Beyond Frustrated. Help Please.

lacyj3

My son is almost 3 weeks old and the past few days have been a nightmare, today especially. He gives me hunger cues so I put him to the breast, he nurses and falls asleep so I am assuming he is done and I put him down to nap. Twenty minutes later he is up and screaming because he wants to eat again, so I put him on the breast.. and repeat. All day long. I know they go through a growth spurt around this time but can he really be that hungry? Maybe he is not getting enough from my breast? I don't know what to do. I feel like he is just attached to my breast and not getting what he needs. What do you think?

acalan13

If he keeps falling asleep, I would strip him.  That will keep him more alert.  If he is still drowsy, put a cold wet washcloth on him.  Give it a try...Our LO used to fall asleep and we recently were able to feed her with clothes....lol

tokenhoser

If he's making the usual amount of wet/dirty diapers, he's getting enough. Milk in, pee/poo out.

Yes, he can need to eat that often. It's normal. It will get better within a few more days. All you should plan to do for the first 6 weeks is feed the baby, feed yourself, and rest. 

s00z

acalan13:

If he keeps falling asleep, I would strip him.  That will keep him more alert.  If he is still drowsy, put a cold wet washcloth on him.  Give it a try...Our LO used to fall asleep and we recently were able to feed her with clothes....lol

All of this, and I used to sit right in front of a fan. That was the only way I could keep her awake. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't and had to feed her again in 30 minutes. I think I felt like I was constantly feeding her for the first 6 weeks!

Like PP said, as long as he is having enough wet and dirty diapers, he is eating enough. They are just eating and sleeping machines at that age. It will get better and easier. GL!

JWSchwarz

I would talk to a lactation specialist to see if you're on the tight track. I've been working with one from my pediatricians office and was surprised they are not always done when you think they are because it's common to take a small break during a feeding. After working with the lactation specialist for one day my feedings went from 15-20 minutes to 30-45 minutes and more predictable schedule.

MamaAllison

acalan13:

If he keeps falling asleep, I would strip him.  That will keep him more alert.  If he is still drowsy, put a cold wet washcloth on him.  Give it a try...Our LO used to fall asleep and we recently were able to feed her with clothes....lol

 Good advice and us too! At about 8 weeks my mom was like, is Evie ever going to get to keep her clothes on to eat? Haha 

lacyj3

Thanks everyone I really appreciate all the advice!

bellaree1

My son did the same thing and I just kept him on the boob, trying to keep him awake of course.  I felt bad because I was sure i was out of milk, but this is so important for establishing your supply. Even if he isnt getting anything its the stimulation that counts bc your body is being told to produce more milk.  I noticed he did this mainly from early evening to midnight... it was exhausting but so worth it and lasted a few weeks.  He is 11 mos now and still only gets breastmilk from the breast.

kylayton

I remember my baby doing that and it was so frustrating not knowing if he was getting enough.  Just keep on feeding him. Like PP said, if he is wetting and dirtying diapers he is getting enough.  Things will get better!  

haziedaze

This was when my boppy and ringsling were lifesavers! If I could sit and relax I would let DS fall asleep on the boppy, that way when he woke up the boob was right there. After getting him latched I could be pretty hands free. If I had to get stuff done, I would put him tummy to tummy in the ringsling. When he was hungry I would loosen the sling, sit down, and let him nurse. When he popped off I could tighten it again and be good to go. I eventually learned how to nurse in the sling, although I still prefer to sit down.

lishlaw

One thing that worked for me was playing with his toes or touching his cheek every time he started to fall asleep. He'd wake up and be like "oh yeah, I was eating!" and go right back to nursing.

Summer20

Everyone's advice has been great.  I just wanted to say "hang in there".  BF is damn hard!  It is a lot of work and as soon as you get into a good groove it seems like something else comes along and throws things off again.  Actually, everything with babies is like that!  Just try remember that your current situation is probably not going to last long.  This applies to both good and bad phases.  Babies change sooo much in the first few months, it's such a roller coaster.  If you can just hang on for 3-4 months, things finally start to level out and by 6 months you'll feel like you've really found your groove.  Those first few months will soon seem like a distant memory, I promise! (I need to keep reminding myself of this too.)

Hang in there, Mama, you can do this! 

ns1

DD was the exact same way, and she's not doing it anymore, and she's healthy as can be, and bf'ing is going great! 

It sounds like everything's going as it should.  Bf'ing seems to take up your entire life the first few weeks / month, and I think that's pretty normal!