2am to 4am feed is killing me!

[mrsjuan]

My little girl seems to have found some sort of routine (for now!) at 4 weeks. We put her to bed somewhere between 10 and 11 and then she wakes up at about 2.30 am. But then it is taking me at least 2 hours to feed, wind and settle her. She takes a massive feed - both sides for about 20 minutes each but she really seems to struggle with wind and is really squirmy in between and after. It is then easily 4am - has been gone 5 before she manages to get back to sleep after me (or husband when I am on the verge of a breakdown!) rocking, winding, walking around, going up and down the stairs etc.

It is absolutely exhausting - I expected to have to get up in the night and am in no way expecting her to sleep any longer than she's doing but such a chunk out of the night is a nightmare.

Any advice / solidarity greatfully received!

I'm happy(ish) to be told it's normal & that I should stop whinging - I'm sure there are people having a worse time!

On a positive note she seems to be growing brilliantly and has grown out of her first size babygros!

Do you co-sleep? If not, would she settle if you put her to sleep next to you.

Also what about feeding lying down - might she then feed herself back to sleep?

The tiredness is hard isn't it? I went to bed at midnight last night (no excuse, was reading a book) and woke at 0530 as had to come to work early on (from where I am posting ).

DS2 still managed to bf 4 times in the night between midnight and half 5 though. And he's 13 months old....

So I would like to say it gets easier....

..You do get used to the tiredness though..

Sorry, I am not helping am I???!

You have my sympathies- so tiring isn't it!
My first two were also really windy babies and I would struggle to get them back to sleep in the cot after a night feed.
I got to the point where I was desperate to sleep and used to lie down with them propped up on my left shoulder with my arm around them as they were more comfortable slightly propped up. I would then just fall asleep myself as so exhausted.
It only lasts a few weeks so don't worry, it will get better!
Good luck

we don't co sleep - she is so tiny at the moment and that, combined with a very soft bed and 2 knackered parents doesn't seem safe enough at the moment. I do bring her into bed in the morning - she's up again at half six and she settles until about 8 while I doze and husband gets ready for work.

It is the wind that's the issue I think - if she wasn't so squirmy it would be easier for her to drop off but she keeps waking up in pain

Have you tried using infacol before her feed? It really helped my son with his wind at that age.

Yes we're using infacol and it does seem to help her get a couple of good burps up but she is still squirming 15 minutes later. I am crap at getting her wind up anyway which is why I often end up passing her to hubby but it's not fair on him when he has to go to work. Sometimes i think she's squirming cos she's still hungry so i give her a bit longer but then the whole process starts again! Aghhhh!

mrsjuan - would be useful for you to explore co-sleeping options.

Babies squirm and wriggle and fuss when they are distressed - it doesn't have to mean wind.

Feeding her again is not harmful and will comfort her and help her back to sleep again.

Hi Mrsjuan
My LO is now 12 weeks, but in the early days I had the same sort of experience while she struggled with wind and colic, I also had loads of issues with her latch so that took up a lot of time too at night resulting in 2-3 hour feeding sessions at night - hell. I tried Gripe water and Infacol but neither were any good. I then tried colief which was brilliant and worked so well. It is very pricey though but I reakon when all you want to do is sleep and remedy the issue then any parent will spend that much on it (about a tenner which lasts for one week). I've just started to wean my LO off the colief now shes 3 months as her digestive system is more mature and should (I hope) be less windy and spasmodic now - we'll see....fingers crossed. I also found that carrying her in a tight sling all day and also having her in bed with me really helped. I used to put me in the middle of the bed and her in my place. I then started at about 9 weeks to use her cot more and now she predominently sleeps in her cot but I still carry her around quite a bit during the day which she seems so much more contented with, although its getting hard now she's almost 14lbs! Keeping them close is supposed to help them to reduce wind and colic. The sling I use is a moby wrap.

Hope some of this helps, hang in there, it doesn't last and you will have improved nights when feeding becomes easier and quicker.