Shattered and worrying about returning to work

[bettydoc]

Our DS is almost 20 weeks. He's a great wee BFer and has been sleeping reasonably well. Over the past few weeks (since he hit that 16 week mark) he's gone from having 1 night feed to 2, 3, sometimes 4. I'm knackered and not much fun for our 5 year old daughter. I'm thinking about introducing a bottle of formula before bed. Anyone have any experience of this working? I fed my wee girl for nearly 3 years but things were different for us then. I didn't work for almost the whole of her 1st year. This time I'm going back to teaching when DS is 6 months. I want to keep feeding but I want to be able to function through the day too. What to do?

I did this for a while with DD but eventually she wouldn't take it. Is your DS already taking a bottle? If not, you may find he might refuse one now.

He may just be having a growth spurt. It may stop soon.

Good luck.

I could have posted the same 6 weeks ago. He is now 27 weeks and I am back at work and I knew he needed to sleep all night for me to function at work.

I still BF him at 7am, 6pm and 10.30pm.

The first week back I gave him formula at 10.30am, lunch at 12pm, bottle at 2.30pm, teat at 5pm. I also gave him a big bottle of hipp goodnight milk with added cereal. He slept all night for first time since 16 weeks!

Once he went back to sleeping all night I BF him first at 10.30pm and he has about 3oz top up.

Combination feeding is working for me, I will try and reduce the 10.30pm top ups but will not jeopordise him sleeping all night. Now down to 3oz and once the bedtime milk runs out will just use the normal formula.

Also at 7 months am going to drop 10.30am bottle when I introduce breakfast, so hoping that by 7 months he'll just be having one bottle at 2.30pm each day, plus 3 meals and 3 BFs.

so to clarify the hipp goodnight formula was always at 10.30pm.

oh, I could have written your post too - glad to hear of possible solutions and that I am not the only one! I am thinking of introducing a bottle of formula at midnight in the next month, just so I can have a stretch of more than three hours unbroken sleep (LO 4 months) and hubby can feed her.

Let us know how it goes and thanks for the tips MumNWLondon!

Happened here too and I'm back to work next week at 23 weeks. I just went with it and it righted itself as quickly as it arrived after about 4 weeks. I didn't want to start formula as I felt for me that'd be more hassle in the long run. I've ebm in the freezer and a good pump for work so no need for formula then either. If you can just go with the flow and co-sleep and crash a bit earlier at night you should find the sleep regression thing passes.

I was hoping that he'd go back to sleeping all night as he'd slept from 10pm-7am every night from 8 weeks to 16 weeks. But by 23 weeks getting worse not better and he didn't sleep all night (ie 10-7) even one night after 16 weeks until 26 weeks when weaned. Gave one bottle formula from 23 weeks at 10pm but this just got him through to 4am not all night. I had decided to give formula in the day and not bother with pumping as I find pumping very hard and co-sleeping doesn't work for me.

I am in the same boat as OP, DS is 19 weeks and his sleeping has gone to pot. He wakes every ten minutes or so from 9pm onwards, and then is waking for feeds every couple of hours. I had just gotten used to him sleeping 10-6 which is bliss. Like molly, I dont want to start formula as i can express about 7oz each morning and he has about 4oz in the evening and i have a good supply in the freezer. He can go 3 hours in the day without a feed but then wants to feed constantly in the evening - should i feed him more frequently in the day then? And is this sleep regression going to last much longer? Co-sleeping is fine but its starting to hurt my back, not to mention DH has now been in the spare room for almost 19 weeks....

my ds3 is 23weeks i think, and is feeding every 1-2hours at night. he was doing a 4-6 hour stretch before 16 weeks. am also fed up of it!

i went back to work 3 days/wk after ds2 when he was 7 months. he was mainly in his own room then, but if he woke lots i would co-sleep. i fed him at 7am, expressed once at work and fed again at 6ish when i got in, then as required at night. in the day he had expressed milk in a cup, and food. he didn't sleep through the night until 15 months. this time i am co-sleeping totally and do feel ok in the day despite lots of wakings. can you do this OP? it isn't possible to function well if you are getting out of bed more than twice IMHO.

I was exactly this at 20 weeks, but by 6 months things had clicked. Still fed at night every 2 hrs, but I just got used to it. I found the first month at work very hard, but I did go back at 4 months. Get as much support as possible. So you're not doing any cooking, cleaning etc. Weeks 4-6 of expressing was when it really dragged and felt like a chore, but I've dropped down to one express at work now and it's just part of my routine.

Do whatever feels right for you, but just wanting to let you know after an initial low it becomes much easier and feels more manageable, normal even.

My dd 15 wks & I'm back at work one week. She had been only waking once at night but the night before I started back, she decided ti wake four times and has been waking frequently during the night. She's now combination fed ie bottles of formula at nursery & boob in the evening, during night & morning. I don't thnk for my dd formula at night would help her sleep more. I might have to wait til shEs crawling & will wear herself out. Have to admit, am pretty shattered but really believing This Too Shall Pass.

Thanks for all yr messages. Brought him in with us last night. Still fed as much but I'm not so tired today. [hgrin]