OMG I hate night feeding. I HATE night feeding! Someone make me go to bed please.

[gaelicsheep]

I am sat here, again, at close to 1 am not wanting to go to bed because I cannot bear being woken up in the small hours two or three times by a small person (17 weeks) shouting at me. I just can't bear it.

I don't even know if she's hungry half the time. In the past week it seems like she's just playing with me, but she will not settle without nursing. No, strike that, she won't settle anyway - she always ends up in bed with me after the first small hours feed and I hate that too! I feel like a human dummy and I don't like it one bit.

I know it probably won't last forever, I know it's probably a growth spurt/sleep regression/whatever, and I don't think anyone can help, but please somebody make me go to bed!!

Go on. You'll feel better for even a few hours' kip. Go on.

It might feel that you're just a dummy, but you're the only person in the world who can calm her and soothe her.

Might this link from Kellymom help? I repeat this to myself quite a lot: "You are not a pacifier; you are a Mom. You are the sun, the moon, the earth, you are liquid love, you are warmth, you are security, you are comfort in the very deepest aspect of the meaning of comfort.... but you are not a pacifier!" -- Paula Youn

Go on. Go to bed :) And remember the fiftieth time that you pick up that baby in the wee small hours you are not alone- I'm probably doing it too!

I'm psyching myself up as we speak (and fervently wishing I could express enough milk for DH to do the odd night feed).

Think of how warm and nice your bed will be. You could be drooling into your pillow instead of talking to me... Oh god I love sleep.

I'm about to go to bed and it's only 8.30pm over here :)

I love sleep too! It's being woken up I can't stand!

I know, I'm going, I'm going. Enjoy your sleep tonight.

And you! Here's hoping for only two or three wakeups for each of us :)

Also: I know I'm a bit weird, but I quite like night feeding. Helps that I don't have to get out of my warm bed (just grab DS from the co-sleeper cot, though that's getting harder as he gets so blardy heavy) - but mainly it's cos I miss him so much during the days that I work, and so night time is when I get a snuggle. He's only 12 weeks, too, so still pretty snuggly.

What I hate is when he doesn't go back to sleep afterward, or he feeds to sleep and then wakes as I try to ooze him back into his cosleeper, and then I'm trying to get him back to sleep cos I'm already dozing off and THEN I'm awake and... yeah. That's the bit I hate. If I woke when he woke, fed him, and we both said "nice one!" to each other and went back to sleep, I'd positively adore night feeding. he gazes up at me very seriously, then closes his eyes and feeds furiously, and then slowly falls asleep.... and it's all my time to just soak in the gloriousness of him at this age.

Daft, I know, but I miss him a lot when I go to work. I mean, I'm completely knackered and need much more sleep - but there are parts of night feeding I don't hate.

Hey gs. I know that feeling. I hate being woken up. The worst time is between 12 &3 I think. Then there is the Russian roulette of 'will they stay asleep when u return them to the cot'.? We usually have at least one false alarm.

What they need is some kind of gauge so you can see how full the are, like a petrol tank, & only go to bed when they are at least 3/4 full!

It seems to take so bloody long too. Been up nearly an hour now. Dd likes to micro nap during feeds.

GS- I totally agree re the being woken up bit and then when I'm feeding I'm nervously looking for "is he going to go back down?" cues. Have now realised this is futile as can look delightfully sleepy and not go back, or wide awake and go back down without a fight.

Last night we had the wildebeest impersonations from 3-5, although he was apparently fast asleep. I, however, was not.

Argh yes! I could cope with night feeds if he'd go straight back to sleep quietly afterwards but he has the loudest grunt IN THE WORLD! And at the moment he won't feed for more than 5 mins at a time in the night which I know isn't enough to fill him up, so i lie awake thinking, 'is he grunting cos he's going to sleep or cos he's still hungry.

I used to love going to bed, now I hate it :(

Well as it turned out the little monkey didn't wake until 4, so if I'd just gone to bed when she first went down I'd have got a 5 hour stretch! Except it never does work like that.

I didn't even try to put her back down, just dozed with her til 7. Woke, fed her again then took her down to DH (who's got a bad cough so is sleeping on the sofa).

I have vowed that tonight I am going to bed when she does, whenever that is. She's currently having a marathon evening nap - not sure whether/at what point to wake her. She's not dressed for bed yet. All good fun eh? They like keeping you on your toes!

I agree actually, it's not the actual feeding. When we were on holiday recently she was waking twice but went down like a dream every time. Now she will very rarely go back to sleep in her cot after a feed. She's maybe quiet for 2 or 3 minutes and you're just going back to sleep and then it starts.

Second Bumper's idea for tank gauge so we know how full they are. How about some kind of speedometer, also, so we can see how close they are to zero, i.e. dropping off to sleep? Oooh, or even better, something to show how deeply they're asleep, indicating your chances of moving them/you without them waking up.

I'd buy any/all of these, in a heartbeat. Come on, Steve Jobs, get on it!

DS is asleep. It's nearly 8pm. I'm going to get the clothes out of the dryer at 8pm and then be in bed before you can say Jack Robinson. Last night was NOT fun. I just can't seem to get him back to sleep after 3am for more than 20 minutes.

It will be. I remember you from the July 2010 thread - hiya! :)
Everyone says the 3 month growth spurt's a bugger. I dread it. We're due it any day now. And I'm being observed teaching tomorrow... Right! Going to bed.

Oh gs that is gutting! I have the same dilemma every night. But the mw said to me to just go to bed and even if you get 5 mins sleep it's better than nothing (though it doesn't feel like it).

My problem is it's still painful 4 weeks in! Can't understand what I am doing wrong!

I truly screwed up last night. DS was fed at 10pm and then slept till 2.45am, when I (wait for it) pretty much woke him up, assuming that his grumbling meant he was awake when in fact he was asleep and prob would have stayed that way for another hour. Then, because he was tired, he fed badly, and the rest of the night went totally tits up.

I hit the "reset" button at 7am, woke and fed him to get us back on track and fingers crossed today is going ok.

He slept from 10.30-2.15 (woohoo), peacefully sleeping in his cot again at 3, unfortunately i spent most of the time before he woke again at 5.15 lying awake thinking about the Politics of Breastfeeding (yes i am totally insane)

not on purpose by the way!

ooh, also, it occurred to me yesterday that he might be waking so much at night cos he's not quite warm enough. The weather's getting colder but we've been dressing him the same. So last night we put an extra layer on him and it was a much better night.
You've probably all thought of this already but I'm a first time mum making it up as i go along so don't think i'm trying to patronise you!
We also used a hot water bottle to warm his cot before we put him down in the hope he might not notice he wasn't on my lap any more and he went to sleep well.

I really hope these weren't just coincidences but will keep working!

I'm the same sometimes - dread going to sleep because I know she'll wake me up before I've had a chance to get comfortable.

Worst thing is that I can't rely on her even sleeping for 3 hours at a stretch anymore

She woke every 2 hours last night, so I'm barely functioning today. It actually makes me a bit depressed... I get kind of emotional at stupid stuff when I've had a night like last night.

After my DD wakes for her second feed of the night anytime between 3 and 5, she then won't settle and that means we both have crap sleep. But if/when I try and put her into the moses she completely wakes up. And if she completely wakes up she is awake for about 2 hours. She doesn't even feed, she shouts, gurgles, smiles, and grunts. And I am sitting there like a plum waiting for her to get tired again. And by the time she has finished the cycle of awake, to feed, to asleep DP is getting up and hitting the frigging snooze button.

I don't really know what my point is - I am delirious.

I might try the warming the moses basket thing. She seems to sleep better if she is sort of wrapped up tight, but it's just getting her wrapped up without waking her up...

My DD (DC5 almost 6m) is still waking at about 4am for a feed, but she's refluxy and has had a bad time so I'll let her off. (Where's the wrapped around her little finger emoticon?)
We make an event of it now, it's our special time. I don't stay in bed, cos then i keep nodding off and feel frustrated. Instead, we go down stairs to the comfy sofa, she has her meds, then we have a lovely long dozy feed in the dark whilst I watch something I've recorded. I'm in the midst of a 4am CSI marathon.
I'm not bothered if she still wakes at this time for months cos we've got it sussed. She then comes back up fast asleep and comes back into my bed for a big snuggle from 5-7am. Nothing beats the feeling of a little hot body snuggled into you in the morning.

Forgot to say, If I try to put her back into her cot and sleep wedge (reflux thing) she wakes up within minutes, that's why we do the morning co-sleeping. I used to be against it, but love it now.

I think I need to give in to morning (is that what you call it?) co-sleeping, as I have a similar problem with DD after 4 am. Last night she went down around midnight, woke at 2.15 for feed, miraculously went back in her cot, woke again at 4.15 and was then wide awake. I'm ashamed to say I then took her downstairs, woke DH (who's still on the sofa nursing his cough) and dumped her on him. But apparently she went to sleep very quickly and slept til 7. There is no way she'd have done that for me unless I took her to bed. I need to learn to love co-sleeping and so I can actually get some sleep.

I tend to heat the bedroom (to 17 or 18 degrees) rather than dressing DD more warmly (does that deserve a ?). We don't have central heating and if I didn't have the electric heater on the room would just get sooo cold, and that's the last thing you want when you're up and around most of the night. I don't think she's waking due to cold, although I do only use a 2.5 tog grobag with a long sleeved vest. I've tried putting another layer on though and it makes no difference.

I'm supposed to be going to stay with my parents with the DCs for 3 weeks so DH can get on with doing the house. I am totally dreading the nights all alone.