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!

Ryder is stretching his 0-6 gro bag out but the weight requirement for 6-18 is 18lb and he's only 15lb3oz at 14 weeks

Mines only 15lb 13oz at 21 weeks - he is a little dot

Lucky you, DS was 18.5lb at his 20 week weigh-in and is getting a bit heavy to lug about! He is loving his solids - starts bouncing up and down in his chair when he sees me with his dish! He's only had baby rice and fruit purée so far but has really taken to it. He's still feeding from me a lot too and has taken to pinching and scratching so I'm trying to put an end to that. He likes to have something to grab onto during feeds but quite often chooses to grab at my other nipple and I see stars!

This one weighed in at 16lb 1oz yesterday at 22 weeks.

Also - he practically inhaled the sweet potato I gave him earlier!

I am up all night feeding, anybody there..?

I'm here - having a nightmare with DS. He is having a lot of discomfort with his teething and he just can't settle. He didn't fall asleep until 22.30pm but only managed an hour before waking up screaming. At midnight I kicked DH out and bought DS in with me but it still took him ages to settle. He's been really fretful in his sleep so the quality of my sleep has been pretty crap. I'm feeding him now and it's all a bit half hearted on his side - I'm not sure if he's feeling a bit unwell actually, he didn't seem himself yesterday afternoon/evening. Part of me is so tempted to put him in his sleep-bag and try him in his cot so I can get some decent rest but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't sleep for very long if I did

Marking my place, have been on the graveyard shift every night since dd came home from hospital (she's 9 days old today) and really could do with some company. Am bf on demand and she seems fine in the day but fussy in evenings and won't settle into Moses basket really at night, especially not on my 'shift'. I know it's early days, she's still little and wants to be close, but I'm concerned about my mangled nips and that she might just be suckling for comfort, and not actually going down for long. I need to get some rest to properly mend as I don't think I've slept properly since about two days before I went into labour and it's really affecting me emotionally and physically. Sorry, just ranting really, but there's so much to be worrying about!

Welcome flymo, the first days are hard but it does get better. I don't expect you to believe me, god knows I didn't, but it really does! Your little one sounds about right for that stage and it can take several weeks to establish your milk supply. Can your partner take dd out for a walk in the daytime to give you a chance to nap?

Thanks cariad, think we will try some of that, DP is keen to take her to the shops which means a ride in the car and I am being a bit controlling about that at the mo! Hard for me to rest if I think bad things are happening! I know it will get easier in time...

Morning...

writer I'm sorry its all gone to pot :(

Well, our week of focussing on a day routine has mainly gone well and there have been some positive effects at night I think. What I'm finding is that if he has a long 1.5+ afternoon nap. He sleeps better at night. However, the last two days he's only had short 40min pm naps. Can anyone suggest how I can elongate them again? He's had three days with 1.5am naps too!!

Thanks x

Morning everyone - I really do try not to go on my phone in the night now as it stops me going back to sleep.

Our nights have kind of settled into a pattern of he goes to bed about 8, dreamfeed about 10:30/11, feed about 3, in with me from 6-8 (may or may not settle without a boob in mouth lying down)

So it's ok, totally able to function on this sleep but I would really like him to drop the 3am feed now or go straight through to 8 in his own cot after.

Am I asking too much? We've started gentle weaning (3 days of sweet potato & breast milk purée, gonna try avocado today) and I'm about to stay at my Mum's for a week and then move him into his own room/big cot so lots of big changes for him - when all that has settled down I think we'll go cold turkey night weaning between 8-8 (it'll be after 6 months)

flymo - I remember when DH first took DS out for a short walk to the shop and I was in absolute bits! DS was about 4 weeks and I think I cried until they arrived back safely. I just think there is something very unnatural about such a little baby being away from its mother. I didn't fully relax about DH having DS without me until he was about 3 months old. Even though DS is 5 months now I still can't relax if he isn't with me.

Things have gone completely to pot over here. DS still refuses to nap in the day and refuses to oh to sleep until at least 10pm every night after he has screamed and screamed for hours. He's also teething and last night he had me up 7 times in 10 hours - I am absolutely exhausted. I've got myself into the very bad habit of bringing him into bed with me because I'm so desperate for sleep and now he won't settle properly unless he's in bed with me. I really wish I hadn't started doing it. So I'm back to feeding to sleep and having that horrible experience of wondering if he will wake when I transfer him to his cot - which he usually does.

I'm feeling really unwell today due to cumulative lack of sleep, last night being the worst night EVER, and I just don't have it in me to cope with DS. All I wanted to do today was stay in my pyjamas and curl up on the sofa but instead I had to drag myself out to take DS on a walk in the hope if trying to get him to have a nap! After an hour of walking he was still awake so I gave up and came home before I passed out.

My DH is home in 1.5 hours and I'm counting down the minutes because I need my bed! Need to get some sleep in preparation for another horrible night I imagine.

I'm feeling pretty sorry for myself today.

Absolutely shit time here too. Ours nights are actually not too bad in the grand scheme of things, but I guess I am just so desensitised to night wakings now that waking at 3am and 6am every night actually seems manageable compared to the hourly or two hourly wakings I've had in the past.

It's my days are are utterly shit - Writer I saw your other thread about entertaining your rolling baby - I could have written that myself, except that exact scenario has been going on day and night for about 3 weeks now. I did think he'd chilled out on the rolling, especially at night but it's actually got worse. It's like a compulsive thing. I do leave him on his tummy so he learns how to roll back over but the grizzling drives me crazy, I end up just flipping him back.

I feel very low at the moment as I feel like I am back at square one with him. I can't put him down without him rolling over and eventually grizzling and needing rescuing - be it 2 minutes or 10 minutes later. He's content being picked up or on my lap for about 5 minutes tops. It's just constant low level grizzling all. day. long.

He seems to have forgotten have to self settle in the day, refuses to sleep in his cot for longer than 20 minutes and not without a half an hour cry so ends up having to being fed to sleep on the double bed and then I have to stay with him so I get absolutely no time in the day to get dressed, tidy up, stay on top of the laundry etc… I feel like a hermit. I miss real clothes, I miss doing my hair, I miss makeup.

His bedtime is all over the shop leaving me without an evening. I literally feel like I am back at the newborn stage where even getting a bath is seen as treat.

He's still feeding 3 times between bedtime and waking up for the day - the same as he was from birth! He surely should be able to go for longer than 3-4 hours in the night now??

I have gone backwards not forwards. He's 5 months, when does it get easier??

We've started weaning but it's going to be a long time before the 3 bloody teaspoons of mushed up vegetables has any effect on his sleeping or body clock.

I'm just having a really shit time at the moment, thank god I am going to stay with my parents this week while my DH is away working. If I have to spend any longer just the two of us at home all day listening to his grizzling I will go crazy.

And to think, I actually used to be a fully functioning grown woman with a responsible job.

I empathise with you totally - the grizzling is unbearable. I feel like I have totally lost my way with DS, everything is on his terms, I have no control over anything anymore. Luke you I feel like I'm back at square one and it's so disheartening. I keep feeling like I'm doing something wrong but don't know how to fix it. I don't know how I ended up here when 6 weeks or so ago he was asleep by 9pm and slept until 5am. I feel completely exhausted and stressed because I just don't know how to regain some form of control or structure again.

You are definitely doing the right thing by going to stay with your parents. When things got a bit too much for me recently I went and stayed with my mom for three days and it was just heaven.

Hugs to both of you, it sounds incredibly tough atm :(

DS was a monster this morning when we went for a walk. He refused to nap in his pram like he usually does and screamed all the way home. Lately it seems like every time I take him out he starts screaming and I'm getting so fed up with it. It's very nappy valley here so I only ever get sympathetic looks but then I think I'm his mother, I should be able to calm him down.

Urg I could have written your posts writer and Mrs.

My birthday is in a little over a month and I've ordered 12hrs straight sleep!! NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN

I friend has given me her technique which is slow night weaning and we're planning pupd which we've sort of started but I'm a wimp!

Any wise words?

I wouldn't look to me for wise words as I don't have a clue what I'm doing

I'm just feeding DS now and he's looking very, very sleepy. I'm trying to decide whether to let him fall asleep on me or disturb him by putting him in his cot.

I feel like I've fucked it all up. I was a baby nanny in a previous life so thought at least I'd get the sleeping right but it seem to matter whether he bf lots or not during the day he still wakes hungry

He can self settle too so I am at a loss

No wise words from me either! I would say stand your ground and be consistent when you've made a decision...but that is coming from me who's been feeding to sleep the last few days instead of insisting on independent sleeping :(

Night weaning is most definitely on the cards here in the next month or so. I've had enough now - I at least want to be sleeping from midnight - 6

Well he slept in his cot for about half an hour but has now woke up and started crying. He'll now be crying on and off for hours. It drives me mad.

I'm just off to bed and am experimenting with dropping the dreamfeed. I need to get him used to feeding less in the night and figured this is the easiest feed to drop seeing as he's technically not "asking" for it.

Good luck missmugoo - I hope you get a good stretch of sleep. DS may surprise you and not even miss his dream feed.

An hour after waking up and then crying a lot my DS is back to sleep - I'm guessing not for long though.

Well he managed to sleep for an hour before he woke up crying again. Took me 40 minutes to get him to go back to sleep which involved a comfort feed. He's back in his cot now but I'm not holding out much hope..

Nope, big mistake - should have done the DF.

Will almost certainly be up at 3:30 and 6 as usual, with this additional wake up. So no nice long first stretch of sleep for me.

Grrrrrr!

Well he lasted to 5 so if he can go back down from now til morning he will have got through on two feeds.

I hate being up at 5!