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!

Am going to attempt to take DS for an under-1's music session at a local children's centre this afternoon. Never been to anything like that before so I'm not sure what to expect but I figure it'll do us both good to get out of the flat.

After DS's 05.00am I actually lay him next to me just to make sure he got into a deep sleep before I went to put him in his MB and I fell asleep myself!! And oh my God, we have only just woke up!! He (and I) slept for another 4.5 hours!!

I can't believe I've had 10.5 hours sleep!!!

He's now lying next to me, all cuddly and and making his,"Mommy I want my breakfast face.....

I'm thinking co-sleeping is the way to go after his 'middle of the night' feed if it means we both get this much sleep afterwards!!

Cariad good luck with music class. I love going to ours! And he loves it too! Let us know how you get on.

Hurrah writer - good for you - you deserve a bit of a break!

cariad just wanted to say the music session I take DS to is often the highlight of our week! He's 4 months, so still a bit little to join in, but he loves, loves, loves listening and watching all the other babies and toddlers. The drooling definitely goes up a few notches as he's so enthralled . Plus I've learned loads of new songs to keep him entertained at home. Hope you both enjoy the session this afternoon.

Baby nest made of C shaped towel covered in sheet worked so well last night. Actually had sleep. Went down at 1am (can work on that) and got 3/2/2 hours sleep, so happy. Feel like a new woman today. Thank you for all the tips ladies.

Well that was quick. I didn't realise it's half term so all activities have been cancelled, including the baby class! Oh well, next week it is then.

What's annoying is that DS fell asleep but I woke him up to take him out. With any luck I'll give him a feed in a bit and he'll drop off again. She says...

Oh no! What a shame...after getting all ready, how annoying! Try again when it's on, it's worth it!

Here we go again ladies!

Bedtime routine completed here and a sleeping DS is about to be laid down in bed from my arms.

DH has got to go out back to work this evening so I'm going to bed now with DS! It's still light but you've got to sleep when your baby sleeps huh?

"Here we go again" - that made me laugh mrsmugoo because how right you are!

Bath time is completed over here, he is feeding now and I'm hoping he will drop off nicely. He had a 4 hour 'nap' though between 1-5pm so who knows if that will have a negative effect on him.

I had 3 friends round this afternoon that I met through one of my baby groups and we got chatting about sleep patterns. One of the women has a 17 week old breast fed baby who sleeps through for 8 hours every night!! Sounds like heaven!! I still count myself lucky if I get 4 hours.

I'm pretty sure last night was a one off but seeing as I'm running on a 10.5 hour sleep I feel mentally and physically prepared if a bad night is in store....

DS had a 3 hour nap this afternoon and a half hour one when DP took him out for a walk this evening so I could go to the gym. Now trying to feed him and he won't settle and drink properly.

A false start here, he woke up when I put him down so I fed him a bit more. Attempt #2...

First night in his own room....wish us luck!!

False start here too....he fell asleep in my arms about 20.40pm and just as I was about to make the transfer he sprung back to life I tried to rock him back to sleep with no luck to decided to just put him in his MB. And as per last night he's having a whale of a time in there, kicking and singing. I'm just hoping he doesn't play around for an hour tonight and instead goes to sleep ASAP

I think I have an asleep baby for now anyway

Only took 50 minutes of him playing around tonight so slight improvement in last night

How's it going singsong??

Bah, still no sleep here. Just screaming. Won't feed either and he's not had a proper feed since before 6pm. So I figure he must be hungry but he just won't drink for more than a few sucks before coming off the nipple and screaming. It's so bad that I fear the neighbours may call social services! I don't understand why he's being like this. Am I doing something wrong by letting him nap for so long in the afternoon? He's also on and off the boob while he naps as that's the only way he'll stay asleep and give me some peace. If I don't do that he wakes up after about 15 minutes.

Oh dear cariad - I've also worried about SS in the past when he's been screaming and screaming. God knows what the neighbours must think!

I hope you are feeling ok? I know heartbreaking it is when they won't stop screaming and you don't know what to do. It's had me in tears lots of times. When me and DH have been really desperate my DH has taken DS out for a drive and it stopped the screaming and DS usually fell asleep.

Screaming whilst feeding is usually associated with reflux. Is he arching his back at all? Or is he just point blank refusing?

Don't blame yourself about long naps - in my experience the better DS sleeps in the day the better he is at night. When a dad is overtired, I.e hasn't slept much in the day, he is unbearable!!

The problem with babies is that they do not have the mental ability to calm themselves down, they aren't emotionally developed enough - or so a book I read said. I usually found the only reason DS stopped crying was because he had exhausted himself to sleep. I've had episodes where he's screamed for 6 hours.

Do you use a dummy?? I was adamant I was going to give one but on the HV's advice and the fact I was so desperate I gave in and gave DS one. It has been an absolute life saver!!! It is now the one thing we can rely on (my boobs aside) to stop the tears. When DS seems inconsolable I pop the dummy in and give him lots of cuddles and he's usually asleep within 10 minutes.

It sounds exhausting about you having to have him on the breast to keep him asleep,hence another reason why a dummy might be a good idea? They just love the comfort of sucking.

I'm sorry I have forgotten how old your DS is - obviously this will have some bearing on my dummy advice.

DS is 14 weeks. Don't get me started on reflux - I was convinced he had the silent type a few weeks after he was born but the GPs said no, one even going as far as to say reflux is more of a buzzwordy condition and that the medications for it can cause problems with bones. Then I managed to get a referral to paediatrician but they could find nothing wrong either. He is better than he used to be (apart from nights like tonight) so I think he might be growing out of the reflux.

I've tried giving him a dummy but he doesn't really like it and is yet to figure out how to keep it in his mouth. To tell you the truth it's probably just me being lazy - if sucking on me keeps him quiet and gives me some peace then so be it, but I'm very aware that I'm probably creating a rod for my own back. Naturally I have a DSIL who sleep trained my two DNs from day one so that they learned to sleep through the night and I was planning on doing that with DS but it just didn't work out that way. We all have ideas about the sort of parent we are going to be but when it comes down to it, we have to do whatever it is that works for us don't we?

Anyway DP put DS in his pram and rocked him to sleep so there's peace for now but I don't know how long it'll last given how long it's been since DS's last proper feed. Hopefully if he wakes up he'll then have a decent feed and go back to sleep.

This thread is really saving my sanity by the way!!

Getting ready to put dd in her crib, nervous.

I read on kellymom that screaming during feeding can be related to speed of let down. Or flow speed. Depending on age of baby this behaviour can be because they've become quite particular about their feeding time and how they drink. Screaming accompanied by pulling off nipple typifies this. Can't remember exactly what article said but might be a useful read.

Back later. Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone. Spent 6-8 wk check up for baby crying at the dr while trying to explain what I am anxious about. Really hoping for a bit of quality sleep this eve. Eek.

3 hours in his own room, so that's encouraging right??!

Cariad... I know it's hard but Please try not to compare yourself or your LO to anyone else, you are doing the best you can for your son. I am totally on board with the rod for my own back thing....I feed to sleep at bedtime and during the night. I can't bring myself to wake to sleep. Putting him down awake at night causes lots of tears and I'm just not doing it. Ill transition away from it when he is weaned and sleeps through in his own room. I'm doing one day at a time.... Is your DS settled now?

Wishing everyone a long first block....

Up for first feed here after almost 4 hours which is great!

Hi everyone, can I join? My DC3/DD1 was born a week ago in the wee small hours of Friday 22rd weighing a dinky 5lb9oz. We had a 5 day stint in SCBU and transitional care getting treatment for hypoglycaemia and jaundice so this is night 3 at home. I'm under strict instructions to wake her every 3 hours to feed which goes against the grain a bit, but today she recorded a weight gain (1oz) for the first time
I still haven't quite got my head around her being here. She arrived 2 weeks early at great speed (80 min labour) after a history of recurrent miscarriage that meant we never quite believed bump would = baby.
I look forward to getting to know you all, will read back in due course...

Hello baking - congratulations on your dinky little daughter I'm sorry to hear about your miscarriages, what a special gift she must seem

My DS had prolonged jaundice (it didn't actually go until he was 8 weeks old) and for a good while I was doing 3 hourly feeds and having to wake him. I found it tough going as sometimes DS just didn't want to be woken and trying to feed a shattered baby wasn't fun for either of us

I am just on my first feed of the night so I have only had a 3.5 hour block of sleep. It has however been 6 hours since he last fed, if only he'd go to sleep quicker afterwards as it would mean I'd get more sleep too!! Bless him. His 'middle of the night' feeds are always quick affairs, usually 5 minutes and he's done.

Well done singsong and mrsmugoo - it all sounds very promising!

cariad - sounds like you've had a pretty rough time. I won't go into all the pointless details but we were in A&E once and Reflux was being considered. The Registrar didn't use the term 'Buzz Word' but was very blasé about reflux, saying so many babies and sometimes it's just a case of riding it out. She gave us some Gaviscon but was very non-committal about it, just said it was up to me and DH if we wanted to use it. As has been said, try not to compare your DS to anyone else - I think we'd all feel disheartened if we'd did that. You aren't being lazy, you are just doing what works best for you.

Up again after 2 hours for a second feed - although frustratingly it was farts not hunger that woke him.

Would love to go through to morning now but suspect we'll do another wake.

I'm still awake here too.

He's been up 1hr and 15 minutes and he has only been feeding for 10 of those.

He's in his MB grizzling away - his eyes are closed though and have been for a while so I'm hoping sleep isn't too far off. He keeps straining though so maybe he's feeling a bit uncomfortable and can't drop off. He had two big dirty nappies today though so I would have thought he'd be all cleared out.

I hate it when it is around the 04.00am time and I'm still awake - for some reason it feels like the night is over, a fresh day is about to begin and any hopes I have for getting more sleep are pretty pointless.