The first night with your newborn it is almost impossible to sleep, you are on such a high and also just can't take your eyes off them as they are THE MOST BEAUTIFUL baby you have ever seen. Often a brand new baby will not be particularly demanding in the 1st 24 hrs and spend a good amount of time sleeping and recovering from their birth. Unless you have been told otherwise by a midwife it is fine to let baby sleep, perhaps only waking 4 or 5 times in that 1st 24 hr period. At this point you think you've cracked it and have the perfect baby who will let you sleep at night...... BE WARNED, this is NOT the case!!
Sometime in the following 24hrs you little angel will wake and be very demanding and seeming to feed constantly from the breast, barely giving you time to nip to the loo! What is happening at this stage is that the baby has "woken up" and is now waiting for the arrival of your milk in eager anticipation. The baby's almost constant sucking and feeding gives your prolactin levels a HUGE boost and you will probably start to feel the milk "coming in" when your baby is roughly 48hrs old.
It is very important during this period of intense feeding that unless medically indicated that you just offer baby the breast so as to allow the baby to stimulate your breasts as much as possible to give you a good supply. Topping baby up with formula at this stage means that baby will settle and sleep ( very tempting) but is then missing valuable time at the breast.
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