Soul destroying

[mrsjskelton]

It's gone 1.30am I've been BF my DD (9 days old) for the past 3 hours and she's still not going to sleep. Please someone tell me this will end soon

It will. Promise. Its so tiring though I'm doing the same. No advice as such but it will pass.

It will end soon. I'm up with my 10 day old DS! 3 hours is a long time though, is that continuous feeding? Have you got any milk left? Will probably be shouted down for this by others but I'd be tempted to do a smallformula top up (using a cup) just to settle her and give your boobs a break.

It's tough at this age. It gets better. 3 hours is a long streach if there has been no break at all. If that's the case a call to nct or lll in the morning to check her latch would be worthwhile.

If your really exhausted could oh take her for a walk round the block for a bit.

As long as there are lots of wees and poos you can be sure she's getting enough and your making enough.

These early days sort if prime your breast to create enough milk so lots of feeding is normal and nessicary.

Tomorrow it might be worth getting oh to make a thermos of tea and some nice one handed snacks for you to have by the bed. To help ease the night feed

Plenty wees and poos. Definitely no supply issue - she spits up a wee bit but not enough to warrant all the feeding!! Google has suggested it's a growth spurt? She feeds for about 15 minutes, I try to put her down and she's wide awake, I change boobs and this goes on and on and on. She eventually will go down for 1-2 hours. It's just this stretch from about 1-4am ish. Unbearable.

Also MW is happy, she put on 320g between day 5-8 and exceeded her birth weight.

Sounds totally normal to me. That's cluster feeding and you'll see a lot of it in the first six weeks. I had one stretch of 13 hours like that (this is excessive and exceptional though!)

It DOES get better. Stick with it.

It's well within normal. Just over a week ago your baby was inside you. Staying close is natures way of enabling reassurance and comfort. Babies find that, as well as food, at the breast. It does not last.

Have you managed to do feeding lying down yet? It really is a lifesaver on those mammoth cluster feeds (which as pps have said is so normal!)

Good luck!

Thanks everyone, my brain is telling me it's perfectly normal and I should just do what she needs but I was so tired last night I'm wondering how I can keep going!

I remember the feeling - you wonder how anyone can physically cope! But it doesn't last long, hang on in there

So do they just naturally start to sleep in longer spells? I was thinking as her stomach size increases, will she be able to go longer through the night without me? Is that how it works?

What I mean is - do I actually have to "do" anything other than respond to what she needs?

You need to feed her in bed whiile you are lying down. There's plenty space in a double bed. Kick out your partner ( If you have one ) . Then it's easier for you to get some sleep and you don't have to wake her by trying to move her

I doubt she is actually feeding all that time, just suckling because It's nice . You can tell when she is swallowing because her ears move

No you don't have to do anything. You're right, as her tummy expands she will start to sleep longer stretches. It feels never ending when you're in the middle of it though! Like a pp we had a 13 hour almost continuous stretch once. If it's any consolation mine is 7 months now and I'm over the trauma, just about

Sounds like you're doing great, don't even think about worrying about how long between feeds they are going at this point. One of my antenatal friends had a daughter doing exactly the same - feeding late at night and not going to sleep till 3 or 4, but it sorted itself out and she turned into a great sleeper. Just go with the flow and get comfy!

Do you know how to get her off your nipple when she's finished feeding ? You don't pull her off , you will hurt yourself , put your finger into her mouth to break the suction .

I'm sure you know this but no harm in saying

She comes off herself usually with a little cough or she just releases. I'll try to put her down then she's just snorting and sucking her hand for more almost immediately! It's definitely ramped up these last couple of nights so I'm praying she's just trying to increase my supply and it'll calm down soon. Thanks for all the reassurance everyone - as long as I can see the light at the end of the tunnel I'll be fine!

I'd try a dummy personally if your supply is good.

3 hours is well within normal but ur also might be worth checking for tongue tie. Both my boys had it and DS1 would feed 6-7 hours at a time like you describe! It was awful but I went on to feed him to 13 months and it got much much easier as time went on. You're doing it right - just stick it out and remember it's not forever!!

If you are responding to what she needs then you are doing amazing, really amazing.

I second learning to feed lying down . It makes night and day naps much more restful for me

2 week growth spurt is also just around the corner so it could be that too. Just keep on feeding through it & you will see the stretch on the other side hopefully. Well done & congrats. It does get soooo much easier.

Had that with my first baby! After 2 weeks of it I just couldn't bare it anymore and gave him the dummy! Believe it or not he slept after that for 4-5 hours straight! Also I fed him while lying down! This way I could sleep a little bit while he was eating! He was one that needed to suck constantly. He had his dummy until age two! And it was not a problem weaning it of him!

And when I was to exhausted I gave him a small bottle of formula. Then he slept 6-7 hours. But unfortunately I only BF him for 3 month. Then I had emergency surgery on my gall bladder and by the time I got out of hospital and my body was clear from the morphine my milk had dried up!

Good luck

Could you introduce a dummy if she is just comfort sucking rather than feeding? Could give you a break

My son is now 2 weeks old and was like this for 3 nights when we first got him home. In fact he fed almost constantly for 36 hours his first night at home! And for the first three nights he wasn't off me at all. I coped with it with a combination of getting very good at sleeping sitting up in bed (making sure he was safe and couldn't fall out or suffocate) and I taught myself to feed lying down. On night 4 we bought a co-sleeper cot, we got a Chico next2me. We've also got a Poddle Pod. He was immediately much happier to go down as I could reach to put my hand on his funny whilst he went to sleep. He now feeds at 10ish, 3ish and 6ish for about 45 mins a time and sleeps beautifully in between.

Are you definitely winding her properly? Newborns can't distinguish between pain and hunger so will feed and feed and feed if they've got a sore tummy.

As everyone else has said, it is also completely normal. It was exactly this hat made me give dd1 a dummy when she was about 3 weeks old. I never regretted it, I decided it was better than stopping breastfeeding through sheer exhaustion. Not recommended this young though for good reason, she's teaching your body how much she wants so it's best to go with it if you can.

Good luck, it does get easier!

I'm probably not winding her properly because it just wakes her up again and I'm back to square one with a wide eyed baby! I am serif some improvement, we're now at a fussy beginning - up and down from 10-2 feeding and comforting and she's had 2 night sleeping from about 3-6 or 7 which has been fantastic. I'm hoping that the next step for her is maybe sleeping a little better around midnight and then again around 3. Fingers crossed!