My DS is 5 weeks old and being fully BF. I'm struggling at night times at the moment, during the day he feeds between 2 1/2 - 3 hours & sometimes longer, cluster feeds in the evening then night times he's a monkey. If DH settles him after a feed he'll sleep for at least 2 1/2 hours, up to 4 hours before he wakes up hungry again. If I put him down after I've fed him, he'll be quiet for a few mins then wakes up shouting again. He'll often fall straight asleep on me and sometimes need topping up again, but as soon as I put him down he'll have his few mins then shout again. He never falls asleep at the breast, he dozes but always sucks on & off. I always have to break him off to put him down. In fact I think he'd actually just suck/drink all night if I let him! I don't think he NEEDS to be sucking all night though as he settles for DH no probs.
He's sleeping in a bedside cot, I don't want to sleep with him lying on me as I won't get sny sleep worrying that he'll roll off or get squished by me or DH. I can't feed lying down, only sitting up rugby ball style because of the enormousness of my boobs and where my niples are, any other position and he can't breathe, and it's uncomfortable for both of us and sore for me because he can't latch on properly.
I have some dummies and was wondering if it would hurt to try settling him with one at night time, as a last resort if everything else fails and I'm certain he's not hungry etc? Thinking if he's sucking he might be distracted from the fact that I'm not holding him.
I think it would help if we could turn his days & nights the other way round, he sleeps soundly on his own during the day between feeds, dozes on me during the cluster feed time in the evenings, then seems to sleep quite lightly at night time. Will he turn himself round when he's a bit older, or should I be doing something to nudge him along a bit?