please help before I go out and buy the formula!!!!!!!!!

[lilymolly]

DS exclusively bf 17 weeks old.

He was a dream sleeper (bed at 7pm, then generally woke up at anywhere between 3-5am for one feed, then slept until 7am)

then we went on holiday and the routine went out of the window, and he has been waking up more frequently.
He has also been full of cold and snotty with a very bad cough which make me think his throat is sore.
He has also learned to take his dummy out but not put it back in

So now he is generally waking every few hours, for either his dummy to be out back in and he goes straight off to sleep, only to then wake up for a feed at about 2am and then again at 5am, but with the more frequent waking for his dummy, I AM AT MY WITS ENDS............

I dont want to take his dummy away, as I love them and dd had one for 3 years and was a life saver.

Will introducing a dream feed of formula help him sleep a bit better? already tried expressed breastmilk at 10pm but it does not make much difference.

I am absolutley knackered, and begining to loose it with dp and dd

The thing is I am thinking formula will do him harm/upset him [totally irrational emoticon] but I need to do something to get through this.

Please come along and tell me this will pass xx

hmm
dd2 is 18 weeks and has a bottle of expressed milk at 11ish. very occasionally she has formula instead but seems to make no difference to when she wakes, sorry! last night she had formula as i didn't manage to express much and even so she woke at 2.30, 5.15 and then wanted to get up at 6.15

well, personally, I don't think formula will make him sleep. If babies have colds, or teething issues or growth spurts, sometimes they just don't sleep well.
Lack of sleep absolutely sucks, but it's part of having a baby.
I know that's not much help, but it does pass.
My dd was the WORST sleeper on the planet. 18 months of total hell. So I know a bit of what you speak.
We just had to deal with it the best way we could. She is the best sleeper now if thta's any consolation!

I know your probably all making sense.

The thing is, dd was formula fed from 17 weeks and slept like a baby

I know all babies are different, and my aim with ds is to excusively bf until he is 1.

I know its part of having a baby, but with dd it was easy as she was a great sleeper!

hope it passes.

anyone else with any words of wisdom x

I would co sleep tbh

also you have a pretty good sleeper there compared to some
my 2.3 year old is still waking 3 hourly

[yawn]

I think the problem is the cold and formula wont help that

concentrate on the fact that its because he has a cold and the bf is the best thing you can do

it will pass hang on in there

I would get saline nose drops to help clear the nasal passages. This wil help him feed more and sleep more easily.

Also express first thing in the morning when supply is plentiful, not last thing at night when it is far from it... and give the expressed milk as a dream feed.

Sucking the dummy may be uncomfortable with a cold, hence spits it out after a time... Isn´t c 17 weeks a growth spurt period too? (correct me if I´m wrong!)

I don´t think formuia will help you here, things will get better soon!! Really, they will!

oh dd1 was a great sleeper too -slept through from 11 weeks! i did mixed feeding with her-at that point she was on one bottle of formula during the day, as well as the dream feed
am not sure that's the difference between her and dd2 though-i think they're just different unfortunately!

Thanks

I cant co sleep as I can never get any sleep when my children are in the same room, as I listen for every snuffle

SO are you all telling me, that it is the cold that is maybe causing the waking (please please)

expressed milk was from a morning, as the evening milk contained rose wine

Lily, I think it´s the cold, will you try the nasal drops? I had a very snotty baby and they helped a lot..

Formula doesn't always help babies sleep. Infact, if they've got a cold, breastfeeding helps them clear their nose more easily and is an easy way of getting them back to sleep.

I found with my two that - though they were good sleepers early on - at about 4 months they started waking more.

No idea why, but cracked it with both of them about 9 months.

Just a tip though, if you want to stop a BF baby needing a feed in the night you have to send your husband in to get them back to sleep.

My friends who have formula fed have much worse sleepers than we did...possibly because they've always got colds.

yeah will def try the nasal drops!

DP has been going in on a night to settle ds, but he is knackered too, and has a pretty tiring physical job, so also needs to sleep

I find bf ds2 at night easier to deal with than ff ds1 waking up for a bottle, even though dp gave bottles etc and I of course have to do all the bf. Both of them have been in with us, ds1 only moved out at 21 months. I don't believe formula helps them sleep. I fear at this age their sleep patterns often change a bit, I think ds1 got worse at 5 months (21/22 weeks?) and ds2 got worse at c 17 weeks.

Is there room to put something you can lie down on to feed him in his room, eg a mattress on the floor? I find that even if I don't get back to sleep, lying down while I feed makes me feel better.

Sounds like a growth spurt/teething/snuffles which seems to all happen around 17 weeks

If it's any comfort, DS has always been a dreadful sleeper, and at 13 months had to go onto prescribed formula with absolutely no change in his sleeping pattern.

it msut be the cold, thats messes them up feeding and sleeping wise, after it goes it may get better