Sleepy/lazy feeder. What do I do?

I have no experience of this. DDs 1 and 2 were absolute guzzlers but A is such a disinterested feeder. She will attach for maybe 3 minutes if I'm lucky and will either doze off and just tongue my nipple a bit, or just plain let go. Sometimes that's it and I can't get her to reattach at all, but then there are times like today where I swapped her from one breast to the other, with each having three goes (for some reason she won't reattach to the one she's only been on for a couple of minutes but will attach to the other). I'm tickling her chin, unwrapping her etc trying to keep her awake but its not very successful. My milk started coming in on the left side yesterday and I woke up this morning with milk definitely coming through both.

She's having a good amount of wet nappies each day so I'm assuming that she's getting enough. She's a little jaundiced today and the midwife who did our home visit wasn't worried so long as she "keeps feeding well". Not sure that she is in the first place though? She is incredibly content (shhhh, don't tell anyone in case it changes :p) and when she actually is wake she's very alert.

So is this something I should be concerned about, or am I now just experiencing a more relaxed girl?

I had this issue - DS was quite small (2.8kg) and a bit jaundiced. And he would fall asleep before eating enough. I expressed and EBM fed with 1 or 2 BF a day for the first 6 weeks or so. And in his case the sleepiness was actually a lack of milk.

I think that the better option is probably to feed her more often - waking her up every couple of hours during the day and at least once overnight and seeing how you go. It is likely that in a few days the jaundice and sleepiness will wear off and you will have a hungry baby again.

I would be trying to get her to feed more too, but easier said than done. When she wakes, and is alert, how does she feed then?

Does she seem to get a let down at all?

Is she pooing much? That's a better indicator of what's going in at this age.
Can you see her sucking change during the feed, from the quick sucks at the start to slower, more rythmic suck/swallow pattern?
My DD was very sleepy at the start - big change! - and I just made sure to wake her to feed 2 hourly during the day. She did feed well when she was on, mind you.

Maybe give the ABA a call - they can talk you through all the signs to watch so you can reassure yourself as to whether she's getting enough or you need to make changes. 1800-686-268

She is really little still, so it may just be a matter of a few days and little bit of effort and all will be fine.

She hasn't had a pooey nappy since Thursday.

She has constant but not overly fast sucking to start, but within 30 seconds to a minute has slowed to a suck suck pause suck suck pause sort of routine.

Thanks for the ABA details - I'll give them a call on Monday when they're open. I'm hoping its still just that she's so young, but am starting to move from being overjoyed at a sleeping, cruisy baby to worrying that she's sleeping too much. She is alert when she's awake - its just that she's really not awake very much at all!

I will try getting her to feed more often during the day.

Ah the joy of a newborn. All the stresses begin all over again. Thanks ladies. No doubt I'll be back with more questions/concerns.

Lulu, the ABA helpline is open 24 hours 7 days a week. It is run by volunteers, so middle of the night calls usually only for emergencies but there will be someone on this weekend. There is a blog by a LC that has some tips to encourage the sleepy baby.

Beware the Super Sleeper | KORA Organics Blog

It's 24 hours, 7 days a week Lulu. You can wait till 'business hours' if you prefer, but the helpline is there all the time if you need it.
She might just be a bit slow to start, but generally you'd expect several poos per day in the first 6 weeks or so.

DH has just said maybe her sleepiness is a result of the whopping cough vaccine I got, going into my milk and affecting her. He and I both had the booster on Wednesday pm and are both tired, so maybe?

Thanks again

i'm trying to remember - i had the WC booster this time but DD may have been more like 2 weeks old but i don't remember her being particularly sleepy after i had it.

hopefully some extra feeds during the day does the trick. but i can highly recommend the ABA counsellors - they were great when i rang with DS & i'm pretty sure i got through quickly even early on a sunday morning.

amazing how each BFing journey is different, hey?!

If there hasn't been a poo for several days then please call the ABA today, and feed as often as you possibly can. And be ready for the pooploding baby!

How's she going today hun?

Hi,
The aBA helpline is open 24/7 - so no need to wait til Monday! You can ring any time.
this is nothing to do with the whooping cough immunisation - but probably has a lot to do with the jaundice. Jaundiced babies are often sleepy and disorganised. You will find that she changes dramatically with frequent feeding, as the jaundice passes.
Make sure your little one feeds at least every 3 hours - both sides. You may find it useful to do breast compressions when she is feeding. This often keeps babies awake and interested for longer. While she is feeding, press the flat part of your fingers inwards and downwards on the breast - almost as though you are expressing into her mouth.
Usually it is pooey nappies that give the best indication that your baby is getting enough milk - and after day 5 she should be doing several per day.
Let us know how you are going

She spent over three hours on the breast last night with minimal breaks in between. Didn't hurt at all by the end of it ;-)

She had a huge meconium nappy around midnight and now has had more of a yellow pooey nappy early afternoon so hopefully that means things are getting on track. She's feeding for a bit longer now but I'm still not happy with her attachment - she latches on for a minute or two and then releases, only to latch back immediately and keeps doing that. When she reattaches herself its all wrong, but if I take her off to attach her properly then she gets cranky and won't attach. For the moment I'm letting her just stay on, but its taking a toll on my nipples.

I'm going to go and see the LC at the hospital on Thursday so hopefully we can sort something out.

That sounds promising. The attachment difficulties may be due to her sleepiness, too. Keep at it and it'll come good (soon hopefully!) - my DD was the same.

DS1 was a really lazy/sleepy feeder! He'd latch and come off and re-latch and come off and re-latch and come off and re-latch and come off and re-latch again! oh, and then add falling a sleep a gajillion times into the mix ... Feeds would take anything from 45-90 minutes. And then I would express.

The awesome news: he grew out of it ... eventually ...

The good news: there was plenty we could do to make sure he got enough in the interim.

With the latching and coming off and relatching, we tried different holds, holding him really close and tight, swaddling him in to keep him snug, etc ... we saw lactation consultants, we curved him around, we draped him over, we laid him down and fed from over the top, nothing helped ... he just stopped doing that though.

But he'd still fall asleep. So we'd rouse him incrementally - blowing in the face was the first step, then stroking the face, tickling the face, the toes, holding the hands, rubbing arms or legs or feet, unswaddling, unbuttoning, undressing altogether, changing the nappy between breasts, using a bit of pre-expressed milk in a syringe to stimulate him, squirting him with a bit of milk in his face, and all sorts of other things ... you'll learn what works to wake your bubba up :)

But we would basically always persist until he stopped feeding because he was actually finished (telling either by my boobs or his mood! Once he'd eaten enough, we'd let him feed to sleep of course) and his wet nappies, sleep and the like were never an issue.

But it was a bit of work ;)

But as I said, one day he just grew out of it.

Well we seem to have found the poo button. I'd forgotten the joy of the pooplosion while out shopping with baby in a carrier!

She has fed heaps today and for longer times per feed so crossing everything she's on her way.

Thnks for all the support

ahah! sounds good