I am also concerned about the sleepiness of newborns with the epidurals.
Babies are often too sleepy the second day. But my concern with accepting
sleepiness and poor nursing after 24 hours old is that often women leave the
hospital with a baby who is not nursing well and the mom isn't even aware of
the problem or what her baby should be doing. Then we have babies who are
3-4-5-6 days old with poor intake, poor stooling, signs of dehydration, and
over 7% weight loss. I see this time and time again. Some babies wake up and
get going on the nursing by days 2-3, but others seem to be unaware of how
to actively suck & transfer milk even on days 4-6. My guess is that these
babies aren't learning how to breastfeed properly in those first days due to
being so sleepy/drugged. We so often end up playing catch up. I wish
hospitals would show moms how to help baby learn to actively suck, to show
them signs of satiation in the baby, and what adequate diaper counts are.
Rather than normalizing poor nursing due to drugs in labor and delivery.
But, I also think many hospitals/doctors expect too much  for what the baby
should be eating the first 24 hours of  life.
Kathy Eng, IBCLC, SE Houston

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