Tips for Waking Up a Sleepy Newborn to Nurse
Sometimes, it’s difficult to wake up a sleepy newborn. This is important to address because newborns should be fed at least every 3 hours in the first few weeks. Keeping them awake during a good 15-20 minute feeding is important to making sure they get as full a feeding as possible. Here are a few ways you can help wake up your sleepy newborn.
- Breastfeed in a well-lit room while sitting up right
- Hold baby skin to skin
- Undress your baby
- Change their diaper
- Tickle their feet
- Rub their back
- Put a cool cloth on their forehead
- Express drops of colostrum into baby’s mouth for him to smell and taste
- Gently squeeze or massage your whole breast while baby sucks to increase the flow of colostrum
- If your baby is too sleepy and not nursing effectively, hand express your colostrum and then feed it by spoon or syringe every 2–3 hours
- If expressed colostrum is scant or absent, interest in feeding can be stimulated by dripping supplemental milk near the nipple, coaxing baby to latch
- If baby latches but is too sleepy to suck, providing supplemental milk with a feeding syringe in the corner of their mouth can stimulate them to continue sucking on their own (get professional guidance on this method)
- Using a nipple shield filled with supplemental milk can be helpful
If all other strategies have failed, “bait and switch” your baby by allowing 3–5 sucks from a slow flow bottle placed next to mother’s nipple, then quickly remove it and offer mother’s nipple; repeat as needed until baby perks up and latches.
If your baby is not arousing despite multiple attempts to wake them, if you are still in the hospital, ask for a health provider to evaluate your baby immediately. A glucose check and full evaluation of their feeding should be done. Otherwise, if you are home, go to your nearest emergency department, or call 911 to get further assistance.
To learn more about this topic, read the Fed Is Best book available on paperback, e-book, and audiobook.