at end of tether - what am i doing wrong?

[BettyFriedan]

DD was a good sleeper until 4 weeks ago. Now it's all changed, and she's feeding every three hours in the night and often every two hours during the day. She's 17 weeks. I am guessing it may be the heat, perhaps she is too big for the moses basket, could it be because I'm not getting the wind up properly, but I'm exhausted and feeling really down. She has just gone down after latest feed and I have no choice but to go to bed. Feel like a machine. What can I do to improve things?

Formula top up at night?

Everything you say could be true. I'm sure the heat is significant though. I saw my midwife in the street the other day and she suggested just gettting the baby into the coolest room in the house. Obvious I know but I'd never thought of it!

xx

Big growth spurt time - can you get any extra support during the day to give you a rest for a couple of hours? You could try making lots of ice in the day and putting it in bowls around her bed in case that helps. Otherwise, you prob need to grin and bear it and wait until the probably spurt is over.

thanks K8
she won't take a bottle - another change that came in about a month ago....admittedly only tried with EBM but not sure she'd take anything from a bottle
sorry delay in replying - she woke up again....

the ice is a great idea
can a growth spurt last a month???!

We are going on holiday soon so I can try to see if DH will help

My DD also used to sleep quite well and then it all went pear shaped at about same time as you, lasted 5 or 6 weeks. She always fed frequently in the day (every 2 hours) but it was the nights that nearly finished me off.

I tried these things - not sure which worked, or whether she just sorted herself out, but she is now fed about 6 or 7 times a day and goes for 10-12 hours at night ( for now anyway!). She is 26 weeks, still bfed.

• not letting her fall asleep when feeding (she needed boob to sleep). Easier said than done but think this helped the most, she can settle herself to sleep now
• tried to settle without feeding first(DH better at this). We found turning her onto her tummy and rubbing her back helped for a bit (brought up wind) but then turned her onto her back to sleep
• making sure she got enough sleep in the day so was not overtired (which meant she woke a lot in the night). Also brought forward bedtime (now 6.30pm but might bring it forward!)

You have my complete sympathy it is so difficult, I think I became the wife from hell. It was worse than when she was a newborn but I'm sure it will pass.

I'm sure you're not doing anything wrong. Hope you get some sleep soon.

All I an say is that I'm always stunned when people say their babies are good sleepers as young as 12 weeks (sometimes less) as I that's so impossibly far from my experiences of 2ds. However, I certainly remember the anguish of being woken up more often in the night after a night or two of a tad more sleep than the 4 or 5 wakings would allow.

Hope you have a lovely holiday.

there is a whole thread devoted to sleep problems at 4-5 months, i do believe they are just more hungry, and don't forget it does get better, it won't last forever.

there is a whole thread devoted to sleep problems at 4-5 months, i do believe they are just more hungry, and don't forget it does get better, it won't last forever.

Every three hours in the night is not uncommon at this age I'm afraid. There is often a growthspurt but the feeds are not only about nutrition but also love and being close to you making her feel safe. What worked for me was to just go with the flow, I co-slept a lot so that I could feed dd while sleeping and tried to nap when possible. She now sleeps much better but still wakes once a night for a feed at ten months old.

If it is a growthspurt, then formula top ups won't really help as your body needs to get the message to make more milk and that is done best during night feeds due to hormones.

DS2 was a great sleeper for a while and has woken up more the last few weeks - he's nearly 4 weeks older than your dd I think. Probably a growth spurt, maybe hot weather as well as it makes it harder for him to sleep.

I find feeding lying down useful at night and sometimes during the day too when it all feels like it migth be too hard.

growth spurts can last up to 8 weeks!!

growth spurt.

grin and bear it.