Breastfeeding through night first time (8wk old)

[MrsStock]

I struggled to breastfeed DS for his first 4 weeks until his little mouth grew and he was able to open it wide enough to latch on. Once he was able to breastfeed I wanted to feed him day and night, but through the night he fell asleep very quickly on the breast and once I put him down, he would wake an hour later hungry. We started expressing through the night and breastfeeding through the day - he slept for longer through the night but I was awake for 1.5 hours at each feed, feeding, changing, settling then expressing and the bottle prep was a real faff each day.

I've recently tried breastfeeding through the night and it goes like this...
10pm - bottle of formula
1.30am - breastfeed
5am - breastfeed
6am - breastfeed
7am - breastfeed
8am - breastfeed

I'm shattered! Is there anything I can do to ensure that DS sleeps for longer at the latter part of the night? I can cope with blocks of 2 or 3 hours of sleep but getting up every hour is awful! Any advice much appreciated.

From experience I would say he’s maybe having a growth spurt and it’ll calm down in a couple of nights. Has it been hot where you are? The first milk has higher water content so shorter more frequent feeds would also be normal. Give it a bit longer to settle.

Honestly it sounds really normal for a baby of that age (not that that makes it any easier). You just have to make sure you get a nap in the day too. It soon improves as baby grows, their tummy is bigger and they can go longer

That's really really normal at this age I'm afraid. I'm on my 2nd baby and the first 2 to 4 months are really hard. I tend to go to bed very early to try and get some sleep befere the 10/11 feed. It all got better for us from about 5 months with my first so I'm not so stressed this time around.
Perhaps someone with combination feeding experience will be along to advise.
Good luck x

I'm afraid that's normal young baby feeding times, in fact your DC is better than mine was at that age. It's really tough though and I fully sympathise. It will pass though, my chap got better not long after. Try to keep him feeding as long as possible during those early morning feeds as very little babies tend to doze off and not take enough milk to keep them going very long. If he's just found very shallow or fluttery sucking, he may not be taking much in at all. Try stroking his jawline or tickling the palm of his little hand when you feel he's drifting off. Once mine reached around 12 weeks he was a really efficient feeder and could get the job done in the night in around 10 minutes.

Hi, my DS is 7 weeks and am going through similar. Sometimes I get 4hours between feeds and other times I get 40 minutes. There’s very little pattern to it at the moment. When the cluster feeds happen in the day it’s not so bad but at night it really is a killer! My only advice is take it easy during the day so you’ve got a bit of energy for the nights! My DD was similar at this age I just keep reminding myself that it’s just a phase!
Have you tried changing nappy when he falls asleep - a cold wet wipe on the nether regions wakes my little one up enough to feed a bit longer....

Sounds fairly good to me, he’s obviously starving come 5am, can you put him in bed with you so he can feed and snooze? He just be an early riser to as my DS got up between 4.30-5 for years, killed me so feel your pain!

1.30am then 5am isn't so bad though for an 8 week old? Could he come in to your bed and you can safely co sleep for the 5-8am slot?

Thank you all for your help and advice. Hopefully it is a growth spurt and the couple of times we have tried BFing through the night, its just been bad timing!

I've been feeding him off one breast until he's naturally come off, then change his nappy to wake him up, then put him on the other breast, but it doesn't seem to make much difference unfortunately.

I would love to co-sleep with him but I'm scared of something bad happening. Any tips on how to co-sleep safely would be appreciated!

Yes PP makes a good point. In my house the day start at around 5.30 - 6 because of DD so any of DS feeds from then on are ‘daytime feeds’ psychologically it helps me deal with him being attached to me at that time....

Oh poor you! I must start going to bed sooner if that's the case with DS!

www.laleche.org.uk/safe-sleep-the-breastfed-baby/#sleep

Look specifically at safe sleep seven section.

Sounds like he’s just feeding more as he gets towards daytime - which is good because he’s doing his big chunks of sleep when you want them.

Also - night waking is actually a protective factor from SIDs. Night feeding is also very important for milk supply. So there are benefits even if you’re tired. I would be co-sleeping from early morning and trying to feed lying down so you can pop him on then doze.

You've got 10pm to 5am as your night-time, you're just not looking at it like that. I guess he's not settled till 10.30? That's your bedtime too. Only way to survive! Hopefully he'll shortly last a bit longer.

I'd go to bed at 10 with him. Then feed at 1am and return to cot.

When he next wakes do Co sleeping and feeding lying down so you can both doze. Then get out of bed when you are ready.

I would stop changing his nappy if he doesn’t need it! Minimum changes at nighttime to keep them sleepy. That’s how I’ve always done it anyway, but it may not work for you

Mine did the hourly waking up and feeding at 11pm, 12am, 1am, 2am, 3am :( I used to dread every night because morning felt so far away when you're exhausted and alone around midnight. She tired out after 4am so I got to sleep 2-3 hours or so.

Safe co-sleeping definitely saved me as I was falling asleep really unsafely...once with her on the sofa and waking up in a panic and cold sweat. The bed needs to be free of blankets, pillows or anything that could be a suffocation risk. I wore thick layers (jogging pants, dressing gown over my pyjamas) so I didn't need duvets. I'd breastfeed in side-lying position in a "C" shape so she was cradled inside the C. It's almost impossible to roll over in this position even if you fall asleep by accident (which definitely happened a few times). I don't smoke, drink or use drugs so obviously there weren't any added risk factors.

Most nights I returned her to the Sleepyhead which was next to me on the bed. She outgrew that around 10 weeks and moved into the Chicco Next2Me. The newborn sleepless cluster feeding phase is gruelling but it does pass. The four month sleep regression was much easier in comparison. Now she's 6 months and sleeps 7pm - 8am, waking up 2-3 times a night to breastfeed (at midnight and between 2am-6am) but falls asleep immediately afterwards. There are still tiring days depending on when I go to bed but it's far more manageable.

@Crabbitstick Amazing information on that link, thank you. I've done lots of research into SIDs but I didnt know that.

@Pomfluff Blimey that most have been hard. At least I know its nearly morning when I'm awake with him which makes it much easier.

Thank you for the co-sleeping advice. I've searched everywhere and there is very little practical information online about it.

Thank you all VERY much! We had an amazing night last night - formula bottle at 11pm while I expressed to keep supply up, both of us asleep by 11.30pm. Next feed at 4.30am where I breastfed then gave him some expressed bottle to ensure he was full, then I expressed while he slept. Then he woke up a few times so I stuck the dummy in and rocked him to settle until 9am when he woke up properly for a feed!

I think I was possibly putting too much pressure on wanting to solely BF through the night. If I have to express a couple of times to keep supply up which takes less time than expressing a full feed, then that's okay with me.

I'm so glad you got a better sleep! Hopefully this routine will work again tonight.

Sleeping 10-1 ish and then 1 ish to 5am is pretty amazing at 8 weeks. That’s only getting up once per night actually. You just need to get more sleep in other times. Can you go to
sleep between 7/8pm and 10pm? So that you get a good 6 ish hours of sleep a night and maybe your partner get up in the morning and give you an extra hour ish?

My 16 month old only allows me to sleep about 10pm-1am and then 1am to 4:30am and then I’m up and leaving for work just before 6am. On the weekends, my dh gets up at 4:30am with him. I do 6 ish hours of sleep on top of about 6 hours a day of commuting (3 hours door to door to my office), 3 times a week.

You will adjust but if you can get 6 hours a night of sleep, even if you need to go to bed very early and your partner needs to get up very early and do a bottle in the morning instead of at night, you can make it work.

Completely normal!
My dc does the same sometimes at 10 months.
Could you drop the formula and end? It will help to increase your supply.
But that's normal and healtgly. Babies should be waking up that frequently.