Night Feeders Part 4 Up All Night Feeding, newborns, sleep regressions, toddlers, every knackered Mummy welcome!

[Cannotbelieveit]

Here's a fresh thread!

Let's start by introducing us/babies again

Have been trying to settle dd since 7.30 pm. DH has her now as I am in tears. She just feeds, seems to sleep then screams hysterically when set down on the bed or moses basket. She tears off swaddling but is very "thrashy" and wakes herself up.
Have to go and rescue DH I think. 15 minutes he's not calmed her at all. Back to feeding then thinking she's ok for 3 minutes...

All day she is fine. Not a digestion or health issue. It's only bedtime.

Writer - good luck tomorrow!!!

Well I had a tough day with DS a lot of crying and me v tired but he went down at 830 And slept till 12, woo hoo so I'm just feeding him now, but this is where my night always gets tricky.
Hope everyone else is having a reasonable night x

squitza hope dd has calmed down now - I know it's hard but keep with it as it's better now than struggle like I did further down the line and you will find your own way of putting her down without waking her. Other ideas - have you winded her properly? Try putting the mattress on your lap? hot water bottle in the basket? something that smells of you in the basket? some people roll up towels to make it snug or a baby blanket folded under the mattress to raise the head slightly. What worked for me was swaddling tightly so the arms couldn't jerk him awake, blanket under the mattress and the top I'd worn that day draped over the top and not cuddling ds too closely once he'd fallen asleep. then I slowly move him and I mean very slowly and put him down covering him with another blanket to retain warmth and gently place my hand on his chest/belly and shushing if he stirred and then very slowly moving my hand away. before then I used to feed him lying on the bed and he'd fall asleep and I'd be able to scoop him up with a hand under his head and bum and place him in the basket so he'd go from one flat surface to another. shushing at the slightest stirring used to calm him. keeping the room dark was also key. hope some of this helps - sending you a hug in the meantime

Hope everyone else is sleeping soundly.

Hi squzita - I apologise because I can't remember how old your baby is but could if be colic? When my DS was 4-8 weeks he suffered horrendous colic (which is known to occur in the evenings) and he would scream and scream for absolute hours on end. Feeding would soothe him but on temporarily. His screaming sessions would last 4-5 hours every night and I would be heartbroken - I would sit there crying, feeling so helpless and it was just horrible. In the end I got my health visitor to come round and as soon a a I opened the front door to her I just broke dorm in tears from being so exhausted and so upset by it all. We had a long chat and to cut the story short she advised a dummy. I was really against it but I gave one in desperation, for DS's sake, and it was an absolute life saver. The motion of sucking is what calms babies so giving the dummy when the screaming started really helped. Maybe you should call your health visitor for advice?

DS went 8 hours over here

A 7 hour stretch and just under 3 hour stretch. Just feeding now

Yay Writer and good luck today :)

3, 3 and 2 here and now we're up for the day. DS has a cold/cough :( so I'm counting that sleep as success as I was expecting worse.

A pretty good night here - bed at 7:15, fed at 3:45, awake again at 6 and not interested in feeding but I put him back in the cot and I'm not sure if he went back to sleep or not but he was very quiet for an hour and I even managed to drop off to sleep which was well needed as is been awake since his feed from 4-6am

I've got a horrid sore throat and feel really ill today - thank god my MIL is coming later!

Good luck writer for today and Yeay to baby writer for good sleeps!!

We did 6:30-11 feed then 11-3:30 feed then woke when dh for in the shower at 6:40!!!!! best he's done for ages and the first time I've woken up in my bed for ages!!!!

Looks like there were good nights all round

I couldn't get back to sleep this morning, because of nerves I think, so I feel really tired now. DS is still fast asleep in his cot so at least it means I can get ready at a leisurely and peaceful pace without having to worry what he's up to

DS managed until 5am and then went back to sleep until now. And even more unheard of, DD is still asleep! Very pleased.

Squizita - lots of sympathy. There seems to be an unspoken conspiracy where babies hate Moses baskets! With DD a couple of things which worked were dancing with her (DH always used to do it to house music actually!) until she was fast asleep and then 'dancing' her into the basket, DH also had a trick where he used to hold the basket by the handles and gently rock her back to sleep that way. And sometimes we'd put her down in her pram inside and rock her back off when she stirred. With DS (who is a much more chilled out baby) carrying him in a sling for his daytime sleeps and then a dummy and sleeping on one of us until he was in a deep sleep worked. I really hope you find something that works for your little one! It's very tough.

Good luck for your interview Writer!

Tears from me this morning though because I'm feeling rough and I'm so stressed because he just won't eat any solid food. He literally clamps his mouth shut to a spoon and finger foods get played with not eaten.

I NEED this kid to eat. I have to go back to work for my own sanity. I'm losing the plot at home with him all day every day.

Squizita
All of the suggestions everyone has made I have tried, I find the rolled up towels help and the hot water bottle in the Moses basket (remove before putting baby in) I also let DS feed to sleep on me then I burp him and let him lay on me till he's in a deep sleep then transition into the basket.
Saying this I find it work 99% of the time but the other night I had a random night where he wouldn't let me put him down. So it's still trial and error for me.
Im going to try this week putting him in his cot for his day time sleeps as currently he sleeps well on a cushion but this means I can't sleep.

Good luck writer! Hope it all goes really well today

Well we put DS in his own room for the first time last night and that combined with teething and a very snotty nose did not make for a pleasant night And in between his wakings I just Could. Not. Sleep. I think I had 5 broken hours, max, and I feel shocking. I can't deal with this insomnia much longer!

mugoo I really sympathize with the feeling of needing to do something other than be home with the baby (lovely as that is). Unfortunately I'm so knackered I'm dreading work tomorrow. Will your DS feed himself finger food? Have you tried loading the spoon and giving it to him? DS won't eat from a spoon unless he has it in his own chubby little fist

Thanks all. Have been trying many of these - shes only a week. She seems to wake up more at night than day
Dont think its colic (too young) or stomach issues as she burps/farts freely and feeds. DD hates the bit where she is put IN the basket and will scream ... not every night just some! If she hasn't woken immediately she will within minutes when she realises.
Last night she fell asleep on top of the bed. DH ended up on the spare room and me on my side of the bed. Not cuddly Co sleeping just NOT MOVING HER worked.
DH is buying a sleepy head because you can move her inside it, which might help with transfers.

The BF helpline lady - when I mentioned night feeds/her getting hysterical - said before 2 weeks sometimes they are a bit fussed after birth so just go with the flow, it might well improve as she learns night/day.

Sorry mrsmugoo, I see you mentioned he just plays with finger foods but I'm so blurry with sleep deprivation I missed it when I first read your post.

Yeah I've tried giving him a loaded spoon - he grabs the food and then smears it all over his face/hair/eyes.

squizita - I think at one week-old you just have to simply go with the flow - they still don't have a clue about day/night and don't even know they've been born. It's a simple case of survival mode.

Get your DH/P to provide you with food and a hot bath and just sleep when your baby sleeps even if that is in snatched 20 minute chunks.

It passes in about 6 months

squitza she's still getting used to life outside and not used to flat surfaces etc but will get used to them eventuallyand you'll figure out what works best. The first weeks are the hardest. I wouldn't say she was too young for colic though - mws said ds had colic when he was a few days old in hospital.

Writer! Hope everything has gone well today

It was a slight disaster. The exam was split into two parts and in one part I got 100% but in the other part I was 2 points under the pass mark

75% of us failed the exam. It was so so much harder than I expected it to be

What is the outcome then? Well done on the 100% bit tho!

I didn't get an interview as you can only move onto that stage if you pass the exam.

I was gutted and so were the women interviewing who knew me from when I last worked there. They said they were fully expecting to and prepared to offer me the job today and that the interview was a formality but because of those 2 marks they couldn't officially interview me. They tried to get permission from the Head Honcho for me to sit another exam paper today but it's against the hospital policy and the job has to be readvertised. I would have to reapply again which they said they really, really want me to do as they'd love to have me back and were gutted about my exam result. They said that considering I hadn't worked in a hospital for 3 years so have had nothing to do with drugs/medication then I should be really happy with how well I did. It's hard to see the good points though isn't it

Oh writer, bummer, do try to look at the positives though

The vacancy will be out again next week and thrive told me to just re-send in the same application form I sent this time round. The exam was ridiculously hard, far more difficult than I expected do I've just got to decide if I want to put myself through it again

Do it now you know what to expect?