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Infant feeding

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Original poster

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

954 replies

mrsmugoo · 08/07/2014 20:45

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!

OP posts:
Cariad007 · 23/08/2014 21:24

DS hasn't been great with his day time naps today and as usual he's overtired but resisting sleep! I've gone back to giving him just milk and prune purée but he's still only producing little pellets :( Gave him some home made prune purée today so hopefully that'll do trick, if not I'll dose him with some Lactulose. I think his grouchiness is due to being clogged up and I want my happy baby back! It's DP's birthday on Monday and his sister has offered to babysit so that we can go out for dinner. We haven't been out by ourselves since before DS was born!!

bumpiesonamission · 23/08/2014 21:58

Oh poor bubas.

Have you tried cool boiled water? works much better for my ebf bubba.

Fingers crossed for good nights all

Writerwannabe83 · 23/08/2014 22:23

DS has only had 1.5 hours sleep in the last 13 hours!

He is clearly shattered and has been for the last 3 hours but he just won't go to sleep. I'm pulling my hair out!!!

bumpiesonamission · 24/08/2014 09:45

Hi Writer, how did it end?? (it did end didn't it??)

. Z did 6:45 to 11:15, woke at 3:30 and I think put pay to my laziness the night before as he took 1.2hrs to settle. Slept till 6:20 when I fed him then 7:45. So my laziness has affected him but not again!!!

Writerwannabe83 · 24/08/2014 09:55

It ended eventually Smile

He fell asleep at 11pm but woke up again at midnight with awful screaming. It took me just over 45 minutes to settle him and he was asleep by 1am. He was up again though 3.5 hours later (4.30am) and was awake, giggling and squealing for 1.5 hours. So me and DH eventually fell back to sleep at 6am after bringing DS into our bed, but he woke up after 2 hours anyway.

I am so, so tired!!

Your night started well Bumpies, I would kill for a 4 hour stretch Grin

bumpiesonamission · 24/08/2014 10:02

Oh I'm pleased he slept!!

The 4hr stretch is hard work paid off!! You'd think I'd feel refreshed but I feel exhausted after the long hushing period in the middle! Must go to bed earlier!!

Original poster
mrsmugoo · 24/08/2014 11:05

Morning ladies, oof, sounds like a few hard nights were had :(

Pleased to say I had a good night - he went down at 8 and I didn't hear a peep until 3:30am. By the time I'd gone to the loo he'd resettled until 5:30!

I fed him and brought him in with me and he seemed wide awake but I did my usual tactic of "play dead" and by 6 he was asleep cuddled into me until 7:45.

His nights are really great at the moment - we're working on his naps though.

OP posts:
Writerwannabe83 · 24/08/2014 11:22

I can relate to playing dead!!

DS woke up really sniffly and full of snot, bless him!!

He's currently asleep on my lap.

Well done missmugoo on a successful night!!

Cannotbelieveit · 24/08/2014 23:35

Haven't been on as ds2 generally sleeping 8.30-7 but I'm waiting for the 4 month regression Blush he's 4 months on September 3rd. Ds1 never went thru any of them so I don't think we can be that fortunate again?

Writerwannabe83 · 25/08/2014 14:32

After lots of random good nights and bad nights I told DH that today is a fresh start and I'm going to be as militant as I can be regarding trying to get some form of routine and ensuring DS has regular naps.

Today I got up with him at 8am as opposed to bringing him into bed with me like I normally would. When I normally bring him into bed at 8am-ish we always fall asleep and then don't get up until 10am which I know isn't a good routine to be in and isn't 'normal' for a baby. I gave downloaded another App to my phone which tracks sleep and the very obvious trend in DS's life is that there is hardly any sleep going on between the hours of 5pm-midnight, but then loads of sleep between midnight through to 10am when really it should be the other way round.

I've also been taking DS into a darkened room for his naps and transferring him into his cot once he's fallen asleep on me - normally he falls asleep in my arms whilst feeding as I'm watching the TV - I then just leave him there until he wakes up.

I also put my foot down yesterday about my DH taking him out (we'd been invited to a BBQ) and I said no because it would interfere with when I wanted him to nap.

It is going well so far today. Up at 8am and then down for his first nap at 10.20am where he slept for 50 minutes. He was awake by 11.15am and was down for his next nap at 13.40pm and he's still asleep in his cot now.

I don't know if me taking a more regimented approach to DS will improve his nighttime behaviours but I'm willing to try. I don't expect to see results straight away but I'm in it for the long haul.

On a positive note DS took 20mls of milk from a sippy cup the other day and another 30mls today!! It isn't the tidiest drinking I've seen and his method is quite bizarre but I totally expected that and we are just going to practice every day Smile

Cannotbelieveit · 25/08/2014 14:50

That's great writer! Grin

Writerwannabe83 · 25/08/2014 15:37

Now I'm wondering how long to let him sleep for....

He's been "napping" now for almost two hours...

Cariad007 · 25/08/2014 16:52

DS napped for over an hour today but it was in my arms so that DP and I could watch the True Blood finale! I know I should work on a routine for him but I'm not sure how to go about it. Also I don't want to be tied down by it. It's hard. He is usually up til about 9pm but then sleeps through to 9am, which I am not unhappy with as it gives me a little lie in too. I am not a morning person so waking him at 6 or 7 is not an option! I'll probably have to institute an earlier bed time and waking a couple months before I go back to work but that's still a while away as I'm not gong back til April. The next thing I need to tackle is self-settling but again, not sure how to do that. Putting him in the crib when he's drowsy only succeeds in waking him up!

Writerwannabe83 · 25/08/2014 19:33

I'm trying to get back into the habit of letting DS self settle but I'm failing miserably as I keep letting him fall asleep in my arms whilst he's feeding.

I wasn't going to be returning to work until April too but now I'm going back in January instead hence why I'm thinking about routines and good sleeping patterns as I'm sure the next 3 months will fly by.

We have been at my FIL's house for Sunday Roast and as soon as I saw DS showing signs of bring tired I took him home. It probably looked quite rude but I was determined not to miss the window.

It is now 7.30pm and DS is fast asleep in his cot!!! Yay!!

I'm sure he will be up in a few hours for a feed but in the meantime it's so nice to be able to sit in the living room with DH and have some time with it just being us Smile

Writerwannabe83 · 25/08/2014 20:06

Well he slept for a grand total of 15 minutes!!

Still trying to get him to settle off again... Confused

Original poster
mrsmugoo · 25/08/2014 20:27

Writer I'm going back in October and DS still can't use a sippy cup!!

OP posts:
Writerwannabe83 · 25/08/2014 20:51

I first gave him the empty sippy cup so he could gave a play with it but wasn't interested at all. Once I put some EBM into it and tilted the cup in his mouth so he tasted the milk he just went for it. He was holding the handles as I ripped it up, not because he knew what he was doing but just because they were there. He wouldn't put the entire spout in his mouth (for want of a better word) but just kept sucking and gnawing on the end of it. To be honest I think he just though it was a new teething ring that had milk in it Smile

There was nothing skilful about what he was doing, he certainly wasn't 'drinking from a sippy cup' in a proficient manner but it's a start.

When we did it today, even though there was still EBM in it DS still lost interest after about 5-10 minutes. Although the milk transference was good despite his strange sucking/gnawing method it certainly wasn't something he found fun or enjoyable. I imagine it's much more hard work on their part than actually Brest feeding so he probably just got tired of it.

Will he put the spout in his mouth at all missmugoo or is it just complete disinterest?

Writerwannabe83 · 26/08/2014 00:04

He was back asleep at 20.20pm and I thought YAY - I've cracked it, a nice early bedtime and he will sleep really well. Unfortunately not.

He slept for 2.5 hours then woke up absolutely full of beans. It's midnight, he's been awake for over an hour, I'm shattered and want to sleep but DS wants to play and squeal.

At least when he had his later bedtime he slept for about 5 hours so I got a good chunk of sleep during the nighttime period - whereas now I think I'm going to be kept awake for ages Sad

Writerwannabe83 · 26/08/2014 00:46

I'm about to crack up - he's still going!!

I just went to the spare room to wake DH and tell him it's his turn! I'm now hiding under the duvet in the spare room just wanting to cry.

bumpiesonamission · 26/08/2014 08:38

Oh Writer, that's rough. How did it end?!

When he's chattering, do you ever just leave him? My lo does it routinely around 2am and unless he's crying I leave him to it?!

Well, I've all but given up on my sleep training because I am beyond exhausted Sad Sad. I feel really crappy about it but not sure what else I can do?

Writerwannabe83 · 26/08/2014 08:57

It ended at 01.15 - which was 2.5 hours after it started. I could cry this morning because of how tired I am. I do leave him when he's chattering but after about ten minutes it escalates to crying and then screaming and once he's got that point it's just a nightmare.

I'm going back to giving him a late bedtime because putting him to bed earlier just resulted in me having the shittest night I've ever had.

I know know how people get their babies to sleep for 12 hours straight, 8-8, I just know that will never, ever happen.

Sometimes I really wish I wasn't breast feeding - I would give anything to just be able to hand him over to someone else for the night so I could I'd shut myself away in my bedroom and sleep, sleep and sleep. I count myself lucky if DS goes 3.5 hours straight, let alone 12!

It's so hard isn't it bumpies Sad

bumpiesonamission · 26/08/2014 09:33

I could have written than post myself. I routinely cry because I'm so tired and fed up.

I also struggle to enjoy bf when my friends talk about how a ff bottle will make their lo sleep 13hrs straight!!

I keep trying to make myself laugh by thinking that teenagers don't wake for a bf but it's so hard to remember and actually believe it Sad

I have been trying to sleep train this week and it was going well until dh helped and lo got himself so wound up I had to feed him. Since then he has been waking so frequently I just fed him for ease last night.

We have a HV who apparently is a sleep specialist. I'm going to try to see her. Do you have that?

Writerwannabe83 · 26/08/2014 11:10

The only advice I've been given is controlled crying. What method are you using??

He's been awake now for over 3 hours and is clearly exhausted - but will he nap?? Of course not. He just lies in his cot crying and screaming until he is picked up Sad

bumpiesonamission · 26/08/2014 13:23

Have a look at the Pick Up and Put Down method by the baby whisperer. We are sort of doing that with giving him some water if he's overly screaming. I cuddle him through it though and put him down when he's drifting. I can't profess to being very able but it seemed to work till I flipped!!

Just been to the HV and she has suggested giving it a break for 1week until I have regained my energy and then carry on. She agreed cc is not good!!

What I have found the best is getting into a day routine. I traveled his normal rhythm for two days then adjusted it and now at least things are more predictable!

Writerwannabe83 · 26/08/2014 14:19

Can I ask how long you let him nap for?

DS napped for just over 2 hours earlier and I let him because of how tired he was. I figured if he needs to sleep that long then I should let him.

But could lengthy naps be contributing to his poor sleeping at night??