If baby nursed well in L&D, then I'll instruct mom to keep him close
(physically - skin to skin if possible) and watch for: REM, restlessness
or rooting and try to get him to feed again within 6-8 hours. I also
like to do what I call "baby massage" to wake a sleepy baby. Lay him
down, unwrap, do some ROM exercises and that will get you some level of
alertness. teach mom that a tightly wrapped baby will NOT wake up
spontaneously. I spend a great deal of time on normal newborn reflexes
and what baby really means with certain movements. Way too many moms say
"he doesn't want the breast" when baby is 1) held in bottle feeding
position,  2) rooting wildly but won't latch because the nipple is JUST
out of reach or 3) pushing against the breast because of how they are
being held. I laughingly say that in a couple of weeks baby will "leap"
for the breast but newborns are not able to do that because of immature
relexes so the baby needs some assistance to get nipple and mouth
connected. Boy, can you tell this pushed some buttons for me? It is too
easy to shove a bottle in their mouth since they will almost always
drink some of it.
Mary Kay Smith, IBCLC
Chicago IL

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