I can't handle this

[Seoulmum]

Hi
My DD is 4 weeks old and likes to BF to sleep. This is getting ridiculous as it takes her HOURS to go to sleep at night, sometimes 3-4. I don't think I can handle these marathon sessions any longer. It doesn't seem to be hunger but comfort feeding, she won't take a dummy and when my DH tries to settle her she won't sleep.
What can I do? Stop BFing and change to FFing completely or for night feeds only, or does anyone have any other suggestions?
HELP!

could be a growth spurt?

Have you tried removing her from the breast and laying her down? slip a finger in her mouth to release suction and lay her down in moses basket soothing her. I know its advised against, but i found swaddling dd really helpful. I swaddled her whilst feeding so that when i laid her down she still felt warm and cosy.

When dd was this age I used to chill out in front of the TV b/fing all evening as she cluster fed from 6pm-10pm. It didn't solve the situation but it made it easier to cope with. Could she be cluster feeding rather than just feeding for comfort?

Can you co-sleep? That way you can both cuddle up together all night and you may even sleep through her feeding.

What is it about the marathon sessions that is hardest to deal with?

Have you tried infacol?

It took a while for me to spot the difference between my DCs being hungry in the evening and wanting cluster feeding - and when they were windy and collicky!

Infacol really helped them to be more settled in the evening - and helped me spot when they were really hungry.

I have to say though, that I agree with WJ - clustrer feeding is quite common in the evening. I always tried to look on the positive side and saw it as them stoking up so they could sleep well

Hi
Thanks for the responses. If it's cluster feeding how long is this likely to last - she wants fed from 12am-4am roughly every night. It's getting me down as my nipples are sensitive and it tickles when she's feeding so it's difficult to sleep whilst she's doing her thing.

You will get more used to the feeling, and more able to sleep while she does it. I'd just cosleep, both my kids liked to feed themselves to sleep, and taking away the nipple just woke them. At four weeks, it's understandable that she just wants to be on the boob all the time.

Seoul, your posts remind me how hard and tiring having such a young baby can be. The job of looking after them seems so daunting at this stage and it seems like you will never get past this particularly hard bit.

Babies feed as much for comfort as for hunger at the moment, you can't really distinguish the two and it is good to let her feed whenever she wants to and for whatever reason.

Using a sling as much as you can might help, as it will encourage her to sleep more and for longer periods. Over time her pattern will change so she sleeps more during the night and less during the day but it does take a while to settle down. Just try whatever means you can to get through it and post lots when you feel you need support.

will she settle on DH's chest ? That worked for us in the early days - if I kept them near me they fussed, if DH had them everyone got some sleep.

seoulmum - what is she like during the day? I have to say, the thing that made the most difference to me was having (whispers to avoid horrified stares) a routine whereby I got my LO (now 6weeks) into the habit of having BIG feeds during the day (by taking his nappy off, tickling his ears etc) and not letting him sleep for hours and hours during the day, and also not feeding him to sleep in the daytime -I take him for a walk/put him in his cot etc. Also having a real bedtime 'wind down' routine of bath and feed in darkened room etc. It worked for us. He doesn't settle easily every night, but most of the time he is tired and ready to go to bed and go to sleep after his evening feed. Another thing I find helpful when he just won't settle is white noise - hairdryer/radio tuned between stations. HTH