Calling all night time feeders - always up feeding when we should be sleeping! Let's keep each other company PART 2!!

[Writerwannabe83]

I think to start the new thread off we should reintroduce ourselves and our babies for the sake of our own memories and also for any newbies who may join

I have a 10 week old DS who is EBF. Has been sleeping through the night for the last week and I'm just waiting patiently for things to go downhill as I'm sure they will

[mrsmugoo]

CRAP sleeper, not crisp obvs

[TwentiethCenturyGirl]

DD usually has 7 feeds in 24 hours and often has both sides at each feed. I think my eldest had 6 or 7 until about 7 months when she was getting the hang of solids. Both my girls have been been little chubbers though and I'm lucky as I seem to have a lot of milk, so I've not had to worry about weight gain.

Is your little one BF salmon? If so, 5-6 feeds doesn't sound like a huge amount for a little one. It might be worth trying to squeeze another feed into the day and then you can enjoy a stress free snooze in the evening!

[Salmonspringroll]

writer Well that's why I'm worrying! I've fed her on one boob, woke her up by changing her and now feeding off other boob, at least I know she's full before she goes down. I figure if she's hungry she'll let me know? Some people have suggested waking her for a feed every 4 hours but I see that as silly? If she's sleeping she's sleeping right?!

[mrsmugoo]

I've never counted DS number of feeds but I'm sure it's about 15 in 24 hours! He's always bloody feeding!

[Spirael]

I can't tell where one of DD2's feeds ends and the next begins most of the time.

[Cariad007]

Bah, so much for the extra expressed milk topping DS up so he'll sleep longer. He's STILL up after 2 hours :(

[Salmonspringroll]

I take it all back about my 12 day old being an amazing sleeper! Just spent nearly 2 hours trying 2 get her 2 sleep.... Falls asleep while bf and as soon as she touches the Moses basket.... Wide awake. Maybe abit of wind.......
Good luck!

[Cariad007]

DS fell asleep n the boob, tried to put him back n the can and he awoke crying. Back on th boob now...

[Cariad007]

In the crib not the can. Bloody autocorrect!

[mrsmugoo]

Up again woohoo

[mrsmugoo]

Salmonspringroll - hate to be the bearer of bad news but what happens at 12 days isn't really an indication of what your baby will do in the future! My boy was sleeping for 2 hour naps at 12 days on the corner of the sofa! Now he'll barely do 45 mins :(

[mrsmugoo]

Got a bit of a lump forming on one boob so went to bed braless...woken up in a puddle of milk. Ugh,

[Singsongmama]

Hi everyone, had a bit of a panic when I couldn't find the new sanity lifeline thread. But found it...marking my spot.

Congrats to new mums!! Welcome to newbies.

My lovely DS is 19 weeks old, he's a big boy...over 16lbs of giggly squeaky joy. Went from sleeping well in long stretches of 4 or 5 hours to being really unsettled in the past fortnight. He's up 3 times in the night for milk so every 2/3 hours. He is EBF but has just cracked ( after WEEKS of planning and practise) drinking from a sippy cup. He'll take a wee topup expressed milk mid feeds but has yet to be given a full cup to replace a boob meal...

Up for first feed here. A good first spell after a hard bedtime

[Singsongmama]

Putting your baby to sleep in a can...shame on you Cariad! Tee he he!

Mugoo - I've slept in a bra since DS was born after milk disasters.. How I miss normal pyjamas - that will be the biggest single sign of regaining my own body. Wearing no bra with normal pjs and a big fat bottle of pink Moët!!!

[Spirael]

Feeding again here, about to watch the sun rise! Got a good 3 hour stretch of sleep at least, though it was because we resorted to giving DD2 a small formula top up as she was struggling to get much from me after cluster feeding and was getting frustrated.

I had been trying to avoid doing so, we haven't needed a top up since my milk came in. (Mine has been very slow to arrive both times despite feeding loads - just the was I work I guess!) However the Midwife has put the fear into me over hospitalisation though and anything we can do to avoid that is good.

[McBaby]

My LO is 7 weeks old I have been reading the thread for awhile but bit yet posted. My LO is pretty good sleep wise mror first part of the night and goes down 9-4 but then has awful trapped wind and keeps me awake for the rest of the night! Just hoping she grows out of it soon.

[Cannotbelieveit]

Well 5 hours 40 mins! Can't complain. I think he was just teasing me with that long run of 7-8 hours. Fed for 20 mins, will see how long that gets me! I will grateful for 7-8am but DS1 has had a bad night with more teeth coming so he's been up a few times and required a nurofen top up!

[Cannotbelieveit]

Put him in cot and awake straight away with hiccups!!! Aaaargh!!! By the time he's fed again and settled it'll be too late to bother going back to sleep and too light outside anyway

[Writerwannabe83]

Welcome mcbaby - another good sleeper at a young age

It's nice to read posts of high spirits tonight even if the babies are keeping us up. I can't remember when I last slept without a bra on and I empathise with the soaked nightshirt!

DS went 5.5 hours do not as good as usual but stil good enough. He woke up by getting all distressed about a long run of trumps He's fed off one side and now he's feeding off the other.

Does anyone else find that even this far into our breast feeding journey their baby still feeds much better on one side than compared to the other??

[Cannotbelieveit]

Hmm it's gone quiet in the cot and hiccups have stopped, I think he's dropped off himself?? Need to start leaving him to settle as long as he's not crying and likely to wake everyone (by everyone I mean ds1).

[Writerwannabe83]

Oh no cannot - we all talk about the dreaded 4am feed as it's the time of the morning where the birds start chirping and daylight is breaking through. By the time babies are fed, winded and settled we all think, "Is there any point going back to bed?"

[Writerwannabe83]

I do that cannot - I do not attend to DS once he's in his MB unless he's crying and its getting worse as opposed to getting better. I assess his crying over a 30-60 second period and make a judgement call. It's very, very rare I actually have to pick DS up. Unless he gets really distressed he always settles himself off eventually.

I attended a baby sensory class today and the host did a talk on baby sleep and she said the worst thing we can do is keep attending to the baby when they stir or make noises etc.

She explained that as adults we unknowingly wake lots of times during the night but because our brain knows how to sell back into sleep mode we have no recollection of it.

She said that babies will also semi-wake during the night (stirring and grizzling etc) and we have to let their brains learn how to 'switch themselves off' and return back into deep sleep mode. She said that by us interrupting this process - by fussing over them if we immediately intervene with the crying and grizzling - it means they can't make that developmental step as usually we end up just making them more awake than they were.

I've just put DS in his MB after finishing his feed and although he's having a few moans and grizzles I just leave him to self settle which he always does eventually.

[mrsmugoo]

Doing final feed here - he's been awake for a while but I ignored him haha, bad mother!

Really hope he goes back down til a decent time. I feel like I've barely slept tonight because I didn't get a 3 hour foundation block at the start of the night.

[Singsongmama]

I totally agree but it's a vicious circle, if they haven't learned to soothe themselves then leaving them means they'll only get more distressed. I've always been a rapid returner as I hate the idea that my LO was needing comfort that I was denying him (I am not at all suggesting that anyone is doing that - I'm just really sensitive I think). From birth you are told to attend closely to them and it's your instinct but somewhere along the way you need to take that step and let them learn but when is that time?? How old is old enough?? If you remove their sleep prop won't they wonder what the hell is going on??

I think it's amazing when I read posts saying that LO was put down and settled themselves/fell asleep and I admire parents who stick to this as I know a lot of us feel we've made rods for our own backs.

I generally feed to sleep and I feel hugely pressured as it is "the wrong thing" and a "negative sleep association" but DS would cluster feed or cry like crazy when he was young and establishing feeding and eventually he would conk out so it didn't make sense to wake him and upset him just so he could go through falling asleep himself. But then I feel I missed the boat - when do you stop???? It's a controversial question.

Before I had DS I attended a course on Attachment Theory as part of psychology work I needed to do and it scared the crap out of me. Add that new found knowledge to an already anxious first time mum and bingo....my son doesn't get put down and left to fall asleep. I do try but if he cries I pick him up - grizzles and grumfs get left after he's fed and through the night I rarely need to resettle him so I feel that's positive and a building block. My DS can fall asleep himself - morning nap and rarely afternoon nap and during the day he doesn't associate feeds with sleep.

Sorry for the essay!! I do think it's controversial and I know every baby is different and each parent should do what feels right for them. There is so much judgement out there and I say - do whatever it is you do that works for you and that means you are doing it right!!!

[mrsmugoo]

Uh oh, not asleep. Fear this is it for me...had about 5 hours broken across the night. Bummer.