Exhausted - 5 month old night feedings

[Sweetpearose]

For the past few weeks my son has been waking up around midnight and 4am for a feed. He's asleep between 8 - 8.30. Prior to this we were only having one night feed waking - anywhere between 12-6. His feeding during the day is becoming so fussy - only drinks half the bottle in each feeding. We make a 7oz bottle but it's hard to say how much he actually drinks as he's on gaviscon and anti-reflux milk so it's very frothy and increases in the bottle by 2oz.

I feel in despair as I'm so tired (My partner and I share the feeds but I dream of a solid block of sleep) and I just want my son to feed up during the day. I know this probably isn't as bad as some are having but I am at my wits end with the fussy day feeding.

Anyone else in this boat? Does it get better?

Of course it will get better. It may take a few months though. I mean this in the kindest possible way but this sounds all completely normal and I wonder whether lowering you expectations may help a bit? Can you nap during the day?

Try feeding him in a dark room with white noise on during the day. After winding try and feed him some more.
However as previous poster said it all sounds normal and will resolve itself in time

Oh and to say yes I am in this boat, my 2.5 year old has just started to sleep through the night. My 7 month old still wakes for 2 feeds. I'm living on about 4-5 hours sleep a night. I used to have 10 hrs a night ore children, you will get used to lack of sleep

Your body adjusts. Unfortunately, this is normal. My 2 year old still wakes up... but my 6 year old doesn't (except for potty or nightmares)...

Its the fussy eating during the day I'm finding quite stressful. We went on holiday and since then he's started waking twice for a feed - prior to that he was down to one night waking which is why I'm finding it exhausting and a little harder to adjust to.

I find once I'm awake I can't really nap. Not like those early few weeks!!

Yes I possibly do need to lower my expectations. It's just when things regress I wonder if I'm doing something wrong etc. Or I just need to go with the flow. It's my first child so I have nothing to base it against.

I found reading about 4 month sleep regression helpful in knowing that it wasn't me doing something wrong but a natural stage in babies' development. Every baby is different, we went from 3 night wakings to 5-6, and now near 6 months are having few nights when DS is only up twice a night, so for us it's a bliss. If yours is up at midnight and at 4am, would it help if on some of the nights you went to sleep when he does and your partner did the first feed, that way you would get almost 8 hours of sleep?

DS is fussy eater too, I feed him in the dark in the bedroom laying down to help him to concentrate.

@Kay1341 - Yes he definitely suffered from the 4 month sleep regression. Then he started one feed a night waking around 3/4am so I guess we got used to the long stretch of sleep.

Haha I'm already in bed by 8.30 I tend to do this first night waking then my partner the second.

I think it's probably not that bad when I hear about 5 or 6 wakings so I guess I should just accept it!

I think I'm just feeling a little worn down at the moment.

Xx

Having perspective can be helpful, but it's equally okay to feel worn down even your baby sleeps better than someone else's. Babies are hard work! Would you be able to swap with your partner on some nights, so you can both get few nights with longer stretches of sleep?

Yes I can. He even offers to the whole night if I'm feeling really tired but he has work so I don't want him to be too shattered. 

@Kay1341 - Thank you for listening! Two wake-ups is nothing compared to yours hope yours sticks at it