Need some help and encouragement, 14wo ds is feeding loads...

[Bouncingturtle]

DS has pretty much fed every two hours since he was born, with periods of cluster feeding in the first few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago, he started going 4-5 spells during the night. "Woohoo, more sleep!" says I. Except it didn't last. Shortly ater he turned 12 weeks he went back to feeding at 10.30, 12.30, 2.30, 4.30 and 6am.
Fine, growth spurt I guess, due around that time. However the last few nights he has been feeding even more frequently. He has been waking up every hour between 1am - 5am, sometimes I feed and feed him, put him down in his Moses basket asleep and he immediately wakes up wanting to feed again.
In addition he has been a nightmare during the day, he fusses and fusses, keeps pulling himself off eventually he will set down for a good long drink and then fusses again. I try to be patient and keep offering the breast until he won't try and latch on before, but all the pulling off he keeps doing is making me sore.
My period started on Saturday and it seems that it has been since then that he has become so difficult to feed during the day. Could this be anything to do with it?
Between feeds he seems happy enough, wants to play and is quite active, trying to roll over and even tries to lift his head when on his back.
I guess I just want some reassurance that there isn't a problem I'm missing, some advice on how to cope with his fussiness and also to hear that other people have had the same problem. DH suggested that maybe I should start giving him formula as he doesn't know if I'll be able to keep this massive night time feeding frenzy up because I am so tired and he thinks it'll get worse when he gets older. Does this happen, do babies feed more as they head towards the 6 month mark? I want to wait to wean him until then.
Got to go now as loads of things to do but will check for replies later this afternoon if I don't have time before I go out this morning.

TIA

hello there. don't have any answers but wanted to reply. i have a 15 week ds. last week he didn't feed very much, very short feeds. this week it has hugely increased, including hourly feeds overnight. this may be to do with me moving him from our bed to cot though.

perhaps similarly your ds sometimes wants to suck, not nec hungry. this may explain the times he is fussy and won't latch on - perhaps he isn't hungry? about this age, i think they start to cry for other reasons (tiredness for example)and the breast isn't always what they want. i think my ds is waking hourly as he wants to suck to sleep.

your dh, like mine, and most people, think that the answer is always formula, no matter what the question is! i have told my dh 'i do not want you to provide a solution ie formula, i when i complain i am tired, i want you o say 'well done darling you are doing so well, i will help by doing some cooking etc!''

Hi BT ds is the same with feeding through the day but he does go longer at night (but he has always (usually) done a 5-6 hr stretch once at night) Now as you know already he's on solids and has a bit of ff sometimes too. This has made NO difference to the sleep and last night he was crapola..

Sorry i've no answers only sympathy, my dd started sleeping through by 4months so wasn't expecting this but as i said on PN thread, make sure you get a nap in the day, just lying there can help recharge your batteries if you can't nod off. Life without sleep is v hard ((hugs))

Not sure about your period but dd didn't react differently when mine came back at 6m...

Hi BT, ds (15 weeks) was in a great routine, only waking once, but when he hit 12 wks he was feeding every hour during the day n night - put it down to a gs but it continued until this wkend when he went back to twice a night, don't know why, but just wanted to post that i was tearing my hair out but held off the formula because most said it prob wouldnt help anyway.

my 7 week old is like that. at one point it was hell and i discovered the culprit was tomatoes! could it be something you are eating? i wouldn't be at all surprised if it was hormones from your period

Hi BT!

I was going to say similar to Weasle, maybe your DS isn't hungry and so fusses alot? I am sure this is what my DS does as well when I keep offering him a feed. I have noticed that if DS has one side and it seems a fairly short feed (5-10 mins) he will then be looking for a feed 2 hours later. If we're out and about with the pram/sling etc he will go 3-4 hours and then take both sides and have about 15-20 mins suckling. I've now told myself if I offer DS a feed and he's fussing to leave it and tell myself he's not hungry because like your DS eventually he will take a bit of a feed after fussing so before I have been confused.

Could it be wind do you think? That's another reason for fussing like this. Does he arch his back? Have you tried abdominal massage whilst bringing his ankles up towards his tummy?

I hope it settles down soon, keep your chin up and we're always here to chat

just remember every day is different. i cant always find a reason why ds wants to feed lots more or is unsettled (like today!) or other days has good naps and less frequent feeds (yesterday. 'I have got this sorted' i think!). then you get really upset with a more dificult day or week

also, my cousin's ds is ff and waking up every hr or 2 in the night. formula may not fix the problem!

...as i pointed out to my mum who told me of cousin's nights.

Having your Period could have an affect - mine returned at 6 weeks and every time since she fusses about a bit. Still does at 19m

All I can say is that it does get better a little at a time. Sometimes she would even sleep through - and we would be so pleased - then the next night we would be back to the old routine again. She sleeps though all the time now so it does improve honest

i think it is the other way round isn't it, so feeding less often at nights causes period to return? did in my case anyway.

maybe it is another growth spurt. can you feed lying down bouncing turtle? i had a 2 hourly feeder as well and co-sleeping made it all bearable. the older they get the more efficient at feeding so even if it is frequent it isn't constant.

Hello everyone, thank you all for your replies, it has been a relief to other people are in the same position.
DS does get windy during the day (not so much at night I guess because when he is sleepy he sucks slower). I normally wind him by rubbing his back til he burps, but i'll try the abdominal massage as well.
I have been given some formula by a friend but I think I'll sit on it for the moment and see how he goes the next few days. He hasn't been quite a fussy today, so maybe things are starting to improve already! Anyway ds is a sleep in his car seat (but been a sleep for a while so I expect him to wake up soon) so going to put my feet up with my book!

You've been doing all of that feeding and you've still got your period? What a bummer!

The taste of your milk does change when you ovulate and have your period, so some of the fussing is probably to do with that.

It sounds like you're both doing really well and you've just had a small blip to get over. These blips happen from time to time whether you bf or ff, so if I were you I would carry on with the bf'ing.

I think they started when he was about 8 weeks! I only had a 2 day gap between the post birth bleed finishing and period starting, was really gutted. Someone told me i must be very fertile...
Oh and he has just woke up and is having a feed.

BT no advice really but as you know ds is the same-it helps me to know I'm not the only one from December07 who is still not getting any sleep!

Also as i keep saying to anyone who will listen, dd was exactly the same and formula didn't make any difference-the only thing that did was time.

Slightly better last night, slept 8pm - 10.45pm, then 11.00pm - 1.30am (but filled his nappy after this feed!), 2am - 4am then 4.20 - 6.10am.
At least I'm lucky in that he does go to sleep quickly after a feed, and after I changed his pooey nappy I put him in his Moses basket awake, and in the time it took me to rinse the poo off and pop it in the nappy pail, he was sound asleep!
I fed him pretty much every hour yesterday but It is always with lots of fussing so he doesn't feed long (he has always been a quick feeder normally 5-15 mins). So today I'm going to try feeding less frequently and try and increase the gaps between each feed to 3 hours.

Glad it's going better for you.
Don't stress too much though. It wontl ast forever (although it was rather annoying i found when people said it to me!) Does he sleep in the day? Can you take the time to have a lie down or a snooze?

That's what I keep telling myself, so no it doesn't bother me people saying it won't last!

DS does have naps but they tend to be quite short, tried to nap when he did earlier but found I just couldn't sleep! Going to try and put him down for a nap this afternoon and try then.

It's encouraging to hear that there are so many other boob-happy babies out there. Ds2 is 5.5 months old and still doesn't like going more than 2 hours without a feed. Just as well I have no qualms about feeding in public as sling feeds on train/tube are part of the routine. And co-sleeping is the only way to cope with his night-time habits: doesn't go to sleep till 9.30/10pm, wakes up at 11 and, even with a small bottle of formula, needs 10-min bf to get him to sleep again but often wakes up within a few mins to come back into our bed for more. Then he feeds 4-5 times through the night. Unbelievable, really. I'm sure he'll be a nightmare to get into a cot when he goes to share a room with ds1.

I've started to introduced taster amounts of fruit and veg in the daytime this past week, but no impact on his night-time pattern. He's a very light sleeper in the day and wakes up as soon as he's put down, so the only place he sleeps is on my knee or in sling/pram when out and about with 2.5-yr-old ds1. I do hope he spaces out a bit more at night soon. Have delayed return to work for another 3 months as I couldn't function in this state.

Wow you have my sympathies! It's interesting what you say about introducing food making no difference - I know a lot of people who start to wean at that age because baby's waking up more during the night, but giving solids doesn't always help!
Really hope things get better for you!!

Well managed so space his feeds out during the day yesterday to at least 2 hours, except in the evening. However had a shitty night.
Went down at 7.30. Woke up at 9.30, fed, sleep at 21:10. Woke up 23:10, fed, nappy change then back down at 23:50.
Woke up again at 02:00, fed and fed and fed, eventually went down at 02:40. Woke up at 03:40. Tried to soothe him back to sleep, thought he couldn't possibly be hungry after that big monster feed he had an hour before, but I was wrong! Put him bed with us at 04:20 hoping he would sleep better, but he woke up at 06:00 wanting a feed, then filled his nappy. Got up with him then as he was wide awake. He;'s been happily playing ever since.
I am shattered. Now seriuously contemplating giving a formula feed after his bedtime bf as I am knackered and now worrying about my milk, whether it is good enough...

Bouncing turtle: your milks is/will be good enough, remember that.. remind yourself how bfeeding works they feed to produce more

I do understand how tiring it can be though, like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but I think you are doing fantastically (I say as I am going through some better days at the moment with a 11wk old, but no doubt the extra feeding will start again soon, sigh!)

Funny, when he was 11wks old it felt as though it was getting better!
Am going to try cluster feeding this afternoon/ evening and see if that does anything...