I need some help with breastfeeding my 4mo please (not physically of course!)

[sorkycake]

Though if you have a burning desire to come and do the night feeds then CAT me
Ok, he's still feeding 2 hourly, sometimes every hour, day and night.
I'm shattered .
I need some advice on how to get some sleep or how to get him to go a bit longer between feeds. I have 2 other children who are finding it hard that 'mummy is always feeding the baby'. My other two were bf for the first 4mo but slept through from 8weeks, not so lucky this time.
I have had varying advice from family mostly suggesting I try gina ford's schedules or switch to formula.
Here's his day/nights:
2 hourly feeds, very little day sleep, 2 naps of 30 minutes. Asleep at 7pm and only stirs to feed through the night. Problem is once I wake I'm finding it hard to return to sleep.
Sometimes he'll go 3.5 hours (7-10.30pm) but it's usually another feed at 9 more often than not.
We have a problem approaching in that when I return to work in 2 months time, for 1/7, DH will take over for the day, but baby isn't in a set routine yet (he'll never cope without written guide as to what to do) and I don't seem to be able to express any breast milk to store for that day yet.
I'm not willing to give up exclusive feeding at the moment and I'm ashamed to admit, in desperation from lack of sleep, I did get a carton of formula, luckily he thought I was poisoning him and bawled until he got to suckle again.
We co-sleep and he feeds very 1.5-2hours during the night. I try to get him to take a dummy to see if it's just the suck he needs not the milk, which works sometimes, but not long enough for a good rest.
Gawd have I really moaned that much? Sorry, and well done if you've read this
Any suggestions?

Why not try just putting him back into his crib initially in your room? Will save you a treck in the night if he does wake? My babies all stayed in the room till they were a year and did sleep during the night

Well we were doing that but the only difference it made was that each time he wanted feeding I had to sit up, reach in, position him etc which woke me up even more. I'll try the return to the crib tonight, then try the cot in another room after that. Failing that check the for sale ad's.

I had a travel cot for dd1 and dd2 - they were put in that for daytime naps, then moved into a cot in their own room at around 6 months

travel cot was in our room for night time feeds - no way I was staggering up the corridor - and then put back in when fed

just a quick note to OP - try using a sling.

i used a hug-a-bub almost constantly around the house, so i could get jobs done (taking older children to school/playgroup). sometimes i lay on the bed, undid the straps and fell asleep. my little one would stay happy for at least 3 hours, sometimes 4 before a wet nappy would wake her up!

good luck, this is the hardest period, but itw ill get better!

I've used the coorie sling I made in the early weeks, but now he's happy to shake the heck outta toy monkey I'm loathe to carry him about if I don't need to. It's more my night sleep that's an issue tbh. I'll try expressing so Dh could feed at 11pm, if I go to bed at 9 then I might get 4-5 hours uninterrupted.

Well...yesterday I thought I'd try a routine for him, so we got up at 7am and he followed one of GF's plans without any problem, which is very heartening because at least I now know the Dh will cope. So that was one problem solved.

I fed him both sides at every feed, which took ages but had some success in that he went from 7am-11am, 11am-2pm, 2pm-6pm and 6pm-10.30pm, which is a vast improvement. The last feed finished at 11pm and he went through to 2.30am, I sshhed him with a dummy and he went a further 30 minutes before he sounded hungry, he came into bed with us and fed at three, then woke at 5.30am but again went a further 30 minutes with a dummy, before feeding again at 6am. He then slept until 9.30am.
I got better sleep for 3 hours because he was in his cot in another room. Still exhausted, but willing to give it another go tonight as well.
Any ideas on expressing milk given he is now feeding and draining both sides at each feed?

Just to add that now he is going for longer between feeds, I'm not tied to him as I was which is great for my other kids.
My problems are now how to get him to go longer during the night than 3 hours? and how to express enough milk for when I go back to work as he point blank refuses formula?

Only tip that I had really on nights was to try a dream feed - bottle of ebm just before you go to bed (needs to be bottle otherwise baby just falls straight back to sleep. Glad to hear that some form of routine seemed to work today! I don't really have any tips on expressing though - I'm guessing that if he is emptying both breats at each feed then you will need to express a little after each feed to stimulate supply - but that is the sort of question which I would phone a breastfeeding counsellor with tbh (although one might pop up here shortly!)

Sorkeycake your lo sounds just like mine! He is 4.5 months and feeding every 2 hours night and day. I am beginning to think that it is because he is not getting enough, and so am eyeing the emergency formula box on the shelf. I would really like to to stick to BF, though.

The last time I deliberately increased my supply, it took about 24-36 hours of feeding frequently and expressing after every single feed. I guess I'd better try it again. You'll find that a pump does not remove all the milk (not as efficient as baby), and so after you seem to have 'run dry', try hand-expressing till the bitter end. It's a lot of work, but it does result in more milk. The only problem I ran into last time was that due to the larger volume, lo was getting more foremilk than hind, and as a result had green diapers, and ended up feeding more frequently because the foremilk isn't as nutritious.... To fix that, I expressed about 40 ml before every feed, which seemed to fix the fore/hind imbalance.

I never knew breastfeeding could be so complicated. Or is it just me?

hello 1st message i have posted. pls be kind! baby now 14 weeks, i have had every problem this time round, (1st baby bf until she was 11 months old, not a single prob) anyways, baby no. 2 has been sleeping from 9pm to 6am, he has now decided to wake up and from 9pm-12am i seem to be feeding all the time, hv said to try ff at night. dont want to go down this road so confused at the mo. (i feel he isnt getting enought goodness from me)we manage to get 2-3 hours between feeds during the day though. expressing seems to be out of the questions as if he feeds from both sides i only manage to express a few ounce. can anybody help (now that i have got this off my chest)

All four month old babies go mad for a bit. About 50% of posts of MN go 'My baby is now four months/16 weeks and has gone mad" and loads of people say, 'Mine did that. it is a phase. it will pass'.
IT is a phase, it will pass.
Some say growth spurt, I think it's developmental. Both mine were particularly grim at sleeping at that age.