help save my sanity

[popsycal]

ds2 is only 5 weeks old and is no problem really aprt from sleep. so far i have been just riding the storm as it is such early days. but to be honest i am exhausted and drained.

he is breast fed and is a 'snacker'. have been feeding him whenever he seems to want it so far for a variety of reasons but am conscious that at least part of the time he is comfort sucking. he has a dummy but rarely uses it as he spits it out/

sleep: during the day, he wil not sleep for long unless he is held. he will sleep in a baby sling for a while longer than when lying down however does like the sling when awake. if he falls asleep in my arms then is put down he wakes in minutes. have tried swaddling.....have swaddle me swaddle but it isnt helping anymore. he often feeds to sleep which so far is fine but needs to change. most nights are an extension of the day from about 11pm he 'cluster' feeds and with that and the cycle of dirty nappies after feeds, vomit after nappy change, it is not unusual for it to be 3am before I realise. we have changed him from moses basket to big cot as he is long and didnt seem comfortable. have tried co-sleeping which is better but i am early not comfortable with this for a variety of reasons. also if sleeping in the bed, he tends to feed for literally a minute then dozes rather than have a nice big feed and a sleep

i dont expect him to sleep through (!!!) but going to bed at 4am each day at up at 6:30 for ds1, with that period broken up too is becoming totally exhausting and I dont think i canfunction like this for much longer

PLEASE CAN I HAVE ALL YOUR LOVELY SUGGESTIONS!!!!
sorry about rubish typing.....ds2 is asleep in my arms

should this be in the sleep or feeding topic??

[popsycal]

one thing i forgotto mention - very difficult to let ds2 cry at all in the night as ds1's room is jsut next door ad the walls are paper thin...
any suggestions?

[Heathcliffscathy]

first of all no blushing emoticons for dummies...whatever works hun, whatever works...

have you tried spacing out his feed during the day first? see how he goes with that? if he starts to have proper feed every couple of hours or more, then you can think about carrying that through to the night time?

i'm sure lots of people will post with good advice, but i really feel for you, you know you'll get through it, but that's not much help when you're in the 'tunnel' so to speak...lot of love

[popsycal]

thanks sophable
that is my plan from monday - ds1 is back into his ld routine of childcare on monday so jus tme and ds2

i feel fine at the moment but know that in a few weeks that i will not be so want to sort this out before i crash and burn. Also i am conscious that i do feed him before exploring other reasons for his crying.......partly because I so wanted breast feeding to work this time as I gave up last time before i really wanted to. breast feeding is well and truely established now though so maybe spacing out feeds is the first step! thanks sophable

[popsycal]

bump

[CheekyGirl]

Not much help, but my ds now 15 weeks was like this at that age. Now his sleep cycle has extended to 30-40mins, but rarely more than that before he wakes yelling!

Agree with sophable, it would be worth a try.

It may just improve with age, as it did with my ds - afterall, he is only just getting used to life as a seperate entity from you, and may be finding the adjusting hard.

What I do is lie down and nurse ds to sleep when dd is at nursery. I don't bother trying to sneak away, just pass out with exhaustion next to him.

I really would give co-sleeping a go, too. We did it for the first 8 weeks, just to maximise sleep opportunities. We then transferred him to bedside cot beside us. I always sat up to feed though, to ensure he takes a proper fill.

HTH!