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How to breastfeed a newborn baby diagnosed with MCAD deficiency?

My daughter is newborn and tested positive for MCAD deficiency and she cannot go more than fours hours at a time without eating. Which is fine, since newborns are supposed to eat every two to three hours at a time anyway. She will eat at the average time distance but she only eats for about five minutes and falls asleep. I have tried all the options for getting her to stay awake to finish the feeding but nothing has worked. I am getting worried because of the repercussions of the MCAD deficiency are severe as SIDS if she does not eat properly. Any advice?

Public Comments

1. If she's bottle feeding, check to see how much she's eating - newborns need only very little so she may be getting enough. Check with the doctors to be certain, although it's also not uncommon for newborns to doze off and be a little lazy about eating. We used to have to be pretty mean to our daughter to wake her back up - they even suggested removing all her clothing to make her cold and wake up, but often something like changing their diaper will do the same trick. Try starting her bottle first then changing her when she doses off and see if you can't get her to take some more.

2. Skin-to-skin contact can often improve nursing efficiency with newborns. You might also want to try nursing her more often until she starts taking in more with each feeding. Many newborns do better with smaller, more frequent feedings, particularly in the early days. Are you working with a lactation consultant?