How to stay awake during night feeds part 3 - wishing for sleepy dust

[TeaandHobnobs]

Welcome all to a shiny new thread for moral support during night feeds, general food envy and chit chat

Haven't managed to catch up with thread yet but thanks for the welcome.

I have a few questions...how do you all offer breasts? When do you switch and what breast do you offer on next feed?

Ds sometimes chokes during feed, usually at start or near to it, any ideas what to do as its blooming scary!

Also he has munched my right nipple and there is a hole almost in it. How do I deal with this.

Sorry for all the questions!

Ds is.feeding now on good side but I don't want to use munched side. I have some shields but scared to use them as midwife said not to.

We had an ok night last night. Last feed downstairs finished around midnight, slept til 3:30am then awake and on and off til in crib again at 6am then slept til 8.15am :)

Trying to get little man down - it takes so long at night, although maybe we start trying too early. He is currently asleep on my shoulder so hoping for a successful transfer shortly.

Sorry for the all of the poorly teeth - huge sympathies. Hops you get it sorted ASAP heff and tea hope you can get some more stronger painkillers!

izzy I have only recently got the hang of boob offering (lol) or should I say worked out our what works for us. He usually feeds for about 7 minutes - then comes off/starts/playing with it/gets agitated - so I wind him and then offer the other boob. I carry on like this until I know he doesn't want any more or he falls asleep. At the next feed I start with the boob I didn't finish on last time. Hope that makes sense. Holey nipple sounds awful - do you have lanolin? Paracetamol might also help but not sure what else to suggest as I don't want to give the wrong advice. Hope it heels soon.

Izzy DS still does the choking thing shortly into a feed even at six months - I think it's just when the letdown happens, it can be a bit fast for them. It's not a problem really, unless they get very distressed by it. I just let him cough for a moment and catch his breath, then he goes back on.

I've almost never had to give more than one side per feed, but babies are all different. I think the general rule is always offer the other side, and if they want more, they will take it. Generally you start each feed with a "new" side - unless they only had a short session at the second side at the previous feed (this is starting to sound complicated!).

Sorry no advice on the holey nipple, sounds very painful all I can suggest is lanisoh / air drying, and expressing from that side if feeding isn't possible. If you can't express, then feeding with the shield is better than not feeding at all from that side, IMO. Don't forget you can always call the NCT breastfeeding support line or the Breastfeeding Network line for advice, I think 24hrs? Hope it all improves soon!

Hi Izzy and congratulations!
Ouchy to the early days, apply Lansinoh cream, it works wonders. As regards which boob, let him come off or fall asleep on one side then offer the other. It doesn't matter if he decides not to take it. Then offer that boob first next time, whether he has taken it or not. Does that make sense? Although I have to admit, I must be the world's worst at remembering which side I am up to starting on

Ouchy to all the toothache too

All quiet in Missmarbles room at present. Wonder how long that will last tonight. Ooh, she took a bottle of ebm off DH this evening. Yay! He said she was very cute, grabbing the bottle and his hands as she took it

Sending out the Sleepy Mice.

Meant to say too Izzy, the choking is probably that you have a fast let down and he will get used to dealing with it. Missmarbles isn't as bad for that now, but was terrible, and so was DD1 when she was a baby as well.

X posts with Tea, there. She talks good advice there with the support lines. And, also I reckon she's right about the shields too, if absolutely necessary: better shield than none at all.

I am so far behind on this thread I might have to wait for part four and my lack of posting isn't for any good reason - like loads of sleep - minipop was diagnosed with viral baby bronchitis and has been really poorly, spent last Friday in paediatric a&e, anyhow he's recovering now thank goodness. :)

Sending you all sparkly sleeping mouse dust and wishing you all a decent night

Thanks everyone. He is feeding from good side just now as I'm scared to offer the holey one! Will have a look for the numbers to see if any are 24 hours.

Choking is horrible and makes my heart leap into my mouth!

Aargh! Posted too soon: am up feeding....

mini so sorry to heat about bronchitis, that must have been scary! I hope minipops is much, much better!

Babyfunch is on first feed after new hopeless attempt at regular bedtime of 7pm. She is usually.already asleep well before, in fact I have to try to keep her awake, do has been ok putting her down. She just wakes up too soon and too often in the small hours.

izzy I can't say anything more useful re feeding other than has already been suggested, except maybe try and get to a bfing group to get baby's latch checked as that should stop it being so sore. Sending lots of sympathy your way.

Babyfunch has come off the boob so off to proffer the other...generally she takes 10 to 25 mins on one side, then I wind her and offer the other. She rarely wants both in one feed though.

Happy sleeps everyone!

Oh dear there is illness and misery everywhere to all the suffering ones.
Hi izzy I won't give any advice as currently have mastitis so am clearly doing it all wrong ! It's much better today ladies.
Ewan has new batteries- hurrah and baby small has just gone to bed so off I go but I have no doubt I shall see you later.

I've managed to express 50mls from holey boob and DH just gave him it. He's still hungry so we gingerly latched on and its not too bad. I think the expressed milk helped the frustration and he's calm now. He feeds like a monster and even though he lost .;7% of birthweight he went up by 6 oz in 2 days. He's due weighed tomorrow. Looks like he is asleep so shall head for bed!

1st feed of the night and babyloo not as wide awake as last night so hoping he will go straight back to sleep.

Toothache is v horrible so massive sympathies and izzy definitely try the Lansinoh it does help.

Dp has decamped to the sofa because he can't sleep so is going to try and fall asleep with the tv on downstairs so I get the bed to myself. Nothing yummy in the house tonight which is not good, will have some of marbles virtual rocky road to keep me going. I bought babyloo a teething ring today and he couldn't be less interested!! He's desperate to eat fabric so I rang the team of hv's and asked if I could give him a muslin to chomp on and she said best not to in case he shoves the whole thing in his mouth which hadn't occurred to me!!

Attempting transfer and hoping not to be back until 7 but think it will be more like 3-4

Oh no mini that sounds awful. Poor minipop and poor you as I can imagine it's been pretty stressful.

Sorry to hear about all the teeth issues too, I swear I'd rather go through childbirth again than have that constant aching wisdom tooth pain.

Ds slept pretty much all day yesterday, my attempts to wake him with a bath, tummy time, nappy free time worked for a short while but then he dozed off again...I think this has had an impact on the night as we are on second wake up already. Grrr. Why do they do this?! Also he is currently rooting around for food but then refusing it when it's offered so he's driving me nuts! Hope Ewan can send him to the land of nod sharpish, but I'm under no illusions that is actually going to happen.

Sleepy mice, where are you?!

We haven't even made it sleep yet at all here since around 9.30pm. He's been grizzly the minute he is put down. I'm exhausted and DH is asleep nos as I told him is cope. Baby buzzy has had expressed milk and milk from both boobs which feel so empty yet is still looking for more. I've just given him a dummy we got free at a baby event and he is sucking like mad on it. I feel bad that he has it si early but I cannot cope without any sleep any longer.

Thanks for the cadburys tip mrsn ill be looking out for those

This thread is brilliant and helps me keep my sanity at night but one thing it's really not helping me with is my pregnancy weight fat arse

heff is it possible for you to get an emergency appointment and try and get something sorted before then?

Aw minipops I'm reall sorry to hear your LO has been so poorly, I really hope he gets better soon, hope your okay too I'm sure it's been a very stressful time for you

izzy my LO can choke sometimes too, I think it's because my milk can come really fast when she first latches on

First feed of the night, she went just over 3 hours which was nice even though it felt like 10min. I'm home alone tomorrow with no visitors, I'm really going to miss my mum this week though she took the week of work to come up and help out and spend some time with me and LO

Hope everyone's getting lots of sleep

Gah, feed no 2 here. I got lots of milk into her earlier so was hoping for another hour or so.

Still, if I wasn't awake I wouldn't be enjoying a pretzel now would I?

Hope Minipop is on the mend. Sounds like you've had a rough time.

Was woken to feed again after an hour and a half, despite having had a mammoth feed just after 11. Then I dozed while winding so transfer was a epic fail, so I am still up. I am so tired Going to try again but she's latched on and appears asleep until I try to move when frantic sucking begins again......

Is there a sleep regression at 4 months or is this just a rough patch??

Hope the teeth get better soon heff and tea! Is absolute nightmare being in pain / uncomfy!
Fun - we seem to be at same stage! I did bath/bedtime routine at 7 tonight when he seemed tired - by 9 I took him and myself downstairs abs watched tv with a bag of choc - too depressing!!last feed was also seeming promising but he still only did 2 hours! Feeding again now, well so am hoping for easy transfer! Praying to god we don't have the 2 hours awake like last night!! Xx

Well done for positive thinking funch . Just going to attempt cot transfer and I've asked baby small if he can please sleep until a decent hour! Lets see if he's listened shall we

First feed here, earlier than usual but then he did go down a bit earlier.

mini I hope mini mini is doing ok, awful for you.

nervous I know what you mean about this thread and weight loss I have my SIL's wedding in Feb - dreading finding something to where!

We are off to baby sensory tomorrow - not sure what to expect!

We've not been to bed yet as baby buzzy has been very unsettled. Have tried everything and DH and I are now snapping ay each other. We've all cine downstairs in an effort not to wake DD who is almost 3. I'm so bloody tired!!

Good early morning all.

As always I am woefully behind on everyone's posts. In part because Kid is indulging in one of his calisthenics circuits tonight and just hasn't stopped, even to feed. It's been a struggle. And I am knackered. Like all of us here!

Sorry to hear about teeth and bad nights. Not what anyone needs right now, to put it mildly! Hugs and choc all round. (special MN choc that is good for teeth)

Yes marbles there is a four month sleep regression! I got warned... Is there a sixteen week growth spurt? Kid has certainly decided there is one if not.

I want pretzels now!

Grrrrr back up two hours later, if there is a four month sleep regression lets hope it lasts about 24 hours marbles just wish he would drop one feed over night. Really hoping he will go back to sleep straight away. I'm not sure it's the waking so much that bothers me or the trepidation about settling back down again.

Hope everyone asleep