Please someone reassure me I am not etting my DS2 down

[charliemama]

I have 3 Dcs under 5. DS2 is nearly 6 months. I have found it hard pretty much since he was born. I thought he would get easier after 12 weeks (as DD did) but he got harder. He wakes 3/4 times in the night. I Bf him, but for the last week I have switched him to FF in the day. He has subsequently become a much happier baby. I still struggle and I think my milk supply during the night and in the morning is too low for him. He has 2 teeth and bites me quite often. I am thinking of trying to move him to ff after his bedtime bf. But I think this may signal the end to bf forever. I want what's best for him and feel awful that I haven't perservered more with bf. When he was exclusively bf he fed erratically and frequently. Often for no more that 5 minutes at atime. He would also cry during and after feeds.

How much help do you have with the others? I had problems with supply with ds3 and ended up having to switch to ff (having fed ds2 until 2 with no problems). I just didn't have the time to sit down and feed ds3 uninterrupted or crawl off to bed for the day with him, and it just didn't happen . DS3's behaviour was very like your ds2's. Good luck. If you want to carry on you'll get lots of advice on here.

I have good support from my mum, friends and DH. But DS2 found it difficult to feed during the day with all the distractions. He would even stop if I talked!

CM saw this and had to reply, just to say you've had such a tough time with your DS and you've been doing so incredibly well with your other kids too and all on next to no sleep ... I'll leave it to the experts to advise you re BF/FF depending on what you want to do (after all, that's the important thing), but I think you've done brilliantly to date, regardless of where you go from here.

Be proud of yourself for surviving a really tough time - I'm sure you'll get lots of specific help here but don't ever think you're letting anyone down, your posts on SIFTW testify how much effort you've put into doing the right things for your kids.

Thankyou for your kind words. Part of the problem is I'm not sure what I want. I am very sleep deprived and feeling down today. It has been 6 months of very difficult times. I know it will gert easier, but it feels like this stage will last for ever. I want what is best for DS2, my 2 other DCs, my DH and me. I just don't know what that is.

X-posted CSB. Thankyou for posting I know times are tough for you to. I will post on SIFTW but I have yet to find the time to write a proper message!!!

you have done a great job bf till 6mo you have done fab job especially with 3dc's under 5 not supprised its hard, you need to do what is right for you as this is how your family will be happy if YOU are

charliemama it sounds really tough. i think you're right though, if you do carry on feeding like this it will be the end of bf. nothing necessarily wrong with that, but do make sure it is what you want.

i believe this distractable stage is common at your ds age, would it be more helpful to try to carry on and set some deadlines by which time you want to see improvement?

i'm not suggesting you run yourself further into the ground, but just want to make sure you are happy with yoru choices and why you are making them.