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Breastfeeding
aly401
member
Waking from naps and latching issues- help!
aly401
member
I am having issues with getting lo to latch on. At first in the hospital she was great but now at home it takes forever to get her to latch on : (
The other issue is that I can NOT wake her to feed her- I have been told over and over that she needs to feed every 2-3 hrs but her naps can go to 4. I try so hard to wake her but I feel weird doing that. Does anyone else have this issue? I need help- thanks!!
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Re: Waking from naps and latching issues- help!
It's really important that they BF every 2-3 hours in the beginning, at least until they regain their birth weight. My DS was super sleepy the first couple weeks, and sometimes I had a really hard time waking him to nurse. The advice I was given by my pedi was to strip him down to his diaper to nurse, and gently flick the bottoms of his feet if he started to fall asleep. Also, I found that if I stopped and changed his diaper when he got sleepy, he woke right up! (I guess having someone wipe your bum with a cold, wet cloth will do that, eh?)
As for the latching issue... are your breasts engorged? Sometimes if they're super full, it makes it difficult for your LO to get a good latch. If that's the case, try nursing more frequently.
Good luck, and I HTH!
My DD was very sleepy during her early weeks and had a little bit of jaundice. It was hard to wake her from napping. We would take her clothes off, change her diaper, rub her legs, blow on her hair, flick the soles of her feet, etc. To keep her awake during nursing, I would kind of jog her leg up and down or constantly rub the back of her head. I realized that DD was sleeping a little too soundly during the day in her bouncy seat. If I put her in the pack n play bassinet, she woke more easily.
We also had some latch issues. If you could see or talk to a LC or a LLL leader, I would recommend doing so. A great tip that my LC gave me that helped with DD's latch: when her mouth was open, I touched her tongue with my nipple and then pulled her on right away. Another tip: you want to watch that your LO's ear is wiggling up and down to be sure that she is really sucking hard enough and swallowing.
Part of our latching problem was that I was engorged when my milk came in. Warm showers or compresses before nursing helps loosen things up and make it easier for your LO to latch. Pumping for a couple of minutes before nursing can help too.
Also, are you using a nursing pillow? I was using a Boppy at first and it didn't work well for us; the My Brest Friend pillow worked so much better and helped with latch, positioning, etc. It's more of a table-top style of pillow with an attached strap/belt, and with a newborn, you can fasten the pillow at almost chest level.
GL!