15 week old feeds more at night than day

[rosycheeks81]

Hi,
I'm new to mumsnet but desperate for some advice as I'm chronically sleep deprived and struggling!

DD is 15 weeks old. Since about 6 weeks she has woken every 2 hours at night (there has been the odd occassion where she has gone longer, but few and far between). She is bf apart from one bottle at 7pm which I introduced (rightly or wrongly) as I have very slow flow in the evening and it was taking me over an hour to feed her at that time. It also gives me more confidence that she has had enough at this time

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was feeding her as often as possible in the day (without hher asking for it) in the belief that this may tank her up and make her sleep longer at night. This hasn't worked as she didn't really take proper feeds, was feeding when sleepy so falling asleep etc. So the past couple of weeks I've just fed on her cues during the day which has been every 3-4 hours.She is fairly distracted and difficult to feed for long in the day, though I try and persevere and get her to take as much as I can.

I've also worked really hard at getting her to settle in her cot (without tears!) as I thought this may help. She goes in the cot awake but still wakes up, sometimes only an hour after going down though she is easy to settle at this time.

I feed at 10.30 - 11 and after this its 2 hourly like clockwork.

I do bring her into bed with me when I just can't stay awake to feed/settle any longer, but I really don't sleep well and I'm sure neither does DD as we wake each other. I'm just too tired to constantly resettle, and if she does stay in her cot she is awake a 5am to play anyway!

Today however she has fed a 7am, 10.15am, 1.30 and then now I've just woken her to feed at 5.10pm as I was concerned how long she was going without a feed. She did feed well. She also slept for nearly 3 hours from 2.15pm, why can't she do that at night?!

Just wondered if anyone had this experience and any advice on what to do. The lack of sleep is really effecting me and I am randomly bursting into tears. Its also affecting my relationship with DP as I am taking it all out on him.

Thanks in advance, sorry for the long message
Diane xx

NB - not sure if it's relevant, but DD didn't latch on until 4 weeks old and took a couple of weeks for me to build my milk supply back up, the increased night wakings conincides with me dropping the bottles (before that she was going 3-4 hours)

[Badgerqueen]

Sorry you are having a hard time, its so tiring at this stage, but it will get better - she is very little and very hungry. I'm not the person to ask as we fed both my DDs through the night, but have you tried getting you DH to settle her when she wakes at least for alternate wakings - so that she lasts a little longer between feeds (you can look me up and see all my feeding/sleeping ishoos over the last year - and it was with no. 2!)?
The other thing, for a little while, till things settle and her tummy gets a bit bigger, is you could just have her in bed with you. Its tough for you and DH, but maybe he could sleep somewhere else (if you have the space)catch up on sleep some nights (and maybe do the early morning shift? and give you a bit of undisturbed sleep then).You might sleep better if there is more space and you aren't worried about waking him every night. I would also say at this stage don't wake her to feed, if she can sleep longer at any point in the day or night - this is a good thing as you will, eventually be able to shift her to doing at a time that suits

You may get a better response if you post on the Feed the World Topic under "breast and bottle feeding". Sending you hugs. Rememeber to try and rest or sleep when she sleeps, if you can. Promise you it does pass.

[rosycheeks81]

thank you for your reply - i really hope it does get better, i think it's not knowing as at the moment it feels like i'll never have a decent stretch of sleep ever again!

We live in a small flat so there isn't anywhere for DH to go, I think this probably makes me get DD up sooner rather than waiting to see if she'll resettle, but we have job security concerns (like most people at the moment!) so I don't want to disturb him too much

I'll post on the other board as well
thanks again xx