Newborn night time

[Centaurpede]

Ftm with 6 week old here. How does everyone manage settling with night feeds? Feeds tend to be around 3 hours apart, but it takes at least an hour, but up to 2 to get the feed finished, burping, changing if needed, and then settled enough to sleep so only 1 or 2 hours of sleep in between. Most of the time is spent getting her to sleep on me, putting her in cot and then her waking up and then getting her out and starting settling all over again!

@Centaurpede I have no advice but I’m also a FTM with a 5week old and I’m going through the exact same so following this with interest!

Honestly - we did a mixture of co sleeping and using the next to me bedside cot so I could settle her with cuddles. It meant I woke up when she started stirring and was able to feed her before she properly woke up, so she fed straight back to sleep. Only nappy changed in the night if it was a poo or she was uncomfortable. Made it all much easier and more sleep for everyone.

Breast or bottle fed?

With mine (breastfed) I fed lying down in bed and didn’t wind them.

Breastfed and cot next to me, so trying to do everything without getting out of bed (except nappies) but sometimes standing up rocking or walking works better. Moon cakes, did you fall asleep yourself though? When it's been a really bad night I've done this and fallen asleep together but want to get her used to cot!
And both of you, do you manage to do all this in the dark? I've got a little light on all night but wondering whether to either try and manage in the dark or only switch on when she wakes up.

Yes, DH slept elsewhere for the first few weeks and I slept with the baby. Lay on my side with the baby snuggled in next to me and stayed lying down and dozed/slept as much as possible!

I didn't turn a light on after the first few weeks, by 6 weeks I found they could latch themselves on if you just brought them close enough.

I'd always start them off in the cot and then usually have them in bed after the first feed. Sometimes I'd transfer them back into the cot if I woke up later in the night and found they were fast asleep.

I just did whatever got everyone the most sleep for the first few weeks - once they sleep longer chunks at night they can go in the cot.

4 week old here and in the same boat. My first was similar and I coslept and fed him lying down, but this one just won’t latch well on her side and she’s also quite refluxy so needs to be held upright after feeds. We have a next2me but she refuses to settle in it so we’re still co sleeping but I have to sit up to do it - exhausting! I can say from my first though that things start to improve soon. 6 weeks is a great milestone and then from 12 weeks gets better again.

It shouldn't be too long before they stop pooing overnight and then you can reduce some of the night nappy changes and eventually stop altogether.

We now bf lying down, some nights we co-sleep. Other nights I do it so if we fall asleep it wouldn't be a problem but try to stay awake and get her back into the crib. She has reflux and often doesn't like to sleep in her crib. We mostly manage at least half the night back in the crib.

Around 8 - 10 weeks my lo got quicker and night feeds and easier to settle, prior to this I was in a similar boat in that I only had an hour or so sleep in between feeds because it took so long to get her back into bed.

Since about 3 months my lo has been slowly lengthening the time period for her first sleep. She's 17 weeks now and it's between 2 and 5h. The other babies in our antenatal class started doing this a bit earlier.