help for my sister...brand new baby

[Brianna]

My sister just gave birth yesterday to a beautiful little girl. She was induced (37 wks) due to high blood pressure and is still on Magnesium. The baby is very sluggish and seems to be uninterested in nursing. My sis is still in the hospital. I went to see her today and we were successful in getting babe to nurse for about 30 minutes on one side. I have a few questions for you wise ladies.

1) How often should a 1 day old nurse? The nurses at the hospital have told my sister not to worry if baby doesn't seem interested and to offer every 4 hours. That doesn't seem like enough to me. I told her to offer every two hours.

2.) How can you entice a baby that young to nurse? My sister's nurse gave my sister a bottle of formula and told her to douse her nipple in the formula to get baby interested in latching on. I have never heard of such a thing. I had my sister undress baby to wake her up. It did wake her up, but it also ticked my sweet little niece off. There has to be a better way.

3.) How many diapers should a one day old be making?

Any other advice you could offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you ladies.

**update

My sister went to the pedi yesterday, and pedi gave her a giant can of Enfamil. Pedi said she needs to supplement babe due to weight loss and jaundice. :tantrum: Luckily, my sister decided to wait one more day before supplementing, and today her little girl has gained an ounce and the jaundice levels went down a few points. Hopefully it will all be uphill from here. The baby was more fussy today and more alert. I think she is starting to get all the Magnesium out of her system

[majubee]

can she express some of the colostrum if she squeezes her nipple? maybe that would be the same idea as putting formula on the nipple. babies have the natural urge to suck so if baby starts sucking on her fingers or hands then I would take advantage of those moments and try to get baby to latch.

when my dd was born she latched on the first try, which I am told if normal if the breast is offered soon enough. but after that it was a struggle the first couple of days. I remember asking at what point would they make me give her a bottle if I couldn't get her to nurse again and I was told not to worry about it and they don't worry about for the first 24 hours. some babies take right to the breast and some babies are too tired from labor or meds mama was on so need to rest. but the breast should still be offered.

skin to skin contact is good for baby and mama.

every 2 hours, not every 4 hours. maybe that was a misunderstanding I hope.

[SingingMom]

Some babies are sluggish, sometimes because of residual [pain medication for labor. This will wear off; in your sister's case, it's also possible that the blood pressure medication could also contribute to the sluggishness.

So what to do? Well, while you wait for the medication to clear her system (which can take a while, and will take longer if the babe isn't nursing), you try all sorts of things. Undressing a baby is a good start. In fact, why not leave her undressed and snuggle her on momma's belly for warmth? The closer she is to the skin and the milk, the better.

I would offer every hour during the day. It doesn't do any harm, and may help. But, I think the nurses were right to tell you not to worry. It's okay if a little one doesn't latch on like a barracuda the first day. Just don't offer bottles or pacifiers, so that any sucking the little one does is at the breast.

Diapers. Diaper output varies widely. You're going to see more diapers when milk starts going into the baby. I would not worry a lot about that for the first twenty-four hours, either. If there were NO wet diapers after a day or two, that would concern me; but otherwise, I would not stress out about this, either. Some babies poop a bunch of times starting right away, and others take a while to start with this. A sleepy baby who's not yet interested in nursing a lot isn't going to poop a lot.

Sluggishness in a newborn is distressing, but it goes away. In a couple of days, your sister will be wishing the baby would sleep and take a break from nursing so that she can grab a shower or take a nap herself.

Congratulation, Auntie!

[FirstTimeMommy]

Congrats!!!! :)

I agree with the great advice above! I just wanted to add that the first days I offered my newborn very hour, that seemed to help us.

[Jmom1010]

Congrats. My friend's daughter just had a baby Tuesday and is having the same problems you are. She was induced and had pain meds. I gave her the same advice these ladies gave you. And the skin to skin is great. Oh and one more thing, take that 4 hours schedule and throw it out the window. Nurse every times the baby so much as makes any signs of hunger.

[Brianna]

Thanks for the advice. I will pass it on to my sister. My ds was an avid nurser from the start so I was a little concerned about her dd.

[Nipple_nectar]

Oy~ I had a baby while on magnesium and that is some nasty stuff! My DD was unable to form a good latch for four days and was extremely sleepy, we had a difficult time. My first piece of advice is get pumping. Have her pump for ten minutes every two hours after she offers the breast for nursing.

This will help her milk come in and will preserve her supply if baby is slow to feed/nurse. Have her continue pumping every two hours, during her wake time, every 3-4 hours while sleeping is okay until baby is efficiently nursing and emptying the breast on her own.

She can also do breast compression (www.kellymom.com/newman/15breast_compression.html) to help baby empty the breast easier.

Typically, you will only see one wet diaper on day one, two wet diapers on day two from babys birth and so on until the milk comes in.Once moms milk comes in, if baby is too sleepy to get the minimum six wet diapers in a 24 hour period, she needs to supplement with some expressed BM. Using a finger feeder is certainly a great choice among BFing friendly alternate feeding methods (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html) but hopefully, that baby will wake up enough to nurse for her.

This is also a good link to learn what to expect in the early weeks (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/newborn-nursing.html). Good luck!

[Brianna]

Thanks Nipple Nectar. I just came home from trying to help her. She is crying and upset. The baby won't wake up to eat. I would wake up the baby by undressing her. She would get screaming mad, then she latches on takes 2 to 3 sucks and is back asleep. I wish I knew how to help them both more. I thought about suggesting that she pump to help her milk come in, but I don't want her to start relying on the pump to judge output. I'm going to print up the info on the link you sent me and take them to her.

I'm also going to try to find a La Leche League leader who will come help her. The only LC's I can find are associated with the hospital and they really are not very helpful.

[Brianna]

bump for update

[RedheadbyChoice]

*sigh*

Thank goodness babe's on the right track........tell sis to keep nursing nursing nursing nursing! Offer all the time, lots of nekkid contact, no pacifiers, etc. Basically what singing mom and mrs r said. :)