Please help - i'm shattered!!!

[lovecloud]

Hello I am at my wits end and dont know if I should just give in and top my dd up with formula.

dd is five months and I just cant seem to get her into any kind of feeding of routine, some weeks its every 3 hours, some 2 hours some all over the place!!! There was a stage she slept from 7pm to 4.30am had a feed then back off to 7.30am. Then it all went mad and for the last month she has been feeding three times a night and waking just moaning. I feel like a yo-yo in and out of bed all night. I have not had five hours continuous sleep for a long time and its killing me. I am a horrible mother all day especially to my 3 year old.

Because of her waking I thought maybe she is ready for weaning so I started a week ago and it is going really well. She has pear in the morning and butterniut squash in the evenings. She swallows it really well and enjoy it.

Last night as usual she fed at 11.30pm, 3.30pm and 5.30pm. I cant get away with just giving her a dummy she screams until I breastfeed her. This morning we slept in until 8.15am and I offered her breast, she wanted it but after only sucking for a few secs she came off crying, so i offered her the nex breast and the same thing. I tried calmning her down and trying again but she got hysterical so I thought maybe she is just not hungry. Because I started the weaning I wanted to keep it going so I gave her the pear which she gladly took an dthen offered her breast at the end which she again suckled for a few secs then came off crying. she is not usually that impatient for the let down.

BY now it was 9.30am and i was worried she had had no fluids so I expressed through the screams and cries of my three year old which took forever and only got 5ozs. Tried dd on the bottle of expressed milk and she took less than an oz. I then put her for a nap. She woke at 11am and I tried to breastfeed her agaim this should of been her second feed of the day she suckled and finally got the let down but only fed for two minutes then pulled off and refused any more???? She seems happy.

Is this teething?

Whst should I do?

I am worried my milk supply will be effected if she does not feed properly?

I am so shattered and just want to sleep, I cant handle this nights of broken sleep - this is supposed to just happen at the new born stage which I can handle but surely not now?

Should I just face facts that my milk does not satisfy her and give in and top her up at her last feed with a bottle of formula? That is all I hear off my friends and family every time I moan about this so mayeb I should just do it?

But will it help - if it does then I would gladly do it.

i cany go on like this.

please excuse the bad typing - VERY TIRED [SAD]

IME this is all normal. ds (16.5 months now!) never, ever got into a 'routine' as such (not that I tried). It is perfectly normal that babies have phases of 'good' sleep and then start waking more frequently again. That, too, is usually a phase.
Your dd could be having a growth spurt and be hungrier atm. Formula will not necessarily help that, nor with the sleeping. What you can express has nothing to do with how much milk you actually have.
It is notyour milk that 'does not satisfy' her (it's not some kind of inferior product, you know!), it is her needs that are changing atm, for whatever reason.
Your milk supply - while pretty established by now - could be affected if she starts feeding less and less. I would persevere, feeding when she wants. I know from experience that the broken nights are exhausting - but this phase will not be forever. Can you get your dh/dp to give you a lie-in at weekends? Any chance of sleeping in the day when the baby sleeps?

you poor love! I completely sympathise. My first son fed what felt like constantly for six months with no real pattern or long gaps even at night. Like you I persevered with demand feeding and decided at six months I'd had enough. I gradually cut down feeds. This took ages as there were so many!! Finally he was on follow on milk-one and a half pints a day!!No wonder I was knackered as well as the broken nights. He was still only going two and a half hours between feeds at the end! I scoured baby books for advice and none said it would be like that! Give yourself a break and start on formula. By the time she's mainly on formula she'll be six months, when breast feeding becomes less bebneficial any way. You have done fantastically well carrying on for so long. Your health and well being are important too. In a year you won't even remember why you were so worried about it!!Hope this is some help.

Dd is just coming up to 6 months and went through the same stage, feeding almost constantly, but only for a few minutes each time, and particularly through the night. The only way I got through it was co-sleeping and just going with it as much as possible through the day. (she was also teething btw). Must be so much harder with a 3yr old.

Is there any chance the 3 yr old can go to a relative for one day just to give you a chance to get some rest and allow you to feed as and when?

If it is formula because you need a night off I understand entirely, however, don't worry about your milk not being good enough. It's done an amazing job so far to get her to 5 months and will be A* quality.

Sorry to have rambled ...