Sleepy feeder, crying sleeper!!!

[punk_pig]

My two week old daughter falls asleep during feeds, usually only a few minutes in. I've tried all the tricks, undressing her, changing her, tickling feet ears cheek etc. , wiping her down with a cool cloth and nothing works for more than a few seconds. Of course within a few minutes of putting her down she wakes up and screams shaking her head side to side and rooting for the breast as soon as I pick her up. This frantic need to feed doesn't stop her falling asleep on the breast again though!! I thought perhaps my let down was slow so I expressed for the last couple of days to stimulate it and now my let down is painfully strong and almost choking her, but once she's got that first minute of milk down her she's not sucking properly and falling asleep. Aaaaarrgghh!!! She's a really small baby for full term too so I'm obsessing over her getting hind milk - she's not quite back to birth weight. Of course by the time I have settled her for a nap it's nearly time to wake her again for another feed. Any suggestions?

 

[hispanomum]

Did she stay awake longer when you fed her the expressed milk? Maybe you could try feeding her expressed milk from a bottle as that is not as comforting as the warmth of your breast?

 

[punk_pig]

She wasn't satisfied with the expressed milk and cried for the breast, but I'd only expressed 30ml and midwife said she may want nearer 40ml, or she may want the comfort. I'm scared if I express too much though I'll make milk supply get too big but I got easily 80ml this morning so I'll see how much satisfies her.

 

[punk_pig]

Ok this has gOt really bad now. BBy does nothing but scream unless on the breast but keeps falling asleep and detaching. Midwife says keep feeding her (when do I eat /sleep/ wee?) as she's obviously hungry but I'm not so sure she always is. She'll fall asleep on OH's chest for hours but nowhere else. Nothing I do comforts her except the breast butthey are sore now as she is literally on them all the time. I'm even getting bouts of cystitis because I'm not drinking or weeing enough. Help!

 

[Farie]

Set your self up on the sofa, 2lr of water, tasty drink, snacks galore and camp it out it will end. Try lanolin for your nipples and shields if it gets bad.
Just let her feed/sleep/feed, she's probably having a bit of a cluster feed and her tummy is still tiny small.

Hang in there

Ps - you'll learn to pee holding baby, it's an acquired skill but possible

 

[vaileasmama]

has ur baby got jaundice? mine would do this and its part of jaundice.. in which case give it time and it will pass x

 

[Fifi61467]

Oh sweetheart. Mine was doing the same last week and I felt like you. I hate to say most of the advice said go with it and just keep trying to wake her with various ideas. I was told he was gearing up for s growth spurt and it would improve.
You know what it has. He's four weeks now and much more settled with spaces between feeds. Go with the flow accept you can achieve nothing except feeding your baby. Have drinks phones snacks remotes near you and enjoy the cuddles. It will get better

 

[punk_pig]

Thanks guys. I'm getting happier with the idea of just keeping her with me all day and letting her feed as and when but I'm so terrified of falling asleep at night and dropping her/squashing her. What do I do? Last night she finally went down to sleep at 5:30 am after being on my breast since 1am.

What I don't understand is that she calmed down and slept on OH chest from 11:30 till 1am while he watched TV and probably would have stayed there if I hadn't had to take over so he could rest but nowhere else will she sleep anywhere near this amount - 10 mins maximum. If she's hungry why is she sleeping on him??