DD is almost 10 months old. She's a rubbish sleeper, and we're just coming out of another period of 2 hourly wake-ups, and she's reverting to a pattern of waking usually once briefly an hour after she goes down, again at 12 ish and again at 4.30 ish, which is good for her. We usually co-sleep after the 4.30 feed until I get up at 7. If we co sleep all night she wakes up more often so that's not the answer.
I've been back at work for a couple of months and it's been doable because I'm only 3 days a week at the moment, and DP is on additional paternity leave so has done everything at home. I start back on full time hours next week.
She won't take expressed milk at all in the day when I'm at work. We have tried every permutation of bottle, cup etc etc and it's just pushed away (she will take water very happily from any of these receptacles) and we also gave formula a go, all while I have been out of the house. Still no success.
The advice I got from a BF counsellor was to let her feed whenever she wants at other times. She's eating pretty well and her weight is stable.
The trouble is, I'm dead on my feet- I'm shattered at work and so slow as a result- keep getting ill and am grumpy. She won't settle at all for DP, and he's happy to go in to her etc- but I always wake first and then can hear her squawking- and she won't settle for him anyway, so I usually give up and feed her. She doesn't always feed that well or at all sometimes at the 12 ish feeding, so I was wondering if we could try and drop it by sending DP in with a cup of water for that feed and him just persevering? He does get her to nap in the day without feeding but usually by slinging her or putting her in the pushchair. I'm happy to do an early feed still- I just want a chunk of sleep!
I'm just worried about her getting enough milk as it is. Has anyone else tried dropping a feed in this scenario, and how did it go? Would she make up for it at other times?