3wo up ALL night :(

[weaselwithin]

my 3wo has been up all night the last 2 nights. I give her a good feed but then she roots like mad when in her Moses basket and whines to be picked up, but then she takes ages to latch on and only sucks for a few minutes. she seems wide awake too. once I put her back down it starts again. literally all night. I've tried cuddling her to sleep but she just seems too awake even for that.

I think she's getting enough milk - bf only. she has regained her birth weight and has dirty nappies etc. and she usually feeds for about an hour and settles well, apart from during the night. so I'm not convinced she's hungry all night? I thought it might be cluster feeding but she doesn't seem to be taking much milk each time?

is she over tired?

what can I do??

thanks everyone zzzzzzzzz

Is she crying or just quietly awake? I'd make the bed safe and co sleep, unless you have risk factors like smoking or medication. If she's awake but quiet then you can just doze/sleep next to her.

she's awake and rooting like mad, after a few minutes she starts to whine and almost cry - quite noisy and really unsettled

Can you establish a 'signal' for her to sleep - ie patting her or sushing or rocking? You'll have to 'establish' it in the day when she naps so that she recognises it at night when she's unsettled. But this later impedes self settling so unless you want to continue this in the long run don't start.

It's abit early for her to get nighttime yet, and her being at the breast will be stimulating milk production. Could you stick it out another month or so? They usually know night vs day then.

Couldn't be wind? Maybe try infacol for a week

It sounds like very normal cluster feeding to me - either offer a dummy or just roll with it. Feeding lying down so you can doze is one way of coping.

Growth spurt. 100% a growth spurt.

Call it a growth spurt, call it whatever you want if you feel it needs a label - but it's perfectly normal newborn behaviour. There's nothing to "fix" here!

thanks everyone. glad it's normal!

I didn't mean to sound harsh but a HV once said the same to me and once I accepted I had a perfectly normal EBF baby and that having a baby was effing HARD I stopped worrying that mine was somehow "broken" for not sleeping or wanting to be put down.

He's 13 months now and an absolute angel - sleeps through the night fine and I'm even TTC again. Somebody remind me of my words of wisdom when I'm going loopy from no sleep with #2!

don't worry it's exactly what I needed to hear!

another sleepless night I think!

It does pass, it really does.

The best thing you can do is focus on coping with it rather than trying to "fix" it.

Things that have helped me cope have been:
Going to bed when baby does (even if that means 8pm)
Getting DH to give you time out for relaxing baths / yoga / whatever floats your boat
Eating really healthily
Getting out of the house in the sunshine as much as you can, even if you feel haggard. Having a coffee on an outside table at a coffee shop on a sunny day makes everything seem slightly better than being at home, despairing over your tiredness.