hello everyone. just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who is 16 days old today. AH she is fine health wise.. just got mild jaundice but doc said to put her in sunshine sometimes. i have a few problems that are really making motherhood challenging for me. i m a first time mother btw. please help me in understand wht is the prob and wot can i do:
unlike new borns my daughter is not sleepin most of the times. i heard newborns sleep at a strech 3-4 hours but not the case with her. she sleeps through the day but for an hour or more and nites are the WORST!!! she sleeps for merely half n hour or less.
i m breast feeding her. my nipples hurt but i still try to let her on my breast for atleast 10 mins for each feed. sometimes it hurt so bad i have to stop the suction and then she cries again. she cries alot and it seems like either her appetite is way too mch or maybe i m not satisfyin her or maybe i m not givin her milk for longer period of time like she wants.
3)as soon as i finish b feeding i try to burp her but she hardly burps. i put her on my shoulder and rub her gently and semi vigorously and then i try to put her down to sleep and she cries again. its drivin me insane cus she is hardly sleepin. even if i lay her down and she sleeps… she wakes up in few mins. i dunno wot i m doin wrong.
shud i feed her until she stops the suction herself?
sometimes she coughs while sleepin and i get so worried.. wots wrong? sometimes she takes out lil milk from her mouth too.
during sleep she moves her hands and legs alot and she is restless.. dusnt sleep like normal babies.
main concern is why is she not sleeping normally…?? why she is wakin up as soon as i put her down to sleep. she sleps nt more thn 30-50 mins at a time… plss helpmee, i m hvin slepless nites cus as soon as she cries even aftyr a feed i put on my nipple again to feed her
as my baby was pre term I did not face many things that u r facing like breast feeding and baby not sleeping well …but I am sure there are many mommy’s out here that will help u out.
one thing that I learned from NICU to keep your baby on shoulder for at least 10 mins after feeding. I religiously followed this advise as when my daughter was in ward a baby was choked because his mom didn’t put him on her shoulder at all after the feed…it was very scary thank God the baby was saved.
may Allah bless your baby with healthy and long life ameen …what did u name her ?
6) during sleep she moves her hands and legs alot and she is restless.. dusnt sleep like normal babies.
The mommies can give the best advice - but I know my sister was a great fan of swaddling her little ones. It keeps the baby "cocooned" and makes them feel like they're back in the womb, plus it keeps their hands and feet tightly wrapped so that so they don't startle themselves awake.
we named her enaya thanks i will def try to keep her on my shoulder after every feed. the prb is she is soo demandin and cries a min aftr every feed and i m back to square one feedin her again thaz y i try to skip the burpin session. i guess i m not feedin her mch .. merely 10 mins each feed.
my daughter stops drinking milk when she wants to burp I think same goes for all babies they wouldn't drink if they need to burp so I don't think you need to worry about that once she is full then put her on your shoulder. till 2-3 months babies have alot of sleeping problem due to colic. my daughter experienced colic till she was 4 months.
My first son had similar issues. When you get sore nipples, its usually due to a poor latching-on. Do you have a lactation consultant available to you? If you arent sure, google the term "la leche league" and you will find all sorts of helpful info and consultants that can help. If baby can't latch on properly, yournipples will get really sore and baby will vigourously attempt but fail to get enough to eat, so get tired but never full...so the cycle continues.
Burping...number one son took sometimes 20 minutes!!! Thats a long time!! But once you remind yourself that the baby needs to audibly burp after a feed no matter HOW long it takes, things should get at least abit better.
GERD (reflux) is very common in infants. The LES muscle (t e muscle that keeps food inthe stomach) can be weak and open up, allowing milk and stomach acids to flow up the esophagus. This burns and baby will cry and be in pain. This condition usually resolves on its own, the LES muscle matures by one year of age. Meantime, you may want to have baby evaluated for GERD, some antacids mayhelp. Also helpful is to raise their head while sleeping - put a folded blanket under the head of the crib mattress. Warm towel on tummy after eating. Biscycle baby's legs. Bounccy seat with a vibrator option.
Ah the joys of motherhood. Congratulations :)
Don't fret about milk supply, it will increase with time ..... you're producing enough based on how much she needs. For sore nipples, use lanolin regularly to condition them (its totally safe for breastfeeding) and also use nipple shields, those help a lot. Let her suckle for as long as she's actually drinking milk, when she starts getting distracted and starts you know sort of playing, that means she's full so time to burp :)
My daughter also used to wake up every 1.5 to 2 hours to feed, I felt like a cow... feeding her all the time, so thats pretty normal too.
That’s pretty typical. Some people recommend keeping them in dim light during the day so they open their eyes more often, which may make them more likely to sleep at night. It’s worth a try, I guess. My daughter did not sleep for long stretches, eventho she was a very sleepy baby. Her feeds would just take soooo long!
As M03 mentioned, she may have a poor latch. A lactation consultant will be a great help to you. Talk to your doc or the pediatrician about locating one. In the US most hospitals have them on staff. Mine would happily give me advice even two months after the birth. Anyway, for temporary relief try applying lanolin creme that comes especially for nursing moms. It’s supposed to help.
But let me tell you, feeding a newborn is really the most stressful thing I’ve ever had to deal with. It’s hard to tell when they are full. When they are just nursing for comfort. When they are sleepy, etc. As they get older, it becomes a little bit easier to differentiate, but with newborns it’s tough, and I was in a very similar position, just constantly feeding because when I took her off she would cry. My milk came in late so I would also supplement and we got in a habit of nursing and then taking 1-2ounces of formula afterwards. I’m not sure she really needed it. Sometimes maybe, but most of the time it was me misreading her issues.
Plus they fall asleep on the breast all nice and cozy and don’t want to sleep when you put them down. It makes everything very frustrating. I totally understand. After you’ve nursed her, try to give her a pacifier to see if she’s just nursing for comfort. I was really against them for a while, but they really are not problematic in most cases.
Breastfeeding is really stressful. DO NOT feel like you have to do everything like others tell you to. It works differently for each mom and each baby. Just try the different things people suggest to try to figure out what’s right for the two of you. There’s no magical formula. So don’t feel like you have to follow all of this.
Many doctors do recommend letting the child nurse as long as she will on the first breast (to make sure there’s a good balance of foremilk and hindmilk) and then cap it at 10-15minutes on the second side. But also remember, if she’s nursing, she needs to be latched properly, with her mouth pretty open to latch on well to your breast. When she’s sleepy and satisfied, she will continue to suck, but it’s softer and it’s comfort sucking. You can take her off if that’s all she’s doing.
Burping is pretty important, HOWEVER my pediatrician said that many BFing babies will not need to burp because they have a good latch and no air gets in. Mine always needs to burp. She also has reflux and so we need to burp her pretty frequently and keep her upright. Here doctors and nurses don’t recommend the shoulder burp too frequently. They recommend putting baby in a seating position, supporting the head/chin with one hand, and then leaning her forward and patting her gently on the back to get the air out. It keeps the stomach from getting too much pressure, which lessens spitting up.
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See above.
That’s very likely reflux, which can be just a minor issue. Burp frequently. And try to do more frequent feedings where she consumes less in one go. Let your doctor know.
As others said, swaddle her tightly when she sleeps. It helps them feel secure. You can get special swaddling blankets that fasten tightly closed, or you can just use a regular blanket (place like a diamond, fold down top corner for baby’s head, tuck one side around and then the other – there are probably youtube videos for how to do this best)
Being a new mom is tough, but it gets better as you and baby become more familiar with your new lives.
... she is just 16 days old and are you sure u r having enough milk production already? have u tried pumping to see how much u r producing? 10mins on each side is way too less .. u should have her atleast 20min or plus on each side for now..... whatever u had described, it seems like she is just not having enough feed thats y she is restless or not sleeping properly.....
and yeah breastfeeding is really really stressful and painful ... but look at us, we all gone through with it and have survived :-)
Though I am not THAT experienced mom (my doll is 1.5 months old mashallah, a bot older than yours). Before answering your querries, let me tell you that your baby is young enough, give her some time to understand you and the outer world, and give yourself time too.. I too had same issues, rather i still have some, but most of them are reslolved now with time, and others I knew the reason of... So give you and your baby some time, maybe after like 1 month you are here able to reply someone else's questions. lol
1) unlike new borns my daughter is not sleepin most of the times. i heard newborns sleep at a strech 3-4 hours but not the case with her. she sleeps through the day but for an hour or more and nites are the WORST!!! she sleeps for merely half n hour or less. No issue with me like this... she wakes up only if she is hungry... But dont make her used to of any habit like putting her in your lap or shoulder ALL the time when she is up. Because you couldnt continue this..
2) i m breast feeding her. my nipples hurt but i still try to let her on my breast for atleast 10 mins for each feed. sometimes it hurt so bad i have to stop the suction and then she cries again. she cries alot and it seems like either her appetite is way too mch or maybe i m not satisfyin her or maybe i m not givin her milk for longer period of time like she wants.
*You are doing good.. But dont detach her from breast by presuming that she is full, she maynot.. My baby cries alot when I do so. Sometimes you see the baby SEEMS sleepy wth your nipple in her mouth, which she isnt. All i do is even if she seems sleepy I still dont detach her for another 5 mins, to ensure... *
You dont have enough milk supply? you arent satisfying her? is the common worry ( i still have this) but have trust in you... BTW I havent put my doll solely on bmilk, i gave her 2-4 ounces a day of formula.
3)as soon as i finish b feeding i try to burp her but she hardly burps. i put her on my shoulder and rub her gently and semi vigorously and then i try to put her down to sleep and she cries again. its drivin me insane cus she is hardly sleepin. even if i lay her down and she sleeps... she wakes up in few mins. i dunno wot i m doin wrong. Burping at nights is the TOUGHEST!... her doc told me that put her for burp for 5 mins, and even if she dont, still then its ok, her food is down to to food pipe... But in case of hers she takes lot much time to burp if i fed her with formula, bmilk digests fasts.
4) shud i feed her until she stops the suction herself? YES
5) sometimes she coughs while sleepin and i get so worried.. wots wrong? sometimes she takes out lil milk from her mouth too. Coughing once or twice is ok, my baby did the same. Spitting little milk is fine too.. Like my baby stored some milk (like 2 tbsp) in her mouth, and spits out while sleeping, or she did so when i over dosed her... but if she spits out LARGE quantities right after you fed her is the thing to worry for...
6) during sleep she moves her hands and legs alot and she is restless.. dusnt sleep like normal babies.
main concern is why is she not sleeping normally...?? why she is wakin up as soon as i put her down to sleep. she sleps nt more thn 30-50 mins at a time... plss helpmee,, i m hvin slepless nites cus as soon as she cries even aftyr a feed i put on my nipple again to feed her Like i tied up with a wrapping shield tightly, so that she cant move her legs and arms, she sleeps calmy in that... And now i knew her waking timings...
Mind it baby cries mainly of two reasons; she is hungry, she is sleepy... to check out which of the two probs your baby is having, put your finger near her mouth (hope your hands are sanitised) or tap your finger in either of her cheeks near her lips, if she snatched towards that finger, she s hungry... otherwise sleepy.
And relax, enjoy the moments, after sometime you got to know about her moves... and yeah congratulations! waiting for your story BTW
congratulations hun! enjoy every moment with your new born even though you are exhausted and don't have much time to do anything else! My daughter didn't sleep well at all when she was born... she use to sleep for 2 hours or so and get up for a feeding.. but alhumdulliah after a few months she started sleeping with a strech of 4 hours or so. Like everyone else says give the baby time to adapt to you and outerworld. it may take her few weeks to days to figure out day and night and you'll figure out as well when she is hungry and when she is tired.. don't worry when my daughter was born i worried over every small thing as well.. it's a mom thing :)..
firstly congratulations....I was in pain while breast feeding in the begining and hated it.Then a friend of mine suggested i use lansinoh (brand name for lanolin) breast feeding mothers.Its safe for the baby and belive me gave me relief from sore nipples almost immediately.Its almost going to be 2yrs in july and iam still breasfeeding and loving it.
Congratulations!
thanks i will def try to keep her on my shoulder after every feed. the prb is she is soo demandin and cries a min aftr every feed and i m back to square one feedin her again thaz y i try to skip the burpin session. i guess i m not feedin her mch .. merely 10 mins each feed.