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

Well done on the weight gain cannot. We've got our weigh in on Wednesday, DD was 12lb at 10 weeks so I'm hoping this week (13 weeks) will be around 14lb based on her previous rate of gain. She was 8lb 15oz at birth (ouch!) but dropped a whole lb in the first few days so it's taken her a bit of time to catch back up.

He was 8lb10.5oz at birth (40+7) dropped and little bit and was back at birth weight by 11 days and 1lb over birthweight at 19 days so he's done well. Whereas ds1 was born 26th centile 6lb11.5oz (37+5) and has maintained 97th centile for a while now!

I think my baby might be the titchiest! He is cruising along the 9th centile. Although he did have weight gain problems at first he's been following his line now for months and the HV has finally convinced me that it's the size he's meant to be. It makes sense because neither DH or I are very big and DS has a nice layer of chub on him now, he's just got a small frame IYSWIM. He's quite long though... a bit of a skinny malinky long-legs Haven't had him weighed for almost a month though, will be interested to see what he weighs when I take him on Friday.

I sense a very bad night ahead.

DS has been grizzly since about 5pm and has had numerous screaming episodes. I was in the bath having some relaxing 'me time' when the first one happened and I waited about 20 minutes to see if DH could settle him but I ended up going to him. Once I'd calmed him down and he was quiet again I handed him back to DH and headed back to my bath. I only lasted 5 minutes before the screaming started again - so back out I got.

I finished feeding DS about 15 minutes ago, which definitely calmed him down and now I'm just waiting for him to drop off. He's exhausted so I'm hoping it will be soon but I fear I'm just in for a night of crying and screaming

Evening ladies, doing bedtime feed here. Really relieved as I've had a painful lump in my boob all day and finally the pressure has eased. I think he was really hungry and went hell for leather!

He's just drifting off to sleep in my arms at the moment and doing that lovely involuntary smile that utterly melts my heart every time. I'm trying to stop him falling asleep on the boob at bedtime by doing the Pantley Pull Off from the No Cry Sleep Solution and also trying not to rock him. He's too young for sleep training really but I'm thinking ahead a couple of months and just trying to stop those associations to make it easier for him when the time comes.

In terms of DS weight he was born 7lb 5 but lost 10% in the first 3 days as he really struggled to latch, which took him down to 6lb 8 I think. He was back up to birth weight in about 2 or 3 weeks I believe but has since stacked on the weight moving up from the 25th to the 50% percentile. At 10 weeks he was 12lb 6. I'll get him weighed next week when he'll be 14 weeks.

I love that little smile reflex too mrsm :)

DD was knackered this evening and I managed to get her in the cot at 7ish, which meant I was able to do DD1's bedtime stories too. DH has been the chief storyreader since no.2 arrived, so that was nice.

DD2 is cruising nicely along the 75 percentile. She was born there and has stayed there so far - she seems to be a pretty decent feeder and had even gained her birth weight back (and more!) when she was weighed way back on day 5. She's long too, so looks older than she is.

Last feed now so hopefully bed for us both soon! Praying for a night like last night again!!

DS hasn't slept well today - think it's the stuffy nose so I've ordered a Nosfrida and used saline spray to clear his nose. Have put him in the crib now to see if he will settle as he was doing the half-hearted feeding thing while pummelling my other boob with his hand and it hurt. I have a stuffy nos too and a cough and feel like shit. I'm sick of his screaming - it gets so bad that I feel I'm at breaking point. I would never harm him but sometimes I fel like naming myself as he's just so difficult. I wish my mum hadn't gone back to Oz on Friday as I could really use her help right now.

cariad - I have been where you are with regards to the screaming. I have also been near breaking point.....I wonder what breaking point is though? I admit to having lost my temper and shouting at DS in the past - then absolutely hating myself for it afterwards

Listening to a screaming baby causes a whole new level of frustration, desperation and anger - until someone has been there they just can't understand how awful it can be. When DS was at his worst he would scream for anywhere between 3-7 hours. And I'm not talking about just crying, I mean full on screaming. You just want to run away don't you, it's horrible.

He's still awake now so I'm giving him another feed to try and calm him down and then it's into the MB. The only thing keeping me sane is knowing that if he doesn't sleep until 10pm then he'll usually sleep until 5-6am. Fingers crossed.

Ds is screaming in the other room as DP attempts to change his nappy. He does this every night - won't feed properly, gets worked up into a hysterical screaming fit, feeds again but doesn't feed enough as he falls asleep from sheer exhaustion and then he's up in a couple of hours to feed again. It's sheer hell at the moment. I know he's got a cold but he's like this regardless of whether he's well or not. Was speaking to DSIL today who said crying it out worked for her two girls but I think DS is a co platt different baby and I'm not sure it works for him.

Co platt? Completely!

I had to wait for DS to fall asleep out of exhaustion. Absolutely nothing we did would settle him. We resorted to taking him out in the car at about midnight (we did this twice) and although he eventually stopped screaming in the car, the minute we got home and took him out his car seat he just started screaming again. I was in tears myself lots of times, partly because I hated seeing DS so upset but also because I was shattered and couldn't understand why he wouldn't just stop crying!!

I was leant a really good book a few weeks ago about colic and unexplained screaming and it did help reassure me a little as it describes how normal it can be. The problem is that babies brains are developed enough to calm themselves down and the more they scream the more agitated they get so it's just a vicious cycle. Hence why DS only stopped crying when he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.

One thing I was recommended and did work was to just leave DS in his MB. Apparently babies can get very over stimulated by being picked up, rocked, sang to, patted, winded etc and this also adds to their distress. They also pick up on parental stress which the makes them even more upset. Me and DH had been passing him back and forth for absolute hours, trying to do anything to console him but I was told this constant fussing over him was probably just making it worse. My HV told me to imagine how I would feel if I was really, really tired and just wanted to sleep but people were messing around with me and basically making it impossible for me to drop off? She said that's how DS feels. She told me that in order for his brain to 'turn off' I should just place him in his MB where's there no stimulation and he's just being left to his own devices in order for him to wind down. I was a little sceptical at first but it really did work.

Not saying it will work for every baby but just something to consider.

That certainly is something to consider. If only DS didn't scream every time I put him in the crib when he's awake! What was the name of the book you mentioned?

Let me see if I can an internet link for it...

Sods Law I can't find it on Google or Amazon.

I'm going to my breast feeding group on Wednesday morning, that's where I got the book from, so I will make a note of the title and author and let you know then

Well DS is finally asleep - 4 hours after his grizzling first started. I'm seriously hoping he sleeps through to morning now!

Goodnight all, hope your babies behave themselves

Mine is finally asleep too so I am hitting the sack. He'll be up again just after midnight no doubt.

DS only just asleep after a hellish evening!! He fought sleep so much and kept trying to use me as a dummy then moaning when he realised he was getting milk too. Hope this late bedtime means he's gonna go til morning, somehow doubt it!

Up for first feed, he slept 4 and a quarter hours! I got a decent 3 hour stretch in myself too which is nice.

Fingers crossed for the rest of the night.

Sorry to hear about bad nights and screaming babies that must be tough. I'm grateful that even though my DS is not a long sleeper he is not a crier. If he does have a meltdown it's usually short lived and explainable.

Up for second feed here after 2 hours

I've skimmed a few of these posts and feel like crying! I'm up feeding my 20 month old (been going since 3am). Ho hum. At least she slept between 11pm & 3am.

Hi Truth! Yeah you can't knock a 4 hour stretch, even at 20 weeks!

My SIL has a 22 week old and she still will only do one 4 hour stretch at the start of the night then 2 hourly.

She's 20 months (as in nearly 2 years old) at 20 weeks I doubt she went more than 45 mins between feeds so 4 hours is a massive improvement hopefully I'll get her in the cot in a minute so I can go back to sleep.

She's in the cot. I get to sleep now...

First feed here! That makes it a 6 hour stretch so I'm really pleased. He wouldn't go down in his Moses basket though so has been in bed with me again - cheeky little cuddle monkey!

I didn't co sleep with DD at all when she was this small so I am a bit worried about when/ how he'll learn to sleep alone but still... That's a battle for another day!

Just over 5.5hours so can't moan! Hopefully we have no meltdowns tonight tho!!

Let's see how long he does after this feed!