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!

Moan away cannot - we have all been on this thread long enough to moan away to each other about anything and everything related to sleep!!

DS fell asleep again relatively quickly actually and has been asleep in his cot for about 45 minutes!! Fingers crossed he stays that way

Well first stretch was 8-2.30, just feeding now. Very weird how it's been 2.30 and 5.30 now pretty much to the dot?

I'm sure I read somewhere that if it's exact same times it can mean habit rather than hunger?

But at 4 months you have sleep regression and growth spurt so I'm confused!

Another night, another bloody insomnia attack :( Am so fed up with this.

Things weren't too bad as he slept from 21.00-02.00, had a quick feed and then slept from 02.20-06.20. He is feeding again now and fingers crossed he will sleep for another few hours afterwards.

How bad is your insomnia Cariad? Is it something you have always had?

Well only one wake/feed at 2.30 for DS2 so can't moan!! Up for the day at 6.50am

And DS1's teeth seem to be giving him a break so he slept soundly 7-7 z

A decent night - asleep by 8 and up for a feed at 3:30. Straight back down by 4 but woke up at 6:15 and wouldn't resettle. I put him back in his cot where he chattered until 7 and I dozed.

He's already down for a nap as he was grumpy quite quickly as he usually sleeps almost 12 hours overnight so he's 2 hours short.

yesterday his naps were a disaster - 2 x 30 minutes in his cot and an emergency 20 minutes on me at 6 as I could see he wasn't going to make it through to bedtime. I don't like putting him down before 7 for the night because he wakes up at the crack of dawn!

He's getting less than 12 hours in 24 when the recommended is 14-15!

I downloaded an App about 3 weeks ago to track sleep (it was the 2nd app I had tried as the first one was crap) and in the 3 weeks I have been using it for DS has only ever had 14 hours sleep in 24 on one occasion. There were 19 recordings of him having about 12 hours and one recording where he only had 10!!

DS has just woken for the day so I'm off to get some breakfast

I am shattered! In addition to the insomnia DS decided he needed to suck every hour or so and for some reason the angle he was at made it v painful. Then he woke up an hour earlier than he normally does so no chance of me having a short lie in.

I've always had issues with sleep but this insomnia has only kicked off in the last month or so. Ironically, just as DS's sleep started to improve.

Glad I am not the only one Writer. www.gentleparenting.co.uk
I was recommended this website by a volunteer at the breastfeeding cafe. Remembered about it last night and finally had a read. Made me feel much less guilty and as if I was doing it all wrong.

How do you get yours in the cot? I realised about a week ago that instead of trying to hold her upright after I've fed her if I keep her horizontal it's much easier to get her in and less likely to wake her. And strangely she's not sick at night time any more. Wish I had thought of this before.

Good luck with naps today.

I've found it much easier to put DS into his cot now he sleeps in a sleep-bag as he is already nice and warm and snug in it therefore doesn't feel the cold of the mattress when he is put on it.

I usually do the same as you and keep him in a lying down position whilst transferring him but I find it a bit fiddly at times so now I stand up and gently put DS over my shoulder and sway from side to side. When I sense he's in a nice deep sleep I then lower him into the cot.

I will have a look at the website later.

Naps have been pretty poor today as he has only had 3 and they were all only 30 minutes long. DS is now very tired and very grizzly

Bloody hell DS is getting worse. Went down at 8.15pm and up feeding now! This regression can do one!! I don't see how he will get back to normal?!

I class that as very normal

The regression hit us hard and it is only now, 6ish weeks later, that I'm starting to see a glimmer of hope that things may be improving.

Prior to the regression he'd self soothe himself to sleep following his bedtime feed and then sleep through for 8-9 hours. When the regression hit he refused to settle off to sleep and would instead scream and cry and scream some more until he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion. He would then be up every 2-3 hours.

For the last 3 nights he has been asleep by 8.30pm which is a huge step for him - I still can't bring myself to believe it - and he is also going 4-5 hours without waking which again is a huge improvement.

I don't know when/if DS will ever return to 'normal' but the way he is now is a million times better than it has been for a very, very long time.

DS has been a little ratbag again, waking twice in the past couple of hours and screaming unless he's got boob. I gave in because I don't want to disturb the neighbours in our new place. He's asleep again now but of course the insomnia has hit me. So fecking sick of this. I don't know why he's being so difficult. He refused all food yesterday and only wanted milk so maybe his stomach isn't full. He was v difficult in the day too and didn't have his morning nap, although he had one for a few hours in the afternoon. I felt so guilty as I was knackered and growled at him and his little face got so sad. I picked him up and cuddles him straight away of course poor thing, he doesn't know what he's doing. Going to look at a potential nursery for him in the morning and at this rate I'm thinking of asking if they do overnighters!!!

Writer hope things are changing for you then

We were getting 9-11 hours per night and he would settle himself if he woke in that night or at most I just had to put his Ewan sheep on. I hope it's just a matter of days/weeks as I call him every name under the sun during the night - not proud of myself

Morning ladies. Sorry I haven't posted for a while.

I've been battling with life and a HV who has been trying to diagnose me (wrongly) with pnd rather than accept I'm grieving and sleep deprived. As such she's been trying to convince me to give up breastfeeding because then ds will sleep through the night even though he's not even 3 months old yet and there's no problem with feeding!

So DS will now sleep approx 4 hours then wake approx every 2 during the night. I've also been using an app to track sleep and prompted by writers post I just checked and since I've been using it the last two weeks the total amount of sleep varies from 11 to 14 hours a day. I'm not getting that amount of sleep though - lucky if I get 5/6 hours a night by the time I've settled him!

Which App are you using Auntmaggie? I kept having problems with the first Ap I was using do I've swapped to another one now and although it took me some time to get used to it, it is much better!!

Your HV doesn't sound very understanding - I hope you are feeling a bit better now?

I know what you mean about us not getting the same amount of sleep as the babies!! Although DS had an ok-ish night in terms of how much sleep he had, I reckon I only got about 5 hours sleep which was spread over 3 different blocks of sleep. I feel shattered this morning.

He was up at 1am and although he was back asleep by 01.40 I don't think I fell asleep again until 02.15ish. He was then up again at 04.30, asleep by 05.00 but then awake again at 07.00am I bought him into bed with me at 7am and he usually sleeps again for another two hours but not today!! After an hour of him grizzling and generally being a pain I decided to just get up. I feel very tired and have a really crappy headache.

Cariad and cannot: I think we are all guilty of raising our voices and swearing in the early houses amidst the horror of sleep deprivation and a crying baby - I know I have. As long as we feel bad about it then I think we can forgive ourselves

So glad things look like they're improving for you Writer!

Not a bad night here - down at 7:30 and up for a feed about 2:30 so a 7 hour stretch. I went to bed at 9 and was asleep by 9:30 so I got a 5 hour stitch which was nice!

He woke up at 5 and I really didn't want a repeat of yesterdays early rising so I just popped him straight onto the boob and put him back in with me and he went back to sleep until 7. It's probably not a great habit but early risings really bugger up our daytime routine as it means we have to squeeze another nap on or do a really early bedtime (and then earlier rising the next morning etc etc )

He's down for a nap now and an hour and 10 minutes in which is amazing!

My DH is home today after 2 weeks away, so looking forward to having him back.

DS had had four naps today but unfortunately the last one didn't end until 7.15pm - he was under the care of DH whilst I was in the bath. Bedtime has now arrived and not surprisingly DS is full of beans and is just screaming in protest when I put him in his cot. I have a bad feeling about tonight...

DS has come down with a bit of a cold today so was a little unsettled in the evening but has dropped off now. Have resorted to using a dummy and it seems to suit him. And indeed me as I'd rather he comfort sucked on the dummy than me. He's also figured out how to put it back in his mouth when it falls out too. What with the dummy and his gro bag he looks like Maggie Simpson!

We went and looked at a nursery for him this morning. Found a nice little one with only 10 kids in it, most of them under two and for the 45 minutes or so that we were there DS sat with the other littlies and played nicely with them. One little girl looked at long-haired DP and asked "are you a girl?" Might be time for a trim!

Writer the app is called Feed Baby - it's not great but it was free and will do for now.

Things are slowly improving thank you but some days are a real struggle as dp is still coming to terms with losing his mum and ds is a demanding baby.

My DH lost his mom 2 months ago and I think his grieving is making things harder when it comes to dealing with DS. I tend to find I take on a lot of the care for DS and doing things around the house so as not to burden DH but as a result I am absolutely shattered. DS has only just gone to sleep which is two hours later than his recent norm. God I hope he sleeps until at least 3am but I'm not hopeful.

I'm glad you found a nursery Cariad - when go you go back to work? I have booked DS in with a childminder although I'm not going back to work for another 4.5 months. I put in a written request to my managers to reduce my hours from 30p/w down to 22.5 but they have said no. I was really disappointed when they wrote to me to let me know their decision but such is life.

I don't go back til end of March next year but nurseries get booked up! There are a couple more in the area so I want to look at them too before I decide. I've not spoken to work about my return yet - not sure whether to stop down to four days a week or not. Of course I'll still get the same amount of work done - I'll just get paid less for it! On the other hand it would mean more time with DS so...

Sorry to hear your DH lost his mum too writer - I end up doing the same as you but it's exhausting. DPs mum died a week before DS was born so in the first few weeks I spent a lot of time on my own with him on me as I was ill with high bp and severe anaemia which I'm sure is why I have difficulty putting him down now.

Another regressed night here! Down at 8.15pm and wake/feed 1.45am and 4.15am. Please go back to normal DS!!!

Poor little DS has caught a cold (DP had one last week so I blame him!) and has been up about three times tonight wanting to comfort suck. The dummy doesn't seem to do it for him when he's sick :(