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!

DS had a short nap this morning and a 2 hour one while we went out to lunch and seems relatively content. For now! He drank the whole 3oz I'd expressed before we went out and had a good feed when we came back too. Only problem was that he refused to take the whole bottle from DP so I had to finish giving it to him. Which kind of defeats the purpose!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tonight but I think that'll be in vain. And really need him to sleep tomorrow evening as it's Game of Thrones night!

3 half hour naps today....he's fought every single one but has been so grumpy. DH left at 3pm...that's me and DS flying solo for a week, yikes!

Good luck. The first day DP went back to work and left me alone with DS was bad enough so I can't imagine how daunting a whole week by yourself would be.

I know others have it harder...at least I know DH is still in the country and it's only a week. Still...I'll be counting down til he's back. DS just had a lovely nap in the sling...slobbered all down me!

My DS slept in the sling once and then after that screamed every time I put him in it! Just given him a traumatic bath where he screamed all the way through (usually he loves his bath and it's a guaranteed way of calming him down) and he was napping on me after a feed but is now starting to stir. It's going to be another one of those nights...

Oh dear Cariad, there nothing worse than sensing a bad night....

Checking in for the evening. Sad to see so bad nights from everyone recently and those whose partners aren't about for a while. But we're all mums now, we can do anything...right?

DD is currently grunting and ever so slightly whinging away in her room. She IS tired, she fell asleep during her feed, woke up while being winded and was put down smiling at me. Hopefully this won't take too long...

She was doing so well the last few nights too, but yhe wind just seems to be getting worse! I can't put her down without winding her but she wakes right when I do...

Anyone got any ideas as to why a 4 month old might still be suffering so badly?

Checking in here.

DS was giggling and smiling all afternoon and wouldn't take a third nap. He finally started to get tired at 6 so too late for a nap so we did bath time early. He was so tired bless him, he couldn't keep his eyes open in the bath! Then when he was dressed I started to feed him and he just kept falling asleep. I kept waking him and putting him in the other boob but he was out cold so I've put him down.

It's too early (even for me!) to go to bed so I'm not sure what to do? I'm pretty sure he's not fed enough for a long stretch but if by a miracle he does sleep a long stretch now I'm going to miss out on some of the sleep and then only get max 2 hour stretches all night :(

Or, I could "dream feed" him at 9:30 when I would normally go to bed and hope it resets him but risk making him cross and setting myself up for a nightmare night.

I guess I have nothing to lose.

He's up and almost inconsolable now :( His BCG spot looked a bit bruised so I gave him a little Calpol in case he was in pain but that doesn't seem to have done anything. I guess it's the 4 month sleep regression come early.

Checking in here too.

DS has just been bathed and is now being fed. I'm going to offer both boobs again and then straight into his MB where he'll hopefully drop off quickly....

Having a bad day with Fin, he just keeps screaming off the boob, it's so upsetting and I'm worried he's not getting enough milk, this is his second day of screaming off at every feed

Is it wind? Have you tried Infacol or gripe water?

Oh that sounds tough puggywug - there is nothing more soul destroying than a baby constantly crying.

When I try to feed DS when he's got wind it's near impossible - his back goes completely rigid, he can't latch on very well and is constantly falling off the boob in between grizzles, cries and screams.

Has he ever suffered with reflux?

So DS has now been screaming for nearly two hours and I'm seriously contemplating throwing myself off the balcony...

DS was nearly asleep...unti I swallowed and choked....cue coughing, spluttering and sneezing with baby being unceremoniously bounced off my boob, he looked very confused and very annoyed.

Sorry to hear that some babies are struggling to feed, it's just so hard when they have no way of telling you what is wrong. Good suggestions from other mums.

I hope we all get them settled soon. Is it roasting where you are tonight? His room is 23.7 currently. His fan is on (white noise bonus!) and he isn't in his grobag.

Who is with you Cariad? Do you drive? I know it's the last thing you might want to do but it might just be worth a try? It's awful when they do this....

Hand to hold

Keep us updated...

It's not particularly hot in my bit of London but the room is a bit stuffy so I've got the fan on and DS is just in a vest.

Oh and puggy too

Singsong Unfortunately we don't have a car. DP is here with me but not having much luck calming DS for more than about 10 mins at a time. We tried a white noise app tonight as he's liked the sound of the hairdryer in the past but the little smartarse can actually tell the difference between the app and my Parlux dryer which I don't really want to have on constantly as it wasn't cheap!

Thanks for the advice and hand holding. We already use infacol and he doesn't seem any windier than usualas for reflux I have no idea, he isn't sick very often he spits up a little of hid milk sometimes but not after every feed. I'm a the doctors on Tuesday for my piles - oh the glamour so I'll mention it to them.

Sorry about the poor typing skills I'm on my phone and Fin has nodded off on my arm so I dare not move!

I'm not sure if they'll work for a crying baby as I've not tried them in those circumstances, but the black and white baby stimulation videos on YouTube are hypnotic for DD.

Have you tried the 5 S's? They really worked for DD when she screamed. this article explains them or you can search for "Harvey Karp 5 s" on YouTube.

Oh no, nightmare, yeah they are smart little things! It won't last all night, this too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass.

DS has such a bloody short attention span that the YouTube films keep him interested for about 10-15 minutes tops and only if he's in a good mood! When he's crying there's no helping him. Tried the 5s's too and of course I happen to have a baby who falls into the 2% of babies it doesn't work for!

Anyway the noise of my hairdryer seemed to do the trick and he dropped off but I'm guessing it'll be a short sleep as he hasn't had a proper feed. Hopefully he'll feed and then go back to sleep immediately.

So much for DS going to sleep quickly, he's still awake 2 hours after his feed.

He has gone into what appears to be a deep sleep at least 3 times but then suddenly wakes up again. I have a serious headache.

I'm sorry you are having a crap time cariad - I have been there myself and empathise with wanting to jump of the balcony. My DH resorted to taking him out in the car on a few occasions (usually at about midnight when we just couldn't listen to it anymore) and although it soothed DS during the ride, the minute he got back in the house he started screaming again. It is relentless. I really hope your DS has a decent sleep.

It's really hot here too!