Help me help her please!

[Ilaria]

Someone on my expat group posted a message about looking for a pump to borrow because her newborn is having trouble BFing. I replied to her offering my support and aksing for more info. I want to help her succeed! (I don't know here, never met. But this country is NOT BF friendly and I wanted to 'get to her' before others did!) Here is how she replied in an email to me:


Here's the deal: 20 days old just doesn;t eat enough, can go for 6-7 hours without waking up and doesn't demand being fed at all. when mom tries to wake him up for nursing he seems really uninterested and falls quickly asleep. He seems all right other than that, but of course these unfrequent feedings result in him not gaining weight like he should. Yesterday she expressed some milk in the bottle and he took the whole 3 ounces. So they thought maybe breastfeeding is a little too difficult for him because bottle is easier. But all the same he went without feeding for almost 8 hours last night.....no problem breasfeeding first son.


Thanks so much!!

[REDBREAST]

Okay, did you ask her, or do you know what kind of birth did she have, were there any complications? Is she on any meds? Has she had her baby checked out by a ped? Is she giving her baby anything else besides breastmilk? Some things she could try to get the baby interested in nursing is, undressing him, tickling his feet and changing his diaper. I am very puzzled that she is asking for help now when he is 20 days old, that's almost a month!!!

Also this is her second breast-fed child, doesn't she know what's normal and what isn't? Oh, is she checking the baby's diapers, how much is he wetting? Also get her in touch with her local LLL chapter ASAP!!! A leader would be able to come and help her and while on the subject, has she visited a lactation consultant, if not I highly recommend one now, no like yesterday!!!

I am truly worried that there is something serious going on with her babe! Please let us know if this helped her and ds.

[Ilaria]

What I posted is all I know. I will ask her all these questions when I reply.
Don't some babies sleep long stretches from the beginning? (mine never did, both nursed around the clock...for years!)....Thanks so much for the reply!Anyone else?

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

My dc would sometimes sleep for 6+hrs right from day one but they would wake up very hungry and nurse frequently to make up for lost time.

I'm worried about the babe, if I were her I would see a dr or an LC.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

Also is he circed? I don't know if it would still be affecting him that long afterward, but I know that circed boys are often lethargec and have a hard time nursing for a while after the surgery.

[beanma]

some babies are just sleepy. she should wake him to nurse if he's not gaining enough. here are a few links --

http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/...epy_baby.shtml
http://www.mother-2-mother.com/cc-ba...m#SleepyBabies

http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleade...rMay04p27.html

if you do a search on the www.laleche.org website on "sleepy" you'll find tons of articles.

i would want to make sure he didn't have any palate issues (like an unnoticed cleft) or any other medical issues. if that all checked out i'd just keep offering and doing everything i could to get him to nurse. i wouldn't let him sleep that long if i could help it.