Normal for ebf 7 week old to be waking frequently?

[WillSingForCake]

Feeling down about my 7 week old DS's sleep. He'll do a 3 hour stretch, but after that he's waking every 45 minutes to an hour. He'll then drink a tiny bit of milk & then fall back asleep. This then repeats. I'm so knackered - I have a toddler to look after too.

I've tried co-sleeping, but I get even less sleep as I can't sleep whilst he's feeding, and then find it hard to drop-off myself whilst he's in the bed. It also makes no difference to his sleep - he wakes just as frequently whether he's by me or in his cot.

Feel like throwing in the towel & switching him to formula to see if he'll sleep longer.

Do you think his sleep pattern is normal for his age? My DD was also ebf, and slept much longer stretches by this point.

Could you try a dummy? If he's just waking for comfort then the dummy might satisfy him?

DD was like that (she still only sleeps for a few hours at a stretch at 5 months). I cosleep and fall asleep while she's feeding, it's the only way I can get enough sleep! It took a while to be able to do it though. It helps when DH sleeps in the spare room.

He will take the dummy, but can't keep it in. So I hear a few minutes of frantic sucking, then a thud as it falls out, and then 'waaaah!'.

Maybe I just need to get better at co sleeping. It's just not really something I feel comfortable with.

Honestly it just takes time to get used to co sleeping. It gets easier as their head control improves, around 3-4 mos they can latch themselves on and off without you hardly waking.
Co sleeping is perfectly safe if you follow the advice, which is basically common sense.
The vast majority of breastfeeding mothers cosleep at least some of the time! Though many do not admit it...
There are lots of benefits to it too - check out the Isis website

My ebf 7wo is just the same. He's a snacker - if I express a bottle for dh to give him, he'll take it in little bits at intervals so I don't think switching to formula would help - he just wants it little and often. I thought things were improving but had another bad night last night. I can't get the hang of feeding lying down, I'm a 34J and it's totally impossible! I can't relax co-sleeping either - and he sucks the dummy really noisily then cries when it falls out. My toddler also slept much longer stretches at this age! So I have no solutions, just the hope they will get better at sleeping soon!

We weren't overly keen on co sleeping as both DH and I found it hard to fully relax. I found that week 6-8 was the hardest in terms of full on feeding night and day and lack of sleep, something changed not long after this and both got gradually better so hang in there!
I had DS Moses basket pushed up against my side of the bed at the same height so I could just grab him and sling him back in when he had finished feeding without too much interruption.
It was about 8 weeks that he moved into his cot and I also found that this helped with his sleeping longer in the night. Again for a couple of weeks I kept the cot right up against my bed so I could get to him easily. At week 12 I moved him slightly further away and could get a night table back beside my bed - woohoo!
Don't throw in the towel! You're doing brilliantly and with a toddler too -wow!

Does his cot have a drop side? There are lots of tutorials online for creating a 'sidecar' arrangement, where you get the mattresses to the same high and attach the cot to the side of your bed. I had a bednest, which is a similar arrangement, and it made such a difference for DD to have her own sleeping space but be so close for feeds. Might help. Good luck - it is tough but it will improve.

My 11 week old still does exactly as you describe. It's tiring but entirely normal and will pass as he gets older.

I think there is a growth spurt around 6 weeks.