Newborn, do we have a problem?

[lau86]

My baby is nearly 3 days old now and had a really good first feed, she was on for about 3 hours (she just cried when I tried to take her off). Since then I've been worrying as she doesn't wake for any feeds. I always have to set my alarm. She's worse at night and when I try to put her on she sucks with no enthusiasm then falls asleep. She has had around 4 poos but none in the last 24 hours id say, she is having better wet nappies but her wee was dark last night.
I rang the midwife yesterday and she told me to hand express and give a bottle which I did and then she picked up as I fed her every two hours. I've expressed again today and got 30ml from both sides which looks more like colostrum still. is her sleepiness a problem? I would say her sucking is a bit rubbish but she is going on. I don't know what to do...

 

[MummyKP]

I set an alarm to feed my lo every 4 hours for the first 7-10 days. Sometimes she woke, sometimes I had to wake her. My lo also didn't have a dirty nappy for a couple of days from day 3, took her until day 6/7 to poo again, and then there was no stopping her. Think that's quite normal for a bf baby. Before feeding her, try changing her nappy, this worked for us in those early sleepy days. You sound like you're doing great. Has your milk come in yet?

 

[noon_child]

Recommended to set an alarm to feed LO every 2hrs until back to birthweight here in UK!

I'd say it sounds like although she is on she isn't necessarily actively feeding (the dark wee and no poo could be a sign of that). What colour was her last poo?

While it is fine to leave a baby on the breast comfort/flutter sucking, it should be after they have had a good active feed. It is very common for them to be too sleepy to actively suck in the early days (especially if medicated during labour). Try to keep her actively sucking and swallowing (can you see/hear her swallow) by jiggling/tickling her everytime her sucking slows down. Like pp said getting them changed out of their clothes can help wake them a bit and of course this means you can do skin to skin which will encourage your milk to come in.

Sounds like you are doing great by hand expressing to make sure she is getting some. Remember her tummy is only about 10mls so she'll need little and often at the moment.

 

[jlw617]

Totally normal to have to wake baby to feed and yes you should probably be waking her every 2 hours until she's back to her birth weight, I wouldn't worry too much about the poopy diapers but if she doesn't have more wet diapers very soon you may need to bring her in as it could be dehydration. Are you doing breast compressions whe she nurses?

 

[Qmama79]

It's possible she isn't sucking efficiently & bf can exhaust before she gets enough. I had it happen with my first & he was fed instead with expressed milk & formula bottles fr 2 weeks. After that he went back on breast without issues. He was 4 weeks early though. He was just a tad too young & weak. MW first advised to bf, then bottle him but even that was too much. It was only after he gained weight that he was strong enough to bf. I too had to wake him ever 2 hs. It's hard going, but it'll get better.

 

[lau86]

Thanks for the advice everyone, my ds2 was sooooo hungry so I didn't predict this issue at all. She's woken up more and her wet nappies are much better, she still hasn't done a poo but she's being weighed tomorrow so I'll see what happens there.