Feeding and sleeping issues!

[AnaZ]

I have an 11 week old breastfed baby who wakes every 2-3 hours in the night for a feed. He feeds well at night but his feeding is getting worse and worse in the day. He fusses or sometimes screams and refuses to feed when I put him to the breast. It takes several attempts of settling him them trying again before he will actually feed and then it is usually a much shorter feed than he will take at night. I feel like he is getting all the milk he needs at night and then doesn't need much during the day, but I don't know how to change this because when he cries at night nothing except milk will settle him! I'm so tired I fall asleep in bed with him and now he's getting used to being in bed with me it's getting harder to settle him in his cot. There have been 2 occasions when he has slept for a 5 hour stretch so I know he's capable of it I just don't know how to make this a regular occurrence! Grateful for any advice, I'm so desperate for sleep and some sort of normal routine!

[Londonmrss]

11 weeks is still really young so don't worry that this is just how it will be from now on. It's a phase. I would just keep offering during the day. Do you think he's feeding at night because he is hungry or for comfort? Is there any other way you can resettle, like dummy or rocking or something?
Around 11 weeks, my baby had a really difficult feeding phase where she just screamed like I was trying to torture her every single time. It was hideous and nearly led to me giving up breastfeeding but it lasted about 3 weeks and then just gradually got better.

In the short term I think it's fine to just do what works. If you both get a bit of asleep with him in your bed then go for it! I've discovered that nothing I do seems to make any difference to my baby's sleep. I keep top the sane routine and she changes her sleeping and feeding patterns day by day as part of her developmental process. It's knackering but there's nowt much I can do about it! All babies are different, but the golden rule is 'good or bad: it's always just a phase.'

[Londonmrss]

Another thing is my difficult feeder ALWAYS feeds better when really sleepy which means we have really good long feeds at night. The feeds are best during the day if she has just woken up. So I pick her up and latch her the second she stirs from a nap. This has always been the only way she'll relax enough to feed. If she's too awake, she's just to distracted. Your baby is just at the age where he'll be getting really distracted by everything around him. That's what works for me anyway! Best of luck.

[AnaZ]

That is exactly it - screaming like I'm trying to torture him! It's so stressful. At best he's still really fidgety, I've started expressing and giving him a bottle some feeds because its so much easier. I'll try feeding him when hes sleepy i think that will be a lot easier. I've tried a dummy at night but it will only settle him for a bit, he stays awake and then eventually cries so I always end up feeding him.