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!

Glad you all had better nights. We did not. I have decided to try to regulate his high feeds somewhat.

He was asleep by 6:20, woke at 10 and I fed him. Then up at 12:50, I cuddled, shh'd, rocked slightly and gave water. It took 2HOURS of this for him to fall asleep but he did and I did not feed him!!! He then woke at 4:30 and I did feed him and he slept till 7! I feel shattered, emotional, confused victorious to a point but not sure whether to continue or go back to feeding at night???

He went straight back down after his first feed and came in with me just before 6 but no feed (woohoo!) so we've successfully managed just one night feed between bedtime and breakfast. If we can stick to this for a few weeks then night weaning is looking very possible :)

Gosh Cariad are you sure pureed prunes aren't going to be a bit much in the other direction?!

Instead of baby rice I've got millet flakes from a health food shop and ground them in a coffee grinder and making porridge from that using breast milk - I mixed a bit of pear in and he seemed to like it.

Millet is naturally gluten free and much more nutritious than baby rice.

So far he's had sweet potato and the millet porridge with pear and both have gone down a storm.

Trying avocado next :)

Lol, I figured he needed a bit of a clearout! Fed him about a third of a packet of prune purée last night and he did a small poo this morning but wasn't in any pain like he was yesterday. Have given him a bit more for breakfast in addition to his usual milk feed. I'm taking him to be weighed at the HV this afternoon so will ask her advice on his constipation too. He slept better last night too and wasnt so squirmy.

Hi bumpies - how old is your son?

Well done on winning the battle that started at 12.50am - that must have taken some willpower not to feed during those two hours!! I would have definitely caved at some point. Are you trying to wean off night feeding completely?

Thanks.

He's 7mnths next week. He wakes every 1.5-2hrs and although can self settle as does every bedtime and nap time I was just lazy at night wakes!! I was surprised at how little I wanted to cave tbh. I think I just remembered all the bad nights and it helped! I'm hoping to wean to initially 2 feeds 11/12 and 4 and then make the 11/12 earlier and the 4 later when he's in a patten. DH asked this morning what we should do due to the 2 hr wake up. I said hope for 1.5hrs tonight!! I'm going to bloody do it as I'm at a loss what else to do!!

It's the only way to do it Bumpies - you have to stand your ground and be consistent. You accept even less sleep than usual in return for better sleep in the long run. Really helps to have the men folk on board too!

That sounds exhausting bumpies!! As missmugoo said, just focus on the bigger picture, keep reminding yourself why you are doing it and see it through!!

DS has napped much better today, he's actually taken 4 and all of them for reasonable lengths of times. His last one was from 7pm-7.30pm which I was so pleased about as it puts is in good stead for a 9.30-10pm bedtime. He's just having his bedtime feed now.

We saw the health visitor today to have him weighed and measured and as I predicted he is indeed a little dot!! He's on the 38th percentile for his weight and only the 19th percentile for his length. Bless him!!

Edward is between 25th and 50th so I guess they must be a similar size.

I've had a hideous day today - a 15 minute morning nap and a battle to get 30 mins an hour later then refused sleep until afternoon where he had got cumulatively more and more tired and finally he slept for an hour and a half in the double bed after being fed to sleep and I was a broken woman.

One good thing is he wolfed down his solids today. He's doing so well!

Somehow I've managed to organise all our shit for going to my parents tomorrow - just got to somehow get it all in the car!

I saw the HV today too but my DS is the opposite of yours Writer - 9.24 kilos and still on the 91st percentile! Despite that he isn't a super-chunky baby, just pleasingly chubby enough. I didn't get him measured for length but he is probably about 99th for that as he is very long.

I explained to the HV about his constipation and she said it's very common while weaning and suggested going back to milk for a few days and then sticking to fruit and veg only as baby rice can be constipating. He had another painful poo this morning and whimpered with tears running down his face but went again in the afternoon without crying.

He's just woken up - and this will be interesting because there's no WAY I'm feeding him after less than 3 bloody hours / before midnight!

Absolute miracle - he looks like he's settled and dropped back off with no fuss!!

They can surprise us at times can't they

DS self settled himself off to sleep again last night but woke after 6.5 hours. I'm just feeding him now.

Well. He went down at 7, woke a couple if times but was just calmed by dh. Woke and fed at 11:10. Woke at 2:00 and I resettled

DS had another unsettled night and his nappy leaked all over the bed at around midnight! So we had to change him and strip the bed and even though we did this in semi-darkness he was wide awake by the end of it. DP tried to put him to sleep but couldn't so I had to feed him to sleep as usual and he was up another couple of times in the night for a feed. Not sure how to do this night weaning as the only way he will sleep at night is by feeding and any attempt at anything else results in screaming and a wide awake baby.

Sometimes Cariad babies just aren't developmentally rest to adapt to certain stages and if that is the case then trying to enforce it leads to an unhappy mother and baby. By all means try it for a few more nights but if you still have no luck it might be worth cancelling the night weaning and then trying again in another week. He's already learning bout new tastes and flavours during his day. Trying to change his nighttime normality at the sane time may just be too much for him in one go.

I'm glad you had a good night bumpies, I'm sure you are feeling much more rested and positive this morning.

When DS woke at 04.30am he was fed, winded and settled pretty quickly and was back asleep by 5am. He then slept another 3 hours and had another feed at 8am. I then kept him in bed with me and we must have fallen asleep as the next thing I know it's 10.45am and we were both woken up by roadworks going on outside!!! I couldn't believe it, that's quite some lie-in

So every night for the last week or so z has been screaming at the end of his first sleep cycle. He's not really awake and settles with a rub on his tummy?? Ideas?

Morning everyone - 2nd night at my parents and the nights have been great! Only one wake up last night and I got over 6 hours sleep in one block! The first night he went all night until 6am without a feed but I did need to resettle him a couple of times.

Day time naps have been horrendous/non-existent though :(

Bumpies - I've had the occasional night where E will cry out after 45 mins too - never understood why!

Hi bumpiest! If LO doesn't seem to wake up it might be connected to dreaming... I think they don't dream during their first sleep cycle but start to as they transition... I know there are a billion contradictory sleep books but I'd really reccomend Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution for helping to understand babies sleep problems and your relationship to them.

Been off the thread for a while because we've been having much better nights with an 8ish bedtime and just one wake up at around 4:30 but last night was not so good (due to teething I think) so have been catching up with the thread and am marking my place for tonight in case!

Bumpies not bumpiest!

We are still going from good night to bad night over here - it's complete guess work at bedtime as to how things are going to go. Last night he didn't go to sleep until 10pm, woke up at 11.30pm and took half an hour to settle and then woke up again an hour later at 1am. He was then awake for 1.5 hours!! I am exhausted!

His daytime naps are still sporadic, sometimes he will have numerous 30-45 minute naps during the day yet other days he will only have one monster nap of 2-3-4 hours!!

I have completely given up trying to understand anything he does these days.

Thanks notadoctor I think its because he's overtired! but were looking to move bedtime to a little earlier as it's crept to 7:20!!

but... so....... Z went to sleep at 7, woke screaming at 8 as is his pattern at the moment. Then at 12:10 for a feed, 4:20 he settled and i had to pump. Whilst I did he woke and screamed as daddy went in! Ended up feeding him at 5:15 and 6 as I selfishly wanted a lay in! He then slept till 8:10!!!!! Awesome little boy!

I think I'm going to be dealing with an overtired baby tonight.

By the time he took his first nap today he had been awake for 7 hours!!! He had unbearably moany, grizzly, crying for hours and hours beforehand but just wouldn't go to sleep. I thought that seeing as he'd been awake for 7 hours he'd have a nice long sleep but he only has 45 minutes and I'd now crying again and refusing to sleep