Night feeders thread part 3 - Up all night feeding? Come join! [title edited by MNHQ]

[mrsmugoo]

Part 3!

Quick recap - DS, 17 weeks, EBF (stubborn little bottle refuser), crap sleeper! Super knackered Mummy, surviving on 1-2 hour sleeps :(

So I am hoping for a better night tonight seeing as bedtime went smoothly. Last night was hideous and I've eaten a twirl, a bounty and a salted caramel brownie today just to get through the day!

I do feel your pain polly as DS1 had been getting up a few times every hour due up teething as well as DS2 waking to feed.

Hope it improves for you tonight!

Oh polly - that sounds exhausting! Feeding is the Magic Solution in my eyes when it comes to trying to calm DS.....I would be in a flap if that didn't work. What do you have to do to cam your DD down??

DS did go back to sleep after his early morning feed and we both got another 2.5 hours. He's feeding again now.

His sleep has been so, so much better at my mom's house and the only thing that is different to home is that there is a fan in my room over here which I've kept on overnight. I think I'll be taking the fan back home with me!!

Morning ladies,

Another good night for us here (I feel bad coming on here now saying we've had night nights - sorry )

He went down at 8:30ish, I followed at 9:30 as I was shattered from being at a massive family do all day and having to deal with a hot and bothered DS being passed from pillar to post and having family members constantly say "is he hungry?" "does he have a tummy ache?" "is he tired?" when he was crying when the reason was he just doesn't like being handled like a sack of potatoes and passed round and round all day. Poor love.

He woke at about 1 but I just left him and he took about half an hour to settle himself back off. He never cries or fusses when he wakes, just turns over, tries to get comfy and kicks his legs about a bit.

He was also moving about a bit at 4am but his eyes were closed so again, I left him and went back to sleep myself til 5:30am when I could see his eyes were open in the cot so I fed him and brought him in with me until 7:30.

Does anyone else's DC thrash around actually in their sleep at night??

*good nights not night nights

Well DS chose one of the hottest nights of the year to decide he'd be thirsty and clingy all night! He slept plenty between feeds but I didn't as he's getting so big that he takes up my whole side of the bed as he sleeps starfish style! He is grumpy atm but I am going to leave him with DP and go to spin class as I need a break!

Yes Mrs I have a thrasher too!!

Finally a break from the screaming

DS went down very easily at around 8.30. Woke for feeds at 11, 2.30 and 5, and got up for the day at 8.30. Could have done with fewer wake ups but a vast improvement on the last few nights. Hope it lasts!

Writer it feels like there's nothing I can do to calm her down. When it doesn't work its a case of holding her and waiting it out.

She's so overtired, she just gets in such a state and she knows she's tired and she wants me to make it better so she wants cuddles and wants me to put her down at thr same time.

I'm glad other people are doig better though. It gives me hope.

Those of you with inconsolable babies, would walking in the pushchair with a dark cover help? My SIL does this with her DD and it "blacks her out" from all stimulation and sends her right off to sleep.

If only! I try draping a Muslim over the hood of DS's pram when we are out for a walk but he just gets cross as he likes to look around and see everything.

Oh FFS, a MUSLIN!

polly - I had the exact same problem when DS was younger so I know how upsetting, heart wrenching and frustrating it is. I know what you mean about 'waiting it out' as that's all we could do - he only fell asleep when he was too exhausted to cry anymore. It really is a difficult phase to cope with so you have my sympathy xx

I'm just giving DS his bedtime feed now. I'm hoping that as the last two nights have been a huge improvement then it means he might be edging back into a more normal routine for him. A girl can dream.....

DS was asleep by 20.30pm - this is seen as a miracle in our house now!!

Will be interesting to see how long he stays asleep for though.....

DS has been down since 7:15, think I'm going to have to dreamfeed him as my boob has got a lumpy blockage and it'll be uncomfortable to wait all night for him to next feed.

Oh my goodness, dream feeding is the cutest thing ever! Blockage cleared, DS back in his cot none the wiser!

I wonder if he can manage right through to morning now?

Hope so mugoo! I never used to dreamfeed DC1, so the idea is you just pick them up for a feed while they're asleep? What if they fill a nappy, do they wake then when you change them?

He never fills his nappy at night so don't have to worry about that. I literally lifted him out, latched him on and popped him back in without him waking. It's the cutest thing.

He's been awake for ages now. Been sitting with him trying to get him to settle back off but he's thrashing around. I've fed him and put him down drowsy but he's still thrashing around and trying to roll over.

What the hell do you do at 2am to put a baby to sleep who won't feed to sleep and won't be rocked/patted etc anymore??

I don't really want to put my earplugs back in because if he flips over on his tummy he'll get stuck.

And there was me getting cocky about him sleeping til morning!!

Ok we have closed eyes!

Now for sleeeeep!

Oh my DS definitely DOES poo in the night (6 dirty nappies in the nappy sack next to me on the bed as we speak) and last night around 3:08 he had actual projectile poo mid nappy change! I suppose he's still very young though.

You were asking what sends them to sleep if not feeding/rocking? My answer is Ewan the Dream Sheep (cuddly toy which plays womb sounds/white noise/harp) it's amazing!

Oh I have a Ewan - white noise has no effect in him!

We do use the harp music as part of our nap time wind down though.

So at some time I must have got DS in with me (no memory of doing so!) as I woke up at 6am to little legs jabbing me in the side. I fed him and managed to get another hour Thank god!

DS woke at 01.00am and again at 07.00am - so not too bad. He must have been hot at his 01.00am waking because he had an absolute monster of a feed, draining both boobs! He only had a short feed at 07.00am and then went straight back to sleep. He will probably sleep until about 10.00am so I think I'm going to treat myself to a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits

My Ds is 17 m and takes a few hrs to get to sleep at bedtime (despite us following the No Cry Baby Solution), then wakes at the slightest noise, such as a floor board squeeking (a nightmare with 4 older DC). He wants a feed every time he wakes even though I am at work 3 evenings per WK, so he hasn't been able to for 9 m now, which results in dh coping with hysterical screaming for hrs until I get home sometimes.

We co-sleep when I get home, which doesn't make him sleep any better. He latches on and if I try and remove him at all, he has a major full scale tantrum. He will scream for hrs, by which time he would normally have another feed, so I feel it unfair to deny him.

I have cut his day feeds bk to 1 after each meal, but even though this is WK 5 he still asks for it LOTS and often has a meltdown when I don't let him. I thought he would have got used to it by now and be eating better, but he's not.

Often his only daytime nap is in the car on the school run.

He is VERY active and can open all our safety gates and doors, so its full on from the moment he gets up, between 5 and 6.

Hello Nar - and welcome!!

It sounds like you have a lot on your plate, it sounds very tiring!

How old are your other DC?

The screaming sounds like tough work for your DH to cope with, do you find it a bit of respite even you're at work or do you worry about the melt downs going on at home??

Have you tried also posting in the Parenting/Breast and Bottle forums as there is usually lots of good advice and tips on how to wean young toddlers off the breast

I am exhausted and survive on 3-4 hrs sleep a night, which is poor quality sleep as it is proped on my side with my toddler latched on.

Dh is great with him, but has had enough and has started to suggest I wean him. He is hoping for a miracle to happen, if ds isn't breastfeeding any more. Due to often spending hrs in the evening with ds screaming, he isn't keen to help more during the night as well. He is already exhausted as it is and I can't sleep with ds screaming for me anyway.

Work is respite (I'm a youth worker), but I drive home feeling tense, knowing I will open the door to ds screaming for me and dh feeling pissed off and hard done by that he has had to put up with it while I was out.

My other dc are 3 (shares a room with ds and still wakes up 2 to 3 times a night), 14, 16 and 18. Until recently the oldest 2 were doing exams, so it would have been unfair to leave ds screaming in the night.

Daytime feeds now seem to last until I get fed up and take ds off. In response to me restricting it during the day he now just hangs onto it for dear life when he does get it. He won't take more than a sip of anything else. I would of thought he would be eating more out of hunger now, and drinking other things due to thirst and the recent heat, but no.

Don't want to wean ds off the breast, just have a more resonable feeding pattern. Beginning to wonder if that is possible with him though and I will have to except things as they are or wean him off.

Sorry for the long rant. Feeling sorry for myself at the moment.

Once again DS managed to sleep for 3 hour stretches between feeds but could I sleep? No! Am feckin sick of this insomnia :( Any tips on how to beat it?