Calling all nighttime feeders!! Let's all keep us company during those early hours of the morning when we're feeding instead of sleeping!

[Writerwannabe83]

This is a thread for everyone to chat to each other about their experiences of night time feeding, the good, the bad and the ugly!

There are already a few of us who have been chatting about this in another forum for a few months now but we want to migrate over here to meet more sleep deprived parents!!

Log on and post, no whatever silly hour it is, and vent away about how knackered and stressed you are!! There's a good chance someone else is up and feeding crying with exhaustion too!!

Introductions: I have a 7 week old son, first baby and exclusively breastfeed. He's normally a nightmare to settle to sleep, screaming for hours on end, but will go for 5 hour stretches of sleep!

Morning all, I'm feeling better but still sore. I've got to have my dressing changed in a daily basis at my GP surgery and then back to hospital on Friday to be rescanned to see if it's healing properly.

Morning ladies, thanks for letting me join in. Fin fed at 10pm,2.30pm,and 6am. Nice long gaps between feeds just a shame it takes so long to settle him. I would love to Co sleep but both myself and oh are restless sleepers, especially oh who thrashes about!

I'm like the living dead today. I reckon I've had about 4 hours sleep broken up into 3 sittings. Oh how is long for the days when DS slept for 5-6 hours straight. My body was just getting back to functioning normally and now everything has gone haywire.

I'm meant to be going to a Pamper Day at a Beauty Salon with some of my friends this afternoon but I'm going to have to cancel, I can barely keep my eyes open. We have a busy morning with BF Group followed by a Clinic Appt with the HV so I have a feeling that all I'm going to want to do afterwards is go to sleep!!

DH spent the whole night in the spare room last night (the first time he has done that) so I'm pretty sure that when he gets home from work he will take DS for a few hours so I can have a lie down.

Well DS is asleep after a measles 4 minute feed so I'm going to get up shower, shower, grab some breakfast and try and make myself look human.

Morning all! Slightly better night in the Shrew household. Still woke for feeds at 1am, 3am and 4.20, plus some grumbles in between, but I think because I'd resigned myself to being woken multiple times it wasn't as soul destroying as the night before. Then when he woke at 5.45 lovely dh took him downstairs so I could snatch another hour.

puggy, singsong, mine is also a grabber, pincher, puncher and scratcher. In fact his latest trick is to try to sneak his fingers into his mouth along with my nipple! And then he gets very cross when it breaks the suction. Babies: not that smart

Morning all. A bad night I had. Ds coughing and breathing heavily. At one point i took him out of his bed just to cuddle him while he was asleep but gagging.
TOMKAT my cs was manageable compared to the lack of sleep. All the best in the coming weeks with a new born. I'm too tired to concentrate.

Ha ha Shrew! So funny! Sometimes DS is so furiously sucking his fingers that he ignores the nipple right in front of him!! And he objects when I take his fingers out his mouth until he realises that he is actually getting fed. Poor babies!! Maybe one day if they persevere they'll get milk from their fingers.....

Hehehe shrew and singsong mine loves cramming his fingers in there too! Glad not the only one with a finger loving boob puncher!

Not a great night for me - he did do 3 hours in his cot of which I slept for about 2 hours.

Then he was up after an hour and a quarter and wouldn't stay in the cot so I brought him in with me and it took a while to be able to put him down.

He woke up at 4:30 with gut wind again but I settled him back but he woke at 6:30 again. DH took him in the living room and I slept til 8:15 which was well needed.

Definitely had no more than 5 broken hours last night. Back to co-sleeping tonight!

pepper well ds was bit sick earlier which he hasn't been for a while so perhaps that could have been it. He drank most of it 5/7 ounces and then started playing with his ear and fell asleep.

For quite a while DW would go to bed early, I would stay up late till poss 12-1 do a feed, DW does the 3-4 and then I did 6-7am change, wake dw with tea and toast about 8.30 as I leave for work. At least then she got some decent sleep. I live close to work so this was possible for us. DW has said most of the people she knows the partners dont/can't help in this way?

Hi breaking, sounds like you and dw are a great team! I have to say my dh is very supportive. I go up around 10 to bed leaving dd2 in her basket and dh on the sofa. He brings her up ehen she wakes. He does his best to rock her etc if it hasn't been long. Lately she's been sleeping through so I am getting 7 hours on my own in a double bed while he is on the sofa all night! He gets our 2 school age dc up in the morning and puts their cereal out too.

I am hosting my book group this eve and I think baby boo will be joining us

Sounds like you've got a great routine there fruit

DH took DS off me when he came home from work so I managed to get an hours power nap. DS has actually had quite a good amount of sleep today so has been in a really chilled and relaxed mood. I'm just feeding him now and then hopefully he'll go to sleep so I can just have some 'me time.' I absolutely adore DS but it feels like every waking moment is focused on him.

I'm also putting him in cooler nightwear tonight and using lighter blankets as I do wonder if the reason he kept waking last night was because he was so warm. Tonight he's wearing just a vest and some thin socks to keep his feet warm. What are all putting your babies in?

DS has been asleep since 8:15. My DH is away with work til Friday so it's just the two of us tonight and we're back to co-sleeping as it's just plain easier for me!

I'm having tea and toast in bed, can't actually remember the last time I had an evening meal! Good job I tend to eat well at lunch time. I think I'm going to snuggle down and sleep now too - I might as well seeing as I'm on my own.

DS is in a sleepsuit (no vest) and a 1 tog grobag. I hope he's not too hot, the room isn't too bad (22 degrees).

Evening all. We got DS down about 20 mins ago so I'm having half an hour of me time before heading up to bed. I've also been pondering what to put him in during this warm weather. Tonight I've gone for vest and light sleepsuit, with just a very thin muslin sheet. He was in short sleeves last night and I thought his arms felt too cold. We've got the gro egg thermometer so I can keep an eye on the temperature during the night and adjust accordingly.

My DH is also a huge help. We have rented a bednest from NCT and it's actually on his side of the bed not mine! He will settle DS after I've fed him (although that's not always needed) and gets up with him in the morning (usually at 6ish) so I can have a little extra sleep.

Wishing everyone a peaceful night!

Good evening everyone, I'm on my own tonight as oh works Nights. Fin is currently asleep on my chest he has been really unsettled today.wish I could sleep like this but I'm too scared I'll move or he'll fall off me! He is in short sleeved pyjama top and pyjama shorts and is due a feed in around an hour. We don't really have a routine yet.

Hello again all! DS settled off quite nicely in his MB, took him about 10 minutes to fall asleep, but now he's up again, two hours later for another feed! DS's normal pattern is 5-6 feeds a day but for the last three days he has had 10 feeds!! Had him weighed today and he's 12lb 4oz, bless him. Right, I'm going to put him back in his MB as he seems really drowsy and hopefully he will just drift back off.

Hope you all have a lovely night

DS is in a babygro and a 1 tog Gro bag.

It's not too bad in our room as there is a massive window in the en suite that opens right out and lets a great breeze in.

DD's room is baking. I suspect she could be a problem tonight. She is just in her nappy with a summer duvet.... I'm going up in the loft to find her big fan from last year first thing tomorrow.

DD fed throughout most of my book group, but in her basket by 10,30, She is in a long sleeved vest and a normal grobag. It's not that hot though. We have a gro egg but don't use it as in the past dh would get anxious about it being too hot whereas I think it feels freezing when the egg shows 18 degrees - far too much tension all round... Babies live in much more extreme climates than the uk, so probably not worth worrying about.

Ds is 12 months up until recently was waking 1-2 hrly from 11-7am.

Then out of nowhere suddenly started either sleeping through or only waking once or twice for 5 consecutive nights.

But tonight he has already been up twice since 10pm. Currently control crying since 23.25. He is screaming, gone all blotchy coughing standing up at cot etc.

Do I carry on or give in. He has no temp or obvious reason for wake up has been bf twice.

Dh is useless just says do what you think.

HV said to go every 6 rather than intervals. But that seems to be making him worse.

Pls give advice.

I'm going crazy

Sorry things aren't going well tgrayson, no advice I'm afraid but hoping things settle down.

Up at 12.30 for a feed here. Awful. She seemed to feed for ages before bed at 10pm but I felt like she wasn't getting much - like I hadn't produced much? Weird as never had that before..

Hope everyone else's night is going better xx

Feeding every 30-45 mins. Falling asleep myself. Fingers crossed this one will last a bit longer...

Oh dear, seems all my DS is missing is some tin foil and chestnut stuffing....I'm clearly baking him by overdressing him! I did open our window to bring temp down and let fresh air through...

DH is really supportive but gets up for work at 5.20am and gets home after 6pm so I am the sole night time carer. When DS was young and unsettled we took shifts but now it's just me and my mammaries!!! I know he's there if I need him and that gives me confidence. If I needed him, he'd be up without hesitating. Think it'll go back to tag team effort when LO is weaned off night feeds but that is a long way yet!

For pepper and all other mums and dads doing super regular feeds.....power on...you're doing great!!

Been feeding about 20 mins so far not helping him go to sleep as "d"pis snoring his head off. No jury in the land would convict me, ds is 14+2 and we think he has hit sleep regression early

DS has just woke for another feed so although he hasn't even been asleep for 3 hours it's a whole lot better than it has been over previous nights. He is now wide awake though!!! Typical!!

pepper - how on earth are you functioning with feeding that often?? I remember the first few weeks and how absolutely exhausting it was - something I wish they'd warned us about in our antenatal classes.

singsong I sent my DH to the spare room at 23.30pm as he's just exhausted. Normally he stays in with me until 3am then goes to the spare room to get a good 4 hours of unbroken sleep but I told him tonight to just leave me to it. Yesterday he spent the whole night on the spare room from about 9pm onwards....he was just so, so tired. He leaves for work at 07.00am and is out until 17.00ish and when he gets back he looks shattered. Normally he manages fine but with DS waking 2-3 times a night lately it has really taken it's toll on my DH. Like you though, I know he's down there if I need him (our spare room is on another floor) and he has always said to wake him if DS won't settle and he will come and keep me company. I don't think I'd ever do it though unless I was about to thrown myself out the bedroom window due to frustration or fatigue

tgrayson - that sounds really hard going, no wonder you are going crazy, you must be exhausted. When you say you HV has told you to 'go every 6' what do you mean? 6 hours between feeds or 6 minute spaces when doing C.C?

It's so difficult because in this heat babies typically want to breast feed more. My baby's sleep routine has gone completely out the window over the last 3 nights. He used to sleep 5-6 hours straight but now he is waking every 2 hours (maximum) and wanting a quick feed. The fact he only wants the fore milk implies to me he's just thirsty from the heat. He has gone from having 5-6 feeds a day to now having a minimum of 10. Do you think it could be the same with your baby??

Sorry your DH is being crappy, I also get a lot of, "just do what you think" off my husband. Don't they realise we want their advice,thoughts and support sometimes??!

Fed ds to sleep p let out a particularly loud snore and woke him up again have woke p up and said if he insists on making that racket he can either try and settle ds himself or go downstairs. So he has gone downstairs

nouse - my DH is a snorer at times and I get seriously pissed off when he's doing it whilst I'm trying to settle DS. I always push/shake him really hard and tell him how loud he's snoring when he eventually stirs!! He always says, "sorry, wake me if I do it again and I'll go downstairs (the spare room)" It just makes me really annoyed....I tell him that obviously he will do it again so can he please just go downstairs now!!

There is nothing worse than being absolutely shattered and having to listen to someone else snore in the depths of their lovely sleep!!