Falling asleep while feeding

[pixie_woo]

Hi

Can I pick your brains?
baby_woo is now 2 weeks & has suddenly started falling asleep while at the breast.
Previously he was feeding for a good 20-30 mins sometimes longer & would then sleep for about 4 hours, bliss! He now falls asleep after about 10mins and wakes up 1-2 hours later for another feed.
I have tried stroking him, tickling his feet, blowing on him, winding him and gently jiggling him but nothing stirs him enough for him to continue feeding.

Can anyone offer any other tips?

Thanks x

[burt one]

hi, my daughter was the same the midwife said that it could be because she also had a dummy which meant that she was getting lazy and confused! didnt try taking the dummy of her though as i had to stop breast feeding due to other problems!

[nat_84]

Hi pixie, if its any consolation Mia does the same! Very frustrating - so look forward to hopefully hearing more advice! Hope you're gorgeous little man's doing well x

[ELVIS68]

Hiya nat..congrats n all that x

[bowiefreak]

stroke the babies cheeck it stimulates the sucking reflex

[bigmamma]

Hi pixie and nat , may I ask what your milk supply is like ?
If you have new and full supply of plentiful milk it could be that if baby sucks well for 10 mins that they may be getting full quite quickly. Do you do the 10 mins on one side or swap sides to 5 each so as to ease both breasts ?
A new baby may well demand 2 hourly and it will be up to you and your midwife if you want to continue feeding on-demand or a strict 4 hourly regime.:-)

[artemisia]

You might also find that baby wants to feed on a more frequent basis during warmer weather as we have at the moment.

Milk is baby's drink as well as food, so in hot weather babies do tend to get thirsty more quickly, and therefore feed more often.

[pixie_woo]

Hi bigmamma

I feed from one side until he's completely full. I then offer the other breast on his next feed and and so on (alternate breasts). I was recommended to do this by the midwives as it ensures the baby gets a full supply of both fore- and hind-milk for thirst quenching & belly-filling purposes respectively.

I think he's waking cos he's not feeding long enough to get a proper fill of the hind-milk so he doesn't stay full for very long.

Hopefully its just a phase & he'll go back to 4 hourly feeds soon. I think he's too young to be subjected to a strict regime/routine so I'm feeding him as often as he wants.
I can sleep when I'm dead!

Thanks for all your answers x

[bigmamma]

Well done love , you are doing things right and baby is very new and still adjusting . I demand fed my little one and he fed 2 hrly often for the first couple of weeks but found his own way to extending the gap between feeds :-) x
Make sure you are getting good meals yourself to keep your strength up and snatch sleep when baby sleeps , don't be tempted to touch any housework in that precious rest period .

[nat_84]

I did post in the parenting forum about her vomiting a lot recently whilst changing back to breast milk as i had to give her formula for the first couple of days.

I'm now feeding for 5-10 minutes on each breast. Seems to be doing the job! x

[Psychick]

My daughter did this also. She would literally fall asleep after latching on! Then there was no waking her for more, two hours later she would be awake demanding another feed and the same thing would happen. All my midwife suggested was stripping her down to her nappy for feeding so she wasnt warm and comfy! I didnt like the idea of that but tried it anyway and she still went to sleep! lol Amazingly though she never lost weight.......even in the first few days to a week like babies normally do.

Im afraid after two weeks of no sleep and extremely sore boobs and nipples so painful I would wince and be in tears when she did feed......I gave in and put her on formula milk. I have to admit, it was the best thing I ever did! Almost immediatley she was on happily taking 4oz bottles and going 4 hours between feeds. Finally I was getting sleep!

Depsite all the problems, I will try breastfeeding again with the one on the way, hopefully it will be better this time. Sorry, no advice really other than if you feel like you cant do it anymore, like I couldnt, then change to formula as this may be the better option for baby and you.

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but just a thought, have you tried expressing and feeding baby with a bottle?

[Goodsoulette]

Bigmamma is the best place of information for this sort of stuff but mym mum lured me into breast feeding workshop demonstrations from when my second boy was just a week old. She decided that people needed to see it wasnt all joy to begin with and that you had to be stubborn and determined. I know that your milk supply changes to meet the babies needs, so she probably is getting the hind milk. Don't forget after 2 weeks they will have got better at sucking so probably don't need to do it for so long. He may not be sleeping so long due to a growth spurt and needing to feed more.

At 2 weeks I would have thought feeding on demand would be better for him. Its tiring, I know. His pattern s will keep changing over the next 6 months. I know with my youngest I wasnt getting more than 3 hours sleep at a time at night till he was established properly on solids.