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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

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

999 replies

Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 21:14

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 Smile

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 Smile

OP posts:
KateTheShrew · 20/06/2014 08:57

Morning all! Hi birds, welcome Smile

I think decreasing sleep stints are the norm, sadly. I remember reading somewhere that they have their deepest sleep at the beginning of the night and have lighter sleep close to morning. My DS certainly does this.

We had a horrendous night that I never want to repeat. Put him down at 9.30 and went to sleep myself as I was shattered. Woke up to the sound of DS wailing an hour later. Fed him as usual and when he dropped off put him back in his bed where he promptly started wailing again. Ended up repeating this for an hour with DS falling asleep on me but waking screaming when I put him down. Finally my poor mum came in to help, by which time he was in complete meltdown. Poor little chap was so upset Sad Just when we are thinking he must be ill he calmed down very suddenly and wanted to play!!!! We didn't get him back to sleep until nearly 1 am. So that was an hour and a half of absolutely heartbroken screaming and an hour of wanting to get up and play. I have no idea what got into him Hmm

Anyway he finally exhausted himself enough that he slept till nearly 5, had a quick feed and went straight back to sleep until 7, which was a relief. I have never heard screaming like that from him, it really scared me. But it stopped so suddenly and this morning he seems totally fine!?!

KateTheShrew · 20/06/2014 09:00

Sorry for double post, don't know how I managed that!

BirdsDoIt · 20/06/2014 09:10

How random kate! Do you think he had wind and sneaked out a massive fart mid-scream, which sorted him out and then he wanted to play? I find the completely inexplicable screaming the hardest thing to deal with, worse even (dare I say it) than the sleep deprivation...

Glad to hear we're not alone on the decreasing sleeps! And so nice to have company with all this. DH is not as endlessly interested as I am in how much DS sleeps, when and why because at the moment he's in the spare room, lucky thing, so I need to bore on to someone else about it...

Definitely makes sense about the first and longest sleep being the deepest. The last few nights he's gone to sleep at 7/7.30pm which is lovely because it gives us our evening back - not so lovely because it's his best sleep and I'm not sleeping too! So last night I managed to postpone that sleep a bit, fed him at 6pm and 8pm without a sleep in between and then he crashed out at 9.30pm. As if he wanted to prove me wrong he then did 3 four hour stints - 12.30, 4.30, 8.30 - with sleep in between, despite a massive poo at the 4.30 feed and complete change of clothes. It's a miracle!! Will try to recreate that tonight but I doubt it will happen... It's all so haphazard.

OwlinaTree · 20/06/2014 09:18

We had a good night too. Bed at 7.30, up at 10, 4, 7 and just now. He likes a lie in just like his Mum! I'm on my own at the mo, dh went to a gig last night and stayed at a mates, so I'm very glad it was a good night.

We are going to go swimming this am, very exciting!

TwentiethCenturyGirl · 20/06/2014 09:33

We had an ok night. DD went down at 6.45 (after a dose of Calpol - she's teething like mad) and I woke and fed her before I went to bed at 11. She then normally goes through to 6ish but woke at 4am last night for the first time in ages. Could have been teeth, could have been the heat (it was really close in our house) or could have been because she's in a 'thundery leap' period according to The Wonder Weeks. Thankfully she was only up for about 30 mins and I managed to get her back down again.

She's done the most ginormous poo this morning and, after a thrash round her playmat, is back in her cot snoozing. I need to start working on her daytime naps though because although she settles like a dream for them, they never last more than 30 mins unless she's out in the pram and even then it's not guaranteed they'll be any longer.

Cariad007 · 20/06/2014 09:46

A much better night here. Kept DS in her bed with me after his first feed and we both managed a decent amount of sleep. Feel almost human again!

PollyP0429 · 20/06/2014 10:52

Just when you think it's getting better... had the attempt to feed at 10, then another 2 feeds at some point in the night and up at 5 for another. At half 5, only 10 mins after I come back she fusses and DH gets up with her til 7. He tells me he got up another 2 times between then (I only remember 1) and insists on sleeping til 10 this morning - despite me actually being up longer and more often...

It's so hard not to get resentful sometimes

mrsmugoo · 20/06/2014 15:40

Edward rolled over for the first time today - beaming with pride!

FrankelandFilly · 20/06/2014 16:10

That's great MrsM Grin DD has been threatening to roll for a few weeks but getting up on to her side is as far as she's got!

KateTheShrew · 20/06/2014 17:03

Think we may have solved the mystery of the screaming last night. He cut one tooth last week with no fuss and no problems but today I can see another little tooth trying to poke through and it looks sore Sad Think we may try some calpol tonight.

Cariad007 · 20/06/2014 20:58

Argh, just fed DS to sleep in the lounge, got up to go to the bedroom and now he's wide awake! Angry

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 20/06/2014 21:03

I've had an horrendous day with DS - he has barely slept all day. I reckon he's had 90 minutes tops spread over about 4 short naps. I dared to try and have a bath tonight but all I could hear was DS screaming downstairs with DH. I left it for about 10 minutes but then I just couldn't listen to it anymore so went downstairs to them. Poor DS was in an absolute state, really, really crying, tears all down his face, it was horrible and DH looked like he was ready to throw himself under a bus! I took DS off him and it was instant silence. Does anyone else find that their baby is so attached to them that they won't even settle for their dad??

I'm feeding now and I'm really, really hoping he will sleep afterwards. DH is going out soon and I can't face a night of screaming on my own!

OP posts:
Cariad007 · 20/06/2014 21:19

Yes yes and YES, DS sometimes will just not settle with DP but the moment I take him he quietens down. I guess I should be flattered but I find it frustrating as sometimes I'd quite like to get on with something else and leave him with DP!

He had a 3 hour nap this afternoon so perhaps that's why he's wide awake now. I guess he'll drop off again in about an hour but he tends to save his worst behaviour for Friday nights so wish me luck.

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 20/06/2014 21:36

DS fell asleep within 5 minutes of me putting him in his MB - good little baby Smile

In one way I like it that he sees me as the one he's safe with, but like you said, sometimes you just want 10 minutes to yourself. When DS is in a good mood he will happily play with DH and they'll have a lovely time, but when he's tired and upset, nobody will do but me. I don't know how to handle it really? Obviously we don't want them to be totally reliant on us, but at the same time I just can't leave him to scream. My DH absolutely can't cope with it but it must be hard to know you're holding a screaming baby and know you have absolutely no chance of making it stop.

OP posts:
FrankelandFilly · 20/06/2014 21:43

I have to admit that's something I'm worried about when DH comes back writer. DD won't have seen him for 4 months and I think he'll be heartbroken if she won't settle for him Sad

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 20/06/2014 21:48

I try and reassure my DH that he shouldn't take it personally and it's only because I spend so much more time with DS that he settles for me. I tell him it's normal for babies to make a natural attachment to their mother (especially when breast fed) and that he just needs to be patient and wait for DS to be a little bit older when he isn't so dependent and he will recognise that DH is just as much a carer as I am.

DH is a teacher so has the Summer Holidays coming up so lots of time to spend with DS so hopefully this might make a difference.

How old is your DD frank?

I think for our memories sake we should all sign off with a 'signature' of how old are babies are as sometimes their age can be pertinent to the issues we are having Smile

OP posts:
FrankelandFilly · 20/06/2014 21:57

She'll be 15 weeks on Monday. We agreed that now was probably the least worst time for him to go away (not that we had any say in the matter!) as she won't remember him not being here (so no separation anxiety) and he won't miss too much in the way of developmental milestones. We are able to FaceTime each other a few times a week, but he can never call until after DD is asleep in bed. If I knew for sure he was going to be able to call on a particular night I could keep her up, or wake her, but his working hours are all over the place and I don't know from one night to the next if he will call.

Cannotbelieveit · 20/06/2014 22:04

Well last feed was 7.45, he was grizzly after that, DH kept him in the lounge whilst I had half hour to myself to lie down. Gave him a bath just after 9, thinking I'd feed him straight after but he didn't want to know and was screaming so DH gave him gripe water and he had his soothie for a couple of mins whilst I was holding him and he fell asleep so he's in his cot asleep now. I know he will definitely be up twice now as his last feed is always between 9-10pm.

It's just wishful thinking that he might still only wake to feed once!! On well least my parents are here tomorrow!! Grin

Ryder 7 weeks tomorrow

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 20/06/2014 22:19

That sounds hard frank - what is it that DH does??

cannot - yay for signing off with Ryder's details!! And what is his soothie? I'm intrigued Smile

OP posts:
Cannotbelieveit · 20/06/2014 22:25

It's a soft dummy made out of one piece, the only one he would take!!

soothie

I spoke too soon he just woke and fed for 8 minutes will attempt to put him back in his cot in a bit

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 20/06/2014 22:29

My DS has a massive spot in his chin where the rim of his dummy keeps rubbing against his skin. It's really, really red and looks so tender. As a result we haven't given him his dummy today and he's actually been ok without it. I have been sorely tempted to give it though when he is having one of his screaming episodes!!! My mom wants to put Tea Tree Oil on it but I told her the smell would probably be a bit too strong for DS's liking Smile

OP posts:
FrankelandFilly · 20/06/2014 22:31

He's in the military writer, he's currently in Afghanistan Sad

puggywug81 · 20/06/2014 22:31

Good evening ladies hope you are all well,

Kate glad the mystery was solved.

Mrsmugoo congratulations proud moment.

Fin has been constantly feeding today,hoping for a good night as it is a little cooler tonight.

Finlay is 11 weeks old.

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 20/06/2014 22:34

Oh yes, I think I remember you mentioning it beforehand now you've said it. Fair play to you for looking after/bringing up your DD in his absence, I think I would have cracked up if I'd been in that position. Definitely well done to you!! When is he back??

OP posts:
FrankelandFilly · 20/06/2014 22:38

He gets 2 weeks at home in September and then is back for good end of November/beginning of December.

95% of the time I'm doing fine, but every now and then I have a little cry over it all. It can be pretty tough at times knowing there is no one else here to deal with DD, everything falls on me no matter how tired I may be.

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