BF in the middle of the night thread...how to stay awake!

[MummyPigandDaddyPig]

( distributes tea biscuits and nursing pillows allround....)

How do yo stay awake at night feeding??? Am struGgling to stay awake and have a sore thumb from playing solitaire on the iphone...alternates with reading muMsnet, daily mail and facebook....

What else is easy reading websites, games apps that dont require any brainpower that I cana entertain myself with? Any tips how to stay awake? Am seriously tired here!

Have cosleept with my dc's from approx 8-10 weeks, which makes night feeds easier, but I have weeks to go until then and wont dare to bedshare yet as older dc's still turn up in qour bed at night....

Susieloo that sounds exactly like MiniPop, he doesn't make 'baby' noises, or what I thought a baby would sound like, he grunts and strains and moans and sounds like a little goat. He has trouble passing wind so strains so much he turns red, and he's also really blocked up. The GP said they wouldn't remove the mucus at the back of his nose, and wouldn't recommend we do it either. The neonatal nurses suggested saline drops to help soften it in a hope he'd sneeze it out (he hasn't yet!).

I was going to mention it to the HV to.

Thank god it's not just my baby minipop he has been worrying me with all the grunting and snuffling he's been doing, this is what wakes me up rather than him crying as he tends to do it before he wakes up for a feed, he's been awake all morning and then asleep or dozing all afternoon so I'm hoping he will have another big awake time before bed later but I'm not holding out much hope!!

MiniPop is the same, he'll do it about half an hour before he wakes up - grunting, snuffling, and making the most unbabylike straining noise. He's not a quiet baby at all. He also brings up some milk about 90 minutes after putting him down, so we have learnt to 'ignore' these sounds as he goes straight back to sleep afterwards. The he does a little posset just before he wakes up (due to the straining I think!).

You're definitely not alone -although I never knew that newborns farted so much and that they smelt so bad, or that they made so much noise (aside from crying!)

I am hoping for a re-run of last night where we had three, good, four hour sleeps. Fingers crossed! :o

I'm now starting to understand why my milk supply seems to have increased because the baby has had three really long feeds this afternoon and is now fast asleep (sounding like a squeaky toy) so I've come up to bed with him, planning on feeding him and nappy changing him at eleven ish and hoping for another really good feed so he will maybe sleep for 3 hours, I think he might be awake at four again though, hope everyone has a restful night

And we're up and feeding again, already dreading the nappies coming my way later, I honestly don't think he could eat anymore without exploding.

Evening Ladies and babies! Babypiglet has learned several new tricks today, am amazed how they pick up on things! I have to leave her for the first time tomorrow, for approx 4 hrs with DH and a bottle and she is kicking off already:)
A) shes develloped tears...which makes mummy cry too....B) she has also learned the power of the constant persistant whail....C) figured out she has a choice...cue persistant whail with tears....and D) learned to kick her covers off at night so she wakes up cold...cue persistant whail....all cured by cuddle and boob of course. So tonight we are premiereing (spelling!?!?) the GROBAG, the BREASTPUMP and the dreaded BOTTLE... Havent had a chance to try it all out so DH will no doubt have fun tomorrow morning with DC1 DC2 and a seriously unhappy babypiglet...whilst mummypig will be a nervous wreck until Im back home again. Wish me luck and hope you all have a good night!
Ps Babypiglet is a grunter too, shes seriously noisy! :)

Big couple of days in the mummy house, really hope it goes well with the bottle tomorrow and I'd be really interested to hear how you get on because i will be attempting a bottle of expressed milk in the next few weeks, I've also got a grobag but so far I haven't used it despite it being for newborns, worried he will wriggle into it but the rate he is growing he will need the next size up soon, can't believe how much he has eaten today his poor tummy must be so full, I presume this is a feeding frenzy, it's quite alarming!! I didn't realize that there were no tears until my mum pointed it out yesterday!!

Same here Susieloo, I don't know why DS hasn't exploded given the amount he consumes! I think he's just taking advantage of me sitting on the sofa all day watching the Olympics

Good luck tomorrow MummyPig! (or should that be good luck to your DH?!). So far I've left DS with my mum for an hour, and this coming Saturday I'm singing at a wedding and leaving DS with DH at FIL's house for a few hours. I don't really like being away from him though (I guess most mums don't), I think particularly because of having to go home without him for the first two weeks.

DS couldn't care less if I were there or not, though! As long as he gets milk somehow

And yes, the tears stage is horrible!!

DS has just had a bath and screamed the house down so now it's feed and bed. I'll be so chuffed if he can do 4.5 hrs again tonight. But 3 hours would do not less than 2, please not less than 2!

Night all!

And we're up!! Noticing a very definite two hour feed gap at night when he can go longer during the day, I don't think he feeds for long enough at night before he falls asleep, see you in a couple of hours

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Hello everyone!

Wow- I can't believe how much our babies are growing up... :) / :( !!

Re: the noises: sounds exactly the same as periwinkle here!! She makes a really loud and red-face-making strain when she poos, a grunting-coughing noise when hungry, and a mucousy-nasal snotty sounding noise after feeding!! Despite reflux meds she still often possetts/coughs/gags lots after feeding, and seems exceptionally windy (mainly top end !). As a result of all the noise, she sleeps in her own room now and we use a baby monitor- hear the necessary noises but not all the little stuff.

But is finally gaining weight more consistently- another 4oz last week, so we're slowly getting there! I just still find it really hard to judge how much she might have had, especially on the fussy stop/start feeds

So hope all goes well for you with the bottle mummypig !

I know about the tears too- that really gets my heart strings! unless she's being a tinker!!

TandH I'm glad to hear DD periwinkle isn't the only baby who hates the bath :) ! We haven't managed to incorporate it into a bedtime routine as a result because I didn't think it was great for her to have a screaming fit before bedtime, but maybe she'll get used to it after a few days...? We have actually been given a tummy tub glorified bucket!!! which she seems less averse too, but it's still not yet a happy relationship!

Hope you're doing ok on your 2hr feeding frenzy susieloo!

And hope minipop's doing better on the reflux front now on meds. I think the saline drops are a con... I think all babies are snuffly etc and they don't make the blindest bit of difference! Hope he's doing well on the weight front- feeding sounds brill! Are you still BFing at all...? I wish I hadn't been so stubborn to EBF cos now I wish she'd take a bottle too :(

After a very fussy feed again, I'm back off to bed to catch some zzzzzz!

Bye for now!! :o

one week I read all the Guardian liveblogs for the last 3 series of Apprentice. Funny.

Glad periwinkle is gaining weight, that's really good news.

How did the bottle go mummypig?

MiniPop is also a bath-hater, he screamed the house down when we did it last week, you'd have thought we'd put acid in the water! the result is weekly baths & just daily top and tail (although he hates that too!)

MiniPop was really unsettled again last night, woke for feeding every two hours but then grumbled for ages about his tum afterwards, DP managed to get him to sleep finally just before midnight, then we had two good sleeps and a 6am poonami :o

sarita no, we're not breastfeeding unfortunately :( Minipop just doesn't latch properly, and is too impatient to learn. So he's bottle fed special premmie formula & as much bm as I can express.. I sometimes wish I'd never agreed to let them try bottles on him, he';s had them since 32 weeks, so I think trying to convert him to bf now is probably impossible!

Morning everyone, I'm going to start expressing tomorrow so that I can try the baby on one bottle a day, I've had the green light from the midwife to try him at three weeks because he is feeding so well, can anyone tell me how much roughly I should be looking to have in a bottle to give to someone else to feed him? Midwife has recommended I express after his morning feed so my boobs just think he is on for another few minutes, does this sound right to everyone else? I'm hoping to express everyday like this for a few days and keep it in the fridge until I have enough for a bottle and a bit in reserve in case of emergencies!! Any advice gratefully received

Hey Susie, how much does he weigh now? I was giving DS 70ml when he was 7lb, but I guess I need to up it a bit now.

Kellymom has some advice here.

Morning is a good time to express - I tend to express after DS's morning feed too.

There are some good guidelines on storage on kellymom too here

Don't forget you can also freeze milk to be used later - I am building up a stash when I can for DH to do the odd night bottle, or when I have to be out without DS. I use the tommee tippee storage pots, but you can also get storage bags. Better to freeze in small amounts so you don't end up having to defrost more than you need.

My only other tip would be that when your milk separates in the fridge, swirl it (don't shake it) to mix it up again.

Thank you so much tea that's brilliant, the links are great and I'm going to count how many feeds the baby has tomorrow and then I can use the calculator on kellymom to work out how much I'll need, really hope he will take the bottle, I will get some storage bags too so I can keep some in the freezer. It's great that it keeps so well in the fridge. I'm seeing the hv tomorrow pm so she will be able to tell me his weight, I think he has put on quite a lot so it will be interesting to see how much.

Thank you v much for the info

Glad today is over, busy day again! This morning went great, Babypiglet feed at 6 before I left, and sleept until I got back just before 10! So DH never even had to try the bottle! (i was secretly hoping he would struggle just a little bit so he could get a taste of my daily struggles, but he had it eeeeeaaaassyyy...) Oh well! All that effort and worry eh! 1 tog Grobag didnt keep baby warm enough last night, it gets really cold at night in our bedroom, so Ive swapped to just a long sleeved vest and 2.5 grobag tonight. Hopefully she will be more settled and warm...

Snack of the day (night), tesco blueberry yoghurt coated raisins, and Allbran chocolate breakfast biscuits. Theyre yummy.....

Glad your day went well mummy and I agree it would have been nice if your oh could have given a bottle, now you have left for a few hours do you think this will make it easier when you want to do it again? I have to leave the baby for about three hours on Saturday and I'm already nervous about it, the baby will be with my mum who will hopefully be able to give him a bottle.

I'll be surprised if I get much sleep tonight as we have had a very sleepy day, baby feeding really well at the moment so maybe that will see me through another couple of hours.

Hope everyone has a good night

I have fruit & oat breakfast biscuits to keep me company tonight :o as well as Sky News :o

MiniPop has had a weird day, refused to go to sleep between mid morning feeds, then fell asleep just before lunchtime feed and had to be woken up at 3pm (to great protest). Then was awake every two hours in the evening feeding, and I finally managed to get him down at 9pm for a four hour sleep.

Just finished feeding him and then expressing, biscuits done and now back to sleep till (hopefully) 4 or 5am, if MiniPop's tum allows it.

DP's snoring is also helping to keep me awake tonight, and I' min a different room

Tea Did you get to doctors for Gaviscon?

night all :o

Oweeeee... I have a blocked duct :(

Really really sore. Hasn't happened for weeks, not quite sure why now, did feel abit like Periwinkle wasn't feeding v well yesterday, but suddenly got really sore in evening, and despite feeds at 7.30, 11 and 2, doesn't seem to be budging. Tried hot compress/cold compress, hard and soft massage- to no avail.... Hope it clears at next feed- really don't want to end up with mastitis :(.

No need for anything else to keep me awake as the pain has done it :(

Morning sarita and minipop

I think the baby was griping for a good forty minutes today before I got up to feed him, I was so tired I kept nodding back off, he's had a really good feed though so I'm hoping he will want to sleep it off for a couple of hours rather than wanting to get up like he has for the last two nights.

How do you know when you have a blocked duct sarita? Does that mean it can turn into mastitis?

We had a weird day too minipop the baby had some really long naps and pretty much stayed asleep all early evening and night until he went to bed at half ten, I was convinced he was going to be up all night but so far only twice.

Decided I need to get some snacks too to keep me going in the night, why have I not thought of this before!!

Morning!

susieloo a blocked duct causes a segment of rock hard lumpy boob which is very painful indeed :( it isn't red, and it doesn't give you flu-like symptoms, but obviously if not unblocked it can lead to mastitis (infection of that segment).

I used to get it quite a lot at the end of periwinkles stay on SCBU, but haven't had it for ages. Just tried to feed her from it again with no luck :(
Once the rest of the boobs empty it's like she's sucking sucking sucking with no reward, even with a v forceful feeling letdown and lots of massaging. Next feed I'll get in the shower first to see if the hot water'll release it fingers crossed!

Oh Sartita I hope your duct clears, mastitis is horrible! Its bad enough not getting any sleep but not feeling well on top is just hard! Sending lots of hugs!!

Just covered DC2 in boobmilk as he came for a cuddle and I leaked all over him poor thing. Hes only 2 but was not amused....

fingers crossed Sarita I also had, what felt like, a blocked duct last night. I just one another course of Domperidone for milk supply (which without these tablets, and fenugreek, would be non-existant! :(), and had a few really hard painfully lumps at the base, massaged them a lot, expressed, and massaged again, then slept face down on my boob. It was painful but wondered if the pressure might help it, it seems a bit better today, but we'll see.

Poor MiniPop is really suffering. When he's awake all he does is strain to pass wind or sqiurm with his belly, when he's asleep all he does is strain to pass wind and then squirm as it causes him to spit up and posset. He gets about an hour of peaceful sleep each session - :(

Surely this isn't normal?