6wo takes ages to latch on at night

[Bella30]

My 6wo DD wakes me at night for feeds (usually twice) - she cries a little and is generally sucking her hands when I get her out of her Moses basket. However, when I pick her up she is often in quite a deep sleep and it's really hard to get her to latch on. I would like to be able to feed her sitting up in bed, but it is much easier to take her downstairs where I have more light and support and get her latched on there. Once on she feeds fine, but it would be nice not to have to spend 10-15 mins waiting for her to be alert enough to feed. Is this a common problem? And is there anyway of getting her to be alert enough to feed without making her too alert to settle afterwards?

Any ideas? Last night she woke me at 2.30 but it was past 3 before she was alert enough to feed. I thought about putting her back in her basket as she was sleeping but from past experience she just gets restless and cries again within 10/20 mins. It doesn't seem worth it!

Night light in your room? I wouldn't wake her up more by taking her downstairs.

We do have a light in our room but it doesn't seem to be enough to rouse her. Perhaps she's making noises unrelated to hunger and I should wait for more full on crying before attempting to feed, but it's usually about the time I'd exopect i.e 1.30/2 after final feed at 10pm.

I mean would the light help you see to get her latched on properly? We've got on our monitor; we can turn it up a bit if it's not bright enough. If you get your pillows and support sorted in the room - I used to have a feeding chair for DS although now I co-sleep with DD - you can get her into position and she'll instinctively latch on. Or you can feed her lying down next to you.

But yes, I'd make sure she actually is hungry first - give it a bit to see if she wakes. But you tend to know whether they want a feed before it gets to that stage!

I meant to add - when they're near the boob, they smell it and usually open wide quite quickly. So getting her in position is probably key.

Thanks! I probably do need to work a bit on getting myself comfortable for feeding in bed without making such a fuss that I wake DH up too much! I guess it may just need perseverance. I'm not sure about instinctively latching on though. I can't say many feeds take less than 5 mins fussing before we get it right. Not sure if that's her or me though....

When they open their mouth wide, it only happens in a split second and you've not got long to stick them on!

You could banish your DH to another room while you still have loads of night feeds? We do this. Saves me stressing about waking him up, I'm more relaxed and it's easier.

I remember going through this with DS - gently weeping by the light of my iPhone as we struggled for ages to get a decent latch! I honestly can't recall how it got better... It came along with everything else as DS got bigger and older. Also practising lying down/night time feeding position in the day time until it became 2nd nature.

Thanks both for your advice. I think I'm not getting in there quick enough when she opens her mouth wide. Last night I picked her up, got back into bed but she kind of lunged for me before I was completely ready. Cue 40 minutes of trying to persuade her to wake up enough to properly open her mouth. I was pretty miserable by the end of it, but got there in the end. I will definitely practise nighttime feeding position so that we get better at this...