help please, 3 day old feeding constantly at night....

[lkb21]

Hi everyone, I really need.some advice....
My daughter is 3 days old, she feeds in the day every 3 hours, and sleeps in between, but the past 2 (soon to be 3) nights, she has fed almost constantly! I have literally been up all night! The thing is, she is feeding, fallin asleep at thr breast, bit as soom as i put her down to sleep she is rooting, hands in mouth, lip smacking, and will eventually cry if not fed again. So it starts again... She lazily feeds for 5 mins, falls asleep, I puther down, and she starts againaaaaallllll night! I am so determind to suceed at this, but as u can imagine i am shatteted and frustrated! I know im in for another long night, but howuch longer i cam do this for o Jus dont know.

Is this normal? any advice?

 

[Delamere19]

This could be written by me. My 4 day old is the same. I am desperate for advice too.

 

[tannembaum]

She could have her night and day mixed up, I'm not really an expert at this but I think it should sort its self out.
Or depending on your view on dummies you could always try one (as she could just be comfort sucking) Some people do believe dummies causes nipple confussion though so the choice is yours (FYI Elsie had a dummy from 2 weeks and feeds fine)

 

[lkb21]

She could have her night and day mixed up, I'm not really an expert at this but I think it should sort its self out.
Or depending on your view on dummies you could always try one (as she could just be comfort sucking) Some people do believe dummies causes nipple confussion though so the choice is yours (FYI Elsie had a dummy from 2 weeks and feeds fine)

I wasnt gonna give a dummie, but i tried her with one last night out of desperation! She wouldn't take it! X

 

[JASMAK]

Do you have your milk yet? Mine didn't come in until day four, so Kelana did the same. Try changing her diaper first and getting her a bit awake. All my babies fell asleep at the boob during the early days. Also, babies tend to suck alot when they are new, which helps with your milk supply.

 

[pinkandfluffy]

She could have her night and day mixed up, I'm not really an expert at this but I think it should sort its self out.
Or depending on your view on dummies you could always try one (as she could just be comfort sucking) Some people do believe dummies causes nipple confussion though so the choice is yours (FYI Elsie had a dummy from 2 weeks and feeds fine)

I wasnt gonna give a dummie, but i tried her with one last night out of desperation! She wouldn't take it! X

They don't seem to know what to do with it - we had to hold it in (not in a choking way or anything - if he wanted it out we let him!) til he figured out and he still sometimes forgets what to do? My LO comfort sucks a lot so we had to try. It also took a few diff dummies to find the right one

Dylan also had day / night mixed up, this improved over the first few weeks. now at week 6 and much better.

We also co-sleep now as could not get any sleep with him waking so often

 

[discoclare]

i can't offer any advice sorry. it does sound a bit to me like day and night are backwards as my LO sucked constantly during the day at the start but would sleep at night for 3 hour stints. i'm sure there are people on here who have given advice in the past on how to help them switch day and night around, so hopefully someone else will come in to help.

 

[lynnikins]

babys seem to be born with day and night backwards it does work itself out, my EJ was the same for the first week and he got himself sorted, i co-slept so i could get some rest inbetween and he started going longer between feeds at night ( from 45ish min - 2 hours -3hrs-4 hours ) over time after the 10 day growthspurt and was doing 6+hr stints by 3 1/2wks and 10hr streaches by 8wks,

as somone else said babies wont take dummys right away often as they have to learn what to do with it , it took us 2 days of holding it till he learnt to suck it properly and keep it in. but its so helpful, it allowed us to move him to his own bed by wk3 and has saved my head a few times lol

 

[pinkclaire]

This is really really normal. Night is the best time to stimulate your milk supply so they do this for the first few days. Then it tends to happen again at about 2 weeks.

I really wouldn't suggest giving a dummy at this stage because there is a reason why your LO is doing this. It does get easier I promise! Have you thought about co-sleeping? That really helped me as I could rest while James suckled and went through these periods.

The only thing I would suggest is to make it obviously night time, so dark room, little noise, as little distraction as possible and they soon realise it's night time.

What day did your milk come in? Xx

 

[freckleonear]

Completely normal newborn behaviour I'm afraid. It's exhausting but there's nothing wrong, so no need to worry.

Have you considered cosleeping? It can be done very safely and will give you some much needed rest. She will be much happier as she has been cosy inside you for 9 months and is now in a strange new world, it is only natural for her not to want to be apart from you yet.

Make sure that she is getting a good-length feed every few hours through the night. If she is too sleepy to feed properly, try tickling her hands and feet, blowing gently on her face or undressing her a bit.

When baby falls asleep at the breast, wait until she is in a deep sleep phase to put her down (this can take about 20 minutes) as then she is less likely to wake up.

At the moment she has no idea that day and night exist, she just knows that she needs something from you, whether that is food or simply comfort. She will eventually learn the difference and you can help her by keeping night feeds dark and quiet.

 

[Delamere19]

I was told on numerous occasions not to co sleep with baby. Even got given a leaflet about it.

 

[maybebaby3]

completely normal newborn behaviour! you have to ride it out i'm afraid!

 

[lkb21]

After posting last night, robyn slept much better. I go us to bed for 9 to gey a head start with my sleep, and i got about an hour and a half sleep between feeds.... I can tell u it felt like id slept for a week compared to the first few nights.
It seemed my milk came in last night too! So may get a little more sleep tonight. I love bf'in! Glad its getting easier!

Thank u so much for the advice everyone!

 

[venusrockstar]

my baby ate all day long everyday for about the first 6 weeks

 

[teal]

my baby ate all day long everyday for about the first 6 weeks

Same here! xx

 

[venusrockstar]

oh and co-sleeping is a life saver! It lets you get some sleep too.

 

[JASMAK]

Yeah, I co-sleep too. Kelana sleeps in her bassinett until her first feed, and then she stays in bed with me. LIFESAVER. Did it with all my babies.

 

[MelanieAnn]

Co-sleeping is a definate bad idea if either of you smoke (even if not in bed), if you are under the influence, if you are an especially deep sleeper (although most mums find they arouse much more easily than before babies) or morbidly obese. Also your bed needs to be prepared - no water beds, no chocking hazards, no way for baby to fall into a crevice or trap their heads.

BUT, if you do meet the guidelines (found here: https://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t102200.asp) then it's absolutely fine for a breastfeeding mum. Not so sure about FF mums - they don't tend to be in rhythum with their babies, they sleep differently, they aren't as intuitively in tune - and before you jump on me, there is research on bravewaves that backs this up for sleeping and FF - but for a BF mum it's absolutely fine, even recommended by WHO and Unicef: https://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/research_detail.asp?item=74. All BF mothers should be given the safe co-sleeping leaflet in hospital according to the baby friendly guidelines.

It is never safe to co sleep on a sofa or chair, and as BF makes you sleepy, probably not safe to do night feeds on a comfy chair; if you decide to get up to feed, do use a chair that will keep you awake for the whole feed.

I hope that's reassuring. There are lots of reasons why a blanket recommendation that co-sleeping is safe is untenable - but that's not to say that it would not be safe given the guidelines.

One final thought. SIDS rates are much, much lower in EBF babies. If it's a choice between giving a bottle of FF at night and co-sleeping, the rate of SIDS is lower with the co-sleep choice.

The most recent review of SIDS and sleeping had to exclude the category EBM and co-sleeping and following the guidelines - they couldn't find any deaths in that category, so they excluded the group from the study.

Melanie

 

[Heavenx]

My daughter is just over 2 weeks old, this is the first time I've managed to BF and still finding that night times are when she wants feeding most, I mentioned it to my mw just within the last hour when she came to weigh my daughter and she said as the others here have suggested that baby has day and night mixed up so I'm to keep her awake and feed her as often as possible during the day so that she'll sleep (hopefully) more during the night and go for longer periods between feeds during the night. It has got a little easier in these past couple of weeks but I'm still longing for a routine which I'm told should hopefully be around 6-8 weeks.

 

[JASMAK]

A little trick (well, not really a trick) that I do..when baby is hungry, feed your baby, but leave as many lights off as possible. Don't talk, be quiet and just business...your baby will soon learn the difference between night and day. Make day very different...lights, talking, cooing at your baby, lots of kisses etc.