clutter feeding from 1am-6am im so knackered

[mama2leah]

my 11 week old baby has been cluster feeding at these times for a long now, but im so sleepy and drained, last night i actually thought i would rather give the bottle. dd1 is 15months old is very hardwork aswell

i feel like i cant cope

how can i stop this?
dd2 does drain the breast and has good feeds, but jsut feeds so often

she has reflux, but is gaining weight fine.
for the record i really dont want to give the bottle, but i just cant function like this anymore...

[MonsterousNasalPustule]

Could you fit in more daytime [6am-11pm] feeds?

[neenz]

Could you structure her daytime feeds?

Make sure she feeds at least every three hours during the day (waking her to feed if necessary).

How much daytime sleep is she having?

[1stMrsF]

Can you do anything more to distinguish between night and day if you don't already? i.e. bedtime routine in the evening, nightime feeds in the dark, no talking etc. - won't solve the problem but might gradually start to encourage sleep during this time. ALso, you will probably have to replace the cluster feeds some other time e.g. offer frequent feeds between 6pm and 11pm to compensate.

[mama2leah]

tried cluster feeding in evening..fingers crossed..wil report back thank you guys.

i also have a routine...not much help..she knows its night time as after a feed goes back to sleep....daytime stays awake and plays

daytime she feeds every 2-3 hours...not sleeping huge amounts, somedays more then others... maybe 3-4 in 3-4 naps.

[mama2leah]

well..she was up from 11pm until 7am every hour...whats going on?

[MonsterousNasalPustule]

Feeding actively or more snacking/comfort suckling?

Is she cold? Add another clothing layer rather than a blanket.

[mama2leah]

she is swaddled... im not sure..u think i should know..dd1 was this age a yr ago! she doesnt have a full feed, i dont know im to shattered to think straight.

[MonsterousNasalPustule]

Do you feed from 1 side or 'switch' feed?

try extra body and see if that helps.

[mama2leah]

whats extra body?

[MonsterousNasalPustule]

sorry bodysuit / vest

[mama2leah]

oh ok, il try that thank you...

[mama2leah]

stil up from 1am-6am...arghhh!

im so sleepy....

[MonsterousNasalPustule]

Sorry to hear that Mama but on the bright side last night was 3 hrs less

How long is each waking?

[mama2leah]

lol...true!
just a feed so 10-15mins.

[MonsterousNasalPustule]

not too bad but you could do with missing an odd hour

[Mybox]

Coulmd you co-sleep & bf?

[mama2leah]

cant do co-sleeping..i have extreme backache...
same last night..

yawns

[eggontoast]

I really feel for you, my son did this from birth. I eventually (12 weeks) gave in and started co-sleeping (did not want to due to safety) at this time because I was so knackered I started hallucinating.

I hope you can find a way to cope; remember, no matter how important breastfeeding is to you, your sanity is also extremely important.

I dont know if maybe a dummy in the night may help?? I am thinking of trying this with my second if I experience the same problem between feeds in case baby just wants to suckle rather than feed once had a full feed. I am not sure if a good idea though!!??

Keep your mind as positive as you possibly can as much as you can. Really focus hard on the positive aspects of your child and the stage you are at.

[eggontoast]

For the backache - have you tried a good chiropractor because I had extreme back pain following a car crash for four years - I have now been pain free for 2 years with regular check ups. Just a thought.

[mama2leah]

the thing i find the most difficult is the constant feeding at night from 8-pm last night to this morning, she had about 8-9 feeds...

i think i might have to co-sleep..no i havent tried a chiropprator, i don't think we can afford that right now.

[eggontoast]

I bet if you co sleep, the backache will fade away. If it has come on since the birth, it is probably a mixture of stress (mental) and physical strain from sitting feeding. If you co-sleep, facing your baby, your spine will be in a neutral position all night and the discomfort will probably fade away.

I have got to admit, I did not want to co-sleep with a young baby, due to safety implications. I read 'the science of parenting' by Margot Sunderland and looked up safe co-sleeping on the internet. The main points which increase danger are:

Drinking alcohol - a big no no you must abstain.

Baby sleeping between two adults or with other young children in the bed - I kicked my husband out till the baby was 1 year old, he does shifts anyway so was kicked out when I was up all night sitting feeding as well to ensure at least he got a good nights kip.

Bedding - to decrease the risk of suffocation, remove any heavy bedding. I decided to wear really warm pj's and a cardigan with a small fleece blanket upto my waist. The baby had sleep suit and vest with one small baby crochet cover (we had heating on so not cold at all). You could sew pillow cases to the bed sheet so they cannot move, or go without like I did until baby was one year old!! ( I really did my best to make it as safe as possible!)

Over tired parent - you should avoid co-sleeping when you are extremely tired (well, after a few good nights kip - this will go away!)

Overweight parents - the risks in co-sleeping increase if parents are overweight.

Falling from bed - falling and injury from fall or falling down between bed and furniture etc. Simple - move furniture and have bed in middle of room. You could put down a mat or bedding on the floor to reduce risk of injury in unlikely event baby falls.(this is what I did) Or I suppose you could buy a bed guard.

Please look up on line as it is likely I have forgotten something as it was such a long time ago now.

Also, consider your sleep style. I sleep in the same position every night on my side and wake up to turn over. I do not move in my sleep and wake up very easily so I considered that co-sleeping, adhering to all the above, was safer than sitting up all night with the possibility of falling asleep whilst sitting and baby going who knows where.

Beware, a lot of people oppose co-sleeping. They must never have been in the position you are in where you have no choice. I chose to keep it to myself and a few choice relatives who I knew would be supportive.

[arolf]

mama2leah - my DS (nearly 6 weeks old) did this for a while - my solution for the past 3 days (so it may just be a coincidence that it's working!) was to express a bottle of my milk in the morning, and then DS gets the bottle from his dad at about 9.30/10 pm, then he feeds from me for an hour or two before finally dropping off.
He previously fed for 4-5 hours in the evening, had screaming fits that could last for 3 hours at a time, and would wake every hour or less, surviving on cat naps during the night. Since Sunday he has reduced his night time wakings, and last night managed 4 hours sleep from 11-3! (DP and I spoiled it by waking up at 1 to check on him, as we wondered what had happened!).
Like I say, it may be coincidence, but so far, so good...

Also, although I've always hated dummies, we used one last night,just until he dropped off to sleep (so for maybe 5 minutes all told).

hope you find a solution soon.

(oh, we're co-sleeping too - DP and I have seperate duvets, plus we have a night light, which means I don't sleep very heavily - I don't unless the room is dark for some reason. however, we're trying to move DS into his cot, so on monday night we got 2 hours on our own in bed - bliss!!)

[sazzerbear]

mama2leah - I remember this well from when ds was tiny, it seemed like the end of the world, however it is a phase and does pass...

[mama2leah]

thank you so much egg, i did co-sleep with my dd1...i think will try it tonight n see how it goes...

i hope its a phase...