Really need sleep help

[msgilbertblythe]

I have a ten week old. He falls asleep on the boob, then wakes through the night every 1.5-2 hours for more feeds. He's alert and happy in the day, cries for a couple of hours before bedtime which is generally around half ten. Has a long sleep in the afternoon. So my question, how do i get him to go for longer stretches at night, or should I just take his lead and it will eventually happen?

Sounds pretty normal for such a young baby.

I would try to get him down for the night a bit earlier. If he's grizzly then he may need an earlier bedtime. My 2 started moving towards the traditional 7-7.30 bedtime at around that age.

Thanks Odog I will give it a go this eve. Really need my evenings & beauty sleep back!

It'll come with time, keep doing what you're doing. DS2 has always been bf to sleep, gradually he went longer and longer between wake ups. He woke a lot everytime he was cutting a tooth. He's 19 months now, still bf to sleep but it takes 10 minutes and it almost always 8pm . He hardly ever wakes till 7am next morning.

When you say he cries all evening until half 10ish, what are you doing in that time? Does offering a boob stop the crying?

DS is 11 weeks and falls asleep feeding on the sofa between half 6 and 7 and then we take him up when we go up to bed. Quick nappy change and BF and he's back to sleep.

Oh, and BF babies will start sleeping for longer when they're ready to. And then they start waking more frequently, then sleeping for a bit longer, repeat repeat repeat for the first year or so!

Sounds normal to me too. I find bf lying down helps and then transferring back to cot once she's asleep. Somehow not having to sit up and feed her makes me feel more rested.

Thanks everyone. I gave him an early bedtime last night and he did do one three hour stretch which was a miracle. Pretty bad the rest of the night but we will get there. I was just stressing about him only being able to settle on the boob so am trying the EASY routine now which splits up the eating and sleeping parts, but happy to still feed him to sleep at night still if it works.

This is DS's interpretation of the EASY routine (see pic)

If it works for you, that's great but it's really not worth stressing about. They're so little and routine will come. As will more sleep! How are you feeding overnight? Have you tried lying down? It's great if you can master it. DS wakes up, I attach him, close my eyes, he feeds for a couple of minutes and then we're both back to sleep.