Newborn nursing question

[luckytwenty]

Hi from the hospital!! My little guy is doing great with nursing--it's day 3 and my milk is transitioning in, and there are dirty diapers galore. But he doesn't nurse every 2 hours. Sometimes it's every hour, sometimes it's 3 or 4. He last nursed at 8 a.m. for about 40 minutes and is happily asleep. I've been getting conflicting info from the nurses. Some are saying I need to do every 2 hours no matter what. But because he's doing well, I'm not sure if that's necessary?? My instincts are kind of saying to follow HIS lead here...although his lead would also suggest I not even bother offering my left breast, so maybe not so much...:-P

[egoldber]

Congrats!!!!

With a newborn, I would wake him every 2 hours to feed. Not every infant gets that memo that they need to nurse early and often to ensure a full milk supply. :) In a few weeks, I would be less worried.

[tiapam]

Congratulations! Is this your first?

I would follow your instincts *and* his lead. With my first DC, I found the nurse helpful for getting me started, but after that, not so much. We nursed till age 3. With DC#2 I didn't ask for nor receive advice from nurses on breastfeeding. When the LC came, I could tell she thought my technique was sloppy but she didn't argue with success!

Listen for the voice in your head - that's your mommy instinct. It helped me stand up to a witchy anti-BF nurse when DD was barely two days old and I was recovering from my C Section.

[brittone2]

Congrats!!!!

With a newborn, I would wake him every 2 hours to feed. Not every infant gets that memo that they need to nurse early and often to ensure a full milk supply. :) In a few weeks, I would be less worried.

:yeahthat:

IME better to err on the side of offering at least every 2 hours. DS1 and DS2 were both really sleepy in the beginning and I had to really get them awake to nurse.

Once your supply is more established and baby shows a solid pattern of weight gain, I'd be inclined to relax a little more about it. Some moms and babies do fine with going longer than say every 2 hours, but you don't always know which camp you'll fall into until after the fact. Better IMO to err on the side of waking them and nursing more often just in case.

[AnnieW625]

I am in the follow his lead camp! I know it's not popular here but I would never wake a sleeping baby to feed. I don't have much other advice to give as I had low supply with both babies and would even pump those missed feedings while they were sleeping and it didn't help much.

Congratulations on the birth of your little guy, and honestly before worrying about how much, and how often you need to be feeding him enjoy your time with him while he is sleeping and get lots of rest.

[brittone2]

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/t024800.asp
http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/waking_a_sleepy_baby.shtml

From the above:
Mothers are often told to wake their newborn for feedings every two hours, and there is a very good reason for this. Newborns are notorious for sleeping through feedings, and it is easy to assume that a sleepy baby is a full, satisfied baby. This is not always the case with newborns (I define newborns as babies two weeks old or younger). Demand feeding begins after the baby is a couple of weeks old, has regained his birth-weight, and your milk supply is well established. A healthy baby who is older than two weeks is not going to sleep through feedings -he will most definitely let you know when he is hungry! However, you can't assume that a newborn will let you know when he needs to eat, and that's why it is important to wake him for feedings.

[daisymommy]

Just remember, the more you nurse, the more milk you will make!

[elephantmeg]

during the day wake every 2ish hours, at night every 3-4 is fine, that was always my rule :) The reccomendation is 8-12 nursing sessions a day and I prefer mine during the day and not at night!

[brittone2]

during the day wake every 2ish hours, at night every 3-4 is fine, that was always my rule :) The reccomendation is 8-12 nursing sessions a day and I prefer mine during the day and not at night!

Same here. I should have qualified my every 2 hour advice :) If you can get 3-4 hours at night, go for it!!

[momm]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay for a healthy baby and happy mom!

My pedi told me the same thing.. to wake him up every couple of hours in the day and every 3-4 hours in the night, as newborns might sleep through hunger as they do not know better.
It can't hurt, as it's only for a couple of weeks anyway.

Good luck!!

[lalasmama]

Congratulations! It sounds like you have a lot of support at the hospital (sorry its conflicting!), and like you are really committed to nursing!

As an LC student, we actually had this conversation yesterday! I did a report on sleepy babies and nursing that I had to present....

When babies are new (like a previous post said, under 2 weeks old), it's common for them to happily sleep right through a feeding. It's common for them to make up those missed feedings later (like when it's dark out and you are craving some quality sleep time). One stretch of 4 hours (in a 24-hour clock) between nursings is fine. Also remember that babies will want to sleep more after procedures, so if he had a circumcision today, he may be more sleepy.

During the day, I'm a fan of waking every 2 hours for a few reasons. (1) Babies learn to nurse by nursing. (2) At 3 days old, their tummies are the size of a large marble, so it's not a case of "skipping a meal and eating more next time"--his belly isn't big enough to "binge" like an adult would do. (3) Even with pooping and peeing, it can be hard to tell a content and sleepy baby from a hungry sleepy baby. (4) As milk is coming in, engorgement can be avoided with frequent nursings--and, let's be fair, do you really *want* to experience engorgement?!? (5) Its easier for babies to learn to nurse before and as milk is coming in, rather than trying to figure out a full breast spraying them, or a full breast that is too hard to latch onto well.

As far as not liking the left breast, have you tried nursing him on the left breast in the same position as he nurses on the right? (For instance, if you're doing a cradle hold on the right, move to a clutch hold on the left.) Some babies just don't like certain breasts in certain positions! Apparently, MIL says my SO was like this. Left breast had to be the second one offered, in the same position as the right side.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I only woke baby to nurse if it was more than 3-4 hours during the day. My goal was always 10-12 feedings in 24 hours. With cluster nursing at night I found that some longer stretches here and there were made up for just fine!! No one ever told me the 2 hour thing, btw. Isn't it interesting how some of us have certain "rules" drilled into them while others don't know them at all? I had a great supply with both boys.

I nursed ds1 cross cradle on one side, football on the other. Keep experimenting.

Beth

[luckytwenty]

I don't know...I think he is doing OK. He had a similar "pattern" if you could call it that today. It was pretty much impossible to wake him in the a.m. (I'd get a minute out of him and he'd conk out) then he wanted to nurse pretty much on the hour from 1 pm on and now is finally sleeping again for more than a half hour. He's got dirty diapers every other change and is a big guy (8 lbs 9 oz). I'm going to give it a few days and see--he's just so hard to wake (and believe me I tried) but nurses for such longer stretches otherwise that I wonder if the "morning" to me (7 am to 1 pm) is what his "night" is in terms of going a long stretch.

[luckytwenty]

As far as not liking the left breast, have you tried nursing him on the left breast in the same position as he nurses on the right? (For instance, if you're doing a cradle hold on the right, move to a clutch hold on the left.) Some babies just don't like certain breasts in certain positions! Apparently, MIL says my SO was like this. Left breast had to be the second one offered, in the same position as the right side.

I hadn't tried that but I will. I'd been doing cradle for both sides, but actually could try football with enough pillows.

There's so much debate on the every 2 hours thing...I'll have to see how it goes. I feel like in the past I had more "textbook" nursers and if anything, worried about them needing to nurse constantly, so this irregular pattern thing (cluster and long stretches) is new to me!

[fumofu]

Seems like you've gotten a lot of advice here already.

Just wanted to say Congratulations!

[citymama]

Congrats on baby #3!!:boogie:So exciting.

I think somewhere between nurse him every 2 hours and follow your gut. Maybe when he's home and established a feeding pattern, follow his lead/your gut. Right now, he does need the milk, so nurse every couple of hours. You don't need to wake him though - IIRC, they can sleep right thru it, or fall right back asleep after nursing!

Enjoy this precious time!

[erosenst]

In addition to the "he may not know he's hungry" thought, my ped (who was generally laid back about most things) strongly suggested feeding every two hours during the time I'd normally be awake - it helps babies differentiate day from night. It worked - we avoided the "up all night, asleep all day" stage. It also can help babies learn to cluster feed as they get slightly older, and start sleeping longer at night. DD was awake at least every 3 hours at night at first, but was at 5 hours by 5 weeks, 8 hours by 8 weeks, and 10-12 by 12 weeks.

And congrats!

[daisymommy]

Oh, and I almost forgot one more important reason to nurse as frequently as possible--to clear out the meconium so they don't develop jaundice!

[newg]

For both DD1 and DD2, I had to undress them to get them to wake up enough to nurse. After they were a few weeks old I was able to stop. Being "naked" (only a diaper) really got them to wake up.