Sleepy newborn

[masja]

Is there a typical amount of time a newbie spends sleeping? Dd2 (6 days old) literally sleeps all day and I have to wake to feed her. I'm so engorged and though as soon as she's awake she wants to nurse, she falls asleep within 10 minutes until the next time I have wake her. I don't remember my others sleeping so much except for dd1 who was quite jaundiced. Is there a normal range?

[keen1981]

It can be. How's weight gain?

[Lady_B]

Yes. They sleep a lot. Can you pump and save it?

[masja]

I have a dr apt tomorrow so I'll see if she's losing any. She has plenty of dirty diapers. I am getting a pump tomorrow as I don't want to end up with mastitis. She's just so laid back it seems off! Lol

[Almacham]

My youngest was like that. I literally had to set a timer and go wake her up to feed her. I'd get frustrated to the point of tears sometimes.

Have you tried getting her naked? When she starts dosing off, sit her up and unbutton her outfit - just strip her down to her diaper and pop her back on the boob. If she's anything like my babies she'll get ticked off and wake up a little more. When mine nursed I would also rub her cheek to keep her going.

Pumping helped a lot. It was tons of work and very frustrating but eventually my baby went on to become a great nurser.

I'd say if she has plenty of wet/dirty diapers she's most likely just fine.

[DottieHarley]

DD was like that... quite happy to sleep all day and let herself starve to death. I had to wake her to nurse, but at first had NO CLUE how to do so. We tried all the typical tricks but she was asleep by the time she latched on. Finally a night nurse at our pedi explained that we should not only wake her, but really P*** her off, lol, so that she was really, really awake. Once we did that (annoy her so she cried for a minute or so before latching on) she nursed longer - still super sleepy - and was better about waking herself up to nurse after that. GL mama, and congrats!

[Palooka]

Yup. My newborn slept all the time. In the hospital the 2nd day the nurses got mad at me because they said I wasn't feeding enough, and I finally showed one of them that babe would NOT wake up to eat! He just curled up and made a face when I tried to wake him for a feeding, meanwhile colostrum was literally dripping into his mouth while he slept.

Engorgement is normal too. It sucks and it hurts, but it'll get better after a few weeks when he's awake more and your breasts find their groove. If you are hurting or really need to nurse just hand express a bit, but don't empty the boob or your body will make more milk. Hand expressing is so easy, I wish someone had shown me how at first. Just place your fingers on your breast just above the nipple, nearly touching, and play with squeezing gently and rolling or sliding your fingers down. If you do this in a warm shower the results are amazing.

[mom1mg]

Hey Mama - is baby isn't jaundice already you sound like you could be heading that way.
Super sleepy and not feeding well leads quickly to jaundice.

I second the strip baby - get her cold and MAD. We had to get one of our little ones naked and put a cold cloth on him to keep him awake long enough to feed properly. The snuggles and foot wiggles we did with the other kids just weren't enough for that one child.

[isabelsmummy]

My dd1 was like that. The midwife was concerned that she was getting into a bad cycle of being sleepy and not eating and then being sleepy because she wasn't getting enough to eat.

I couldn't wake her either so she had me pumping and then getting more milk into her with one of those medicine syringes after nursing. Rather like feeding a kitten!

It just took a day or two and then she started waking like a normal newborn.

[keen1981]

Some babies 'shut down' too. From you overstimlulating them to wake. it's like they are in a coma. There used to be the best video on it in my lactation course but I can no longer find it!!!

Basically it's the gentlest methods that work. Easiest to be sure u are getting proper feeds for a few days is spend some time in the bath together. A baby skin to skin in a warm room in nice water usually always nurses.