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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

Continuous night feeding - help!

21 replies

snoggle · 25/06/2014 08:56

DC3 is a week old, bfing going ok. But night times are a complete nightmare. Between 11 and 5 every night he wants to feed continuously; I don't mean frequent feeding, every 90 mins or every hour as I had with previous babies. I mean when he nods off and I put him down, he wakes and cries after about 5 mins for more. Even if I keep hold of him, he does it.

During the day he feeds fine every couple of hours, weight is fine as are nappies. What's going on? Is he cluster feeding but at a later time than usual? What can I do (at least to bring this mega feeding session a bit earlier)?

OP posts:

steppemum · 25/06/2014 09:02

ds was very sucky, and in the end I gave him a dummy. He liked to suck to go to sleep (and when asleep) and the dummy worked perfectly. It never affected his feeding, he was a good feeder, and if he was hungry and I gave him the dummy he spat it out, if he was sucking for comfort he accepted the dummy.

So the question I would ask is if he is really taking milk, or just wanting to suck/

Original poster

snoggle · 25/06/2014 09:07

That's interesting steppemum, I actually bought a dummy yesterday but then had a wobble and didn't give it to him because I thought he might be too little.
I think he is just sucking, it's very snoozy and shallow. Did you find the dummy stayed in or did yours wake when it fell out?

OP posts:

steppemum · 25/06/2014 09:20

a bit of both, sometimes it fell out and he went on sleeping, sometimes I had to put it back in. Once he was fast asleep though, he didn't need it again till morning, and it lived in the moses basket/cot, and was only for sleep. After a while, once he had found his hands, he put his hand up to push it back in.

My other 2 never wanted a dummy and never did the sucky thing either.

It was actually great in that he self settled with the dummy, give it to him and he went off to sleep. He was an amazing sleeper. We got rid of it around 12 months as he suddenly worked out that if he threw it out of the cot, I went in to give it back, so it was like a game. We got rid and it took him a couple of nights to settle and then he was fine.

steppemum · 25/06/2014 09:20

I just noticed he is only a week, ds was a few weeks old when we did it, so don't know about age

Congratulations by the way!

mangofizz · 25/06/2014 09:56

It's not self settling if he needed a dummy to do it!

I think you might need to wait until he is that bit older to give a dummy, am sure someone will be along soon who knows whether that shallow sucking still counts to establish supply in the early days

josephine1986 · 25/06/2014 10:00

Can you co sleep? Your baby is very tiny and as well as probably stimulating supply he just wants comfort, you are all he knows and he wants to remain commected to you
I would not introduce a dummy.before 4ish weeks myself but im sure others do with success

Original poster

snoggle · 25/06/2014 13:15

Yes we are now cosleeping really, since he's not actually making it into his cot! DH has been banished to another room.

But even then, he is waking and fussing to get back on the boob as soon as he drops off, which means I'm not actually getting any sleep at all. I'm also a bit paranoid as it means he is sleeping on his side, since he is constantly in feeding position even if not actually feeding.

That's why I was nervous about the dummy, he does seem a bit young. My other 2 I tried dummies with, but neither were interested at all.

OP posts:

ellentullo · 26/06/2014 07:16

Dear snoggle - my baby is 5 days old and I could have written your post exactly. Isaac was 36+5 and my instinct is telling me that he is feeding rather than just sucking but I am shattered and have v sore nipples. Various friends have experienced similar and have reassured me that it comes in phases. I'm just trying to stick it out as best I can but it is very tempting to consider anything else than this!

I am planning to see a breast feeding specialist for advice - figured can't hurt!

Original poster

snoggle · 26/06/2014 08:42

ellen ah sorry to hear you are having this too! I just don't recall it happening with DC1 or 2- of course they woke a lot, I was feeding every hour sometimes, but at least there were short breaks in between.

Last night DH took him downstairs for a couple if hours between 1 and 3, and the baby slept on his knee for a bit. That was great as I got a short break. He then had 3 feeds in 4 hours till 7am.... But hey I got 2hrs sleep (and my nipples got a break)

OP posts:

OhGood · 26/06/2014 08:52

Hi ellen my DS was the same for the first two weeks of his little life. Only thing that worked for us was going in shifts, so as you did DH took him for a couple of hours. We did keep trying him in his basket, and at about 2 weeks he started doing an hour, sometimes 2 in there. We tried a dummy asap too but he didn't like it (despite my best efforts, blighter.) Seriously, you need at least a couple of shifts of sleep a night. And be totally ruthless about some sleep in the day.

It's so shattering. I really hope your DC gets the hang of it soon.

I know it's cold comfort but DS now amazing 7-7 sleeper and of course you know you will get there in the end. Good luck.

OhGood · 26/06/2014 08:53

The dummy they say don't use for nipple confusion in first 3 weeks until BF established, hey, but I think that's rule of thumb, you know your baby, if you think he's going fine with the BF I wuld just go for it.

ellentullo · 26/06/2014 09:30

Thanks oh good. First night dh did rescue me for an hour at 3am and last night Isaac and I slept on the floor on a duvet in the nursery for an hour 5-6 before a morning rescue - back on the job again now.

Original poster

snoggle · 26/06/2014 09:38

Of course he is fast asleep right now, in his crib, where he has been for the last 2 hours......

OP posts:

OhGood · 27/06/2014 13:01

Snoggle how are things going?

Original poster

snoggle · 27/06/2014 17:02

Same again last night thanks :o
(That's either a smile or clenched teeth!)

Baby continues to be quite happy with the situation..... Me not so much!

OP posts:

ellentullo · 27/06/2014 21:24

I had another terrible night too - only lasted till 230 before meltdown this time. In the end dh slept on the floor so I could feed on my side and (hopefully safely) nod off. Couldn't keep my eyes open if holding him to feed. Breasts very painful each time.

Breast feeding specialist thinks baby has a tongue tie to explain the chafing. Feel I could cope better with sleeplessness if not so painful too. Getting referred to a surgeon

OhGood · 27/06/2014 23:01

Good luck, Ellen - apparently if it's tongue tie you can have miraculous results. And snoggle I am hoping you are asleep right now.

ellentullo · 29/06/2014 10:37

Don't want to count all of chickens but following tongue snip yesterday, baby boy can feed much better, my nipples don't feel shredded and we slept more last night than the 4 previous combined. Snoggle - I realise that this may not be relevant to your own situation but is tongue tie a possibility?

Original poster

snoggle · 29/06/2014 10:47

Yes we do have a tongue tie- waiting for appointment. It is causing me some pain (more like bruising than skin being affected) but I didn't think the baby was being affected.

Maybe he is.... Hoping we get appt soon!

OP posts:

ellentullo · 30/06/2014 19:53

I think the pain I was having was making me stressed and upset, less confident about feeding esp at night when tired and baby picked up on all this

ellentullo · 03/07/2014 08:42

How are you getting on snoggle? Isaac and I are doing better with feeding lying down and napping overnight rather than me trying to put him in co-sleeper every time he drops off. Although tongue snip did help to some extent, I still have evident nipple damage and am going back to surgeon again to see if snip needs to be extended

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