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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

When do the nights get easier???

29 replies

soppypreggyloon · 18/05/2011 08:05

I must have blocked this out of my mind first time round. The nights are SO hard!

Dd is 3 weeks and bf (mostly). She wakes up every 1-2h for most of the night. She takes ages to settle and I often don't get her back to bed after a feed before she wants another one!

Feeding is so sore (another issue im working on) and being up half the night is making me is exhausted. None of this sleep when baby sleeps with a toddler now.

When does it get easier? I need a count down to keep me sane!

OP posts:

Tortoiseonthehalfshell · 18/05/2011 08:07

I can't remember, but I DO remember that three weeks was about the worst, in terms of sleep and breastfeeding. I think it's one of those hellish spikes, like 3 days and 11 days, and after 3 weeks it started to ease off.

Hang in there!

RitaMorgan · 18/05/2011 08:10

I got through it by co-sleeping, didn't seem much point trying to get him back into his cot!

Does she feed enough in the day? I found frequent day feeds reduced night feeds.

Original poster

soppypreggyloon · 18/05/2011 08:13

She feeds loads in day too. And does cluster feeding in the evening!
I don't think we came out of the 10 day growth spurt before thus one hit- I can't remember her ever feeding less often!
Co-sleeping only happens by accident as I really don't feel comfortable with it.

I'm hoping this is a short phase!

OP posts:

harverina · 18/05/2011 08:20

Soppy, I found that my dd started to go a bit longer during the night around 6 weeks. We didn't co sleep either.

It might be worthwhile to get your latch and positioning checked as this will affect how much milk your dd is getting and could contribute to really frequent feeding.

lilham · 18/05/2011 08:49

Hang in there. I don't remember when it started getting better, but 2 nights ago, my EBF 7wo daughter did 10pm, 3am, and then 7am! Of course last night she was back to 11pm, 3am, 6am. It's similar to her probably, but it means a couple of hours less sleep for me.

COCKadoodledooo · 18/05/2011 09:33

Aside from growth spurts, from about 8 weeks or so I guess he was down to 'only' waking 3 times between when I went to bed and when we had to get up for the day. Agree re the cosleeping, definitely makes life easier not having to get out of bed to feed!

vmcd28 · 18/05/2011 09:51

with our ds2, 3 weeks was the worst for us too. It definitely got noticeably better at 6 weeks. But all of a sudden you'll be at 6 months (like we are now) and wonder what all the fuss was about

StarlightMcKenzie · 18/05/2011 09:53

when you start co-sleeping!

ellodarlin · 18/05/2011 10:00

8 weeks seemed to be a breakthrough for mine. I would give the last feed at 7ish and go to bed myself about an hour later and they would need 1-2 feeds before waking at 6-7am. That way I managed to be in bed for about 10 hours so I would get at least 8 hours sleep. I know a lot of people wake to feed at 10-11pm but I found it too exhausting to stay up that late. When they were v small they would wake 3 times between 7pm-7am but as they got older the night wakings got later until the last one became breakfast rather than a night feed.

VeronicaCake · 18/05/2011 10:03

I couldn't co-sleep with my newborn either so I sympathise, and in my DD's case I don't think it would have helped since DD simply wouldn't settle whilst still. DH and I took turns walking around the house with her in a sling until she dropped off and we could sit down.

4-6weeks was the absolute worst bit for us. After that we could at least put her down asleep in the cot and she'd stay asleep between feeds.

HappyAsASandboy · 18/05/2011 10:03

I remember 2.5 weeks being my lowest point.

I second co sleeping. I was an accidental co sleeper for the first two months or so - it was so much more dangerous than the intentional co sleeping we do now. If you are doing it accidentally, please consider doing it properly. With a tiny baby, I'd recommend asking DH to sleep in the spare room for a bit to give you space (or squeeze in a single bed next to your double?), put a toddler bed rail down the baby's side and get yourself a single diver. These simple steps will make your baby so much safer for the times when you don't manage to get them back to the cot.

Hope things improve soon :-)

HappyAsASandboy · 18/05/2011 10:05

Duvet, not diver ...

juneau · 18/05/2011 10:18

This thread depresses me! I have an 8-day-old DS and a 3-year-old and I'm utterly strung out with lack of sleep. Last night baby cluster-fed from 10.30pm-1.30am. Of course, it really helped with the engorgement issues I've been having, so that was good, but otherwise it was crap. I think I'll try what ellodarlin did and see if I can get a bit of sleep earlier in the night.

I can't believe I found the early days with DS1 so hard - having just a newborn to look after would be so much easier than a newborn and an older child who doesn't nap and is up from 6.30am-7pm. And my mother leaves today, after helping us out since baby arrived

Original poster

soppypreggyloon · 18/05/2011 10:25

I won't do co sleeping as it scares the pants off me. I've only done it twice by accident and then stressed about it for the rest of the night.
Also there is no space or money for extra beds etc!

OP posts:

Bumpsadaisie · 18/05/2011 10:26

Fair enough if you don't like co-sleeping.

But it is what kept me sane for the first three months of DDs life! Easy to feed her without really waking up much too.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 18/05/2011 10:31

soppy its a shame that you are so anxious about co-sleeping as, if you follow the guidelines, it is safe.

Anyway, in answer to your orginal post, how are your nipples now? Are you getting some RL support? Has your latch been checked by a Bfing Counsellor?

bigkidsmademe · 18/05/2011 10:32

I hate cosleeping too- is there any other way you can not get out of bed? DS is going through a sleep regression so last week I put him in his flat bouncy chair in the sitting room and slept on the floor next to him. It sounds extreme but actually I got more sleep because I didn't have to move all night! It's not for long, just do whatever you have to!

bigkidsmademe · 18/05/2011 10:32

Or put his moses basket in your bed?

Ellefabulosa · 18/05/2011 10:40

Mine was easier from 6 weeks. Cosleeping definitely helped

Original poster

soppypreggyloon · 18/05/2011 11:52

Cheers all! I'm not knocking co sleeping it's just not something I want to do. And there's definitely no room to put the Moses basket in the bed as well as us!

Nipples are v sore- had blisters and right which has healed but am getting some on left now. I'm seeing a BFC at the hospital again on Friday. She's checked latch etc which are good. Tongue tie has now been properly snipped but pain no better. I think it's let down reflex as I get it in both sides when I leak/ when dd feeds. next feed will be a ff as I'm too sore as dd has fed on each side at 8, 9, 10 and 11 today!

OP posts:

TheBride · 18/05/2011 12:00

I didn't co-sleep and I bf until 6 months (yeah, I know that doesn't put me in the medals in the MN bf stakes, but where i live, that makes me an extreme earth mother ).

Anyway, I just looked up my bf chart for you (because I am a geek and recorded them all until DS was 12 wks). 3 weeks was definitely a low point- lots of tears. By 4.5 weeks it had got better, and he was down to 2 night feeds. At 6 wks he went in his own room and dropped down to one (so 10pm feed, then one night feed, then a 6am feed). That carried on until about 6mths, when he started sleeping through, and I dropped the 10pm feed at 7mo. HTH.

I am also not down on co-sleeping (each to his own), but sometimes I do think not co-sleeping reduces the number of night feeds, purely because you have to be arsed to get out of bed, so you leave them to grumble for a bit longer rather than latching them on straight away, and half the time they do drift back to sleep for another hour or so. Also, because you have got up, you are not going to let them get away with a half hearted effort, so I think you get longer, bigger feeds in tht keep them going longer.

AngelDog · 18/05/2011 19:53

I think it varies wildly. DS 'only' woke 2, max 3 times a night at that age. But each time he woke, he'd be up for at least 2 hours.

MrsTerryPratchett · 18/05/2011 19:57

DD is still awake every 2 hours at 5 months. However, BFing gets MUCH MUCH easier. Three weeks was hell. Now BFing is a snap and I am glad I stuck with it. I still miss my sleep though.

I don't co-sleep (except in desperation at 5am) but she is in a cot in arms reach.

4pudding · 19/05/2011 21:41

I co-slept from the beginning with this one, so much easier - we're all getting a good night's sleep, loads of skin-to-skin, she feeds lying down next to me so we hardly wake up except for about ten seconds to latch on.

Wish I had done it this early with my first!

Pilchardnpoppy · 19/05/2011 22:06

sound familiar?

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