: tickles, strip him down, stay in a cool room, talk to him, change nappy, burp, change side. Nothing stopped him from falling asleep within minutes and barely feeding. In our case, he's turned out to be so lazy that, even though he's been on the breast A LOT, he has not been getting what he needs at all. He's not been gaining weight and his behavior has been the worst since the first few days.

So finally, following the pediatrician advice, I have started to give him bottle from my expressed milk. Only started earlier today, but after the first bottle feed, he's finally settled and got the rest he needed. Let's see how things evolve from here and I'd like to try and combine bottle and breast if possible, but not sure if he will want to go back to the breast at all. We'll see.

Not saying this is the solution to the sleepy sucking problem. Just telling my experience and we'll see how we get on now. Hopefully yours will soon feed without falling asleep soon.

 

[Rose83]

Just in case you haven't come across them Medela bottles with the Calma teat are great for mimicking the way a breast fed baby feeds. It definitely made it easier for my little girl to continue doing some feeds from bottle with expressed and some from breast. The teat only lets milk through when baby creates a vacuum like they do on the breast. I started using tommee tippee and they were useless because they made her do no work for it and she got lazy on the breast. Once I switched bottles she was much better and milk wasn't running all over face! Google them for more info x

 

[sorpresa_bea]

I've actually got one of those as it came with the medela pump I have. I'm just using the avent bottle for starters but will give the calma a go next. Thanks for the pointer!

 

[MissyAK]

I've been having same issue with my son. This has really helped. Thank you x