Hourly short feeds at night newborn

[IaminRome]

Baby is 10 days old. Feeds about every two-three hours in the day, but at night she has really short (5min) feeds and then wakes literally every hour. The sleep deprivation is killing me.
Any suggestions on improving this? Or how long it might last for?

Congratulations on your new baby!

I can't remember it lasting that long but it's fairly normal at that age. Make sure you've got some snacks and drinks and MN of course.

Hopefully things will improve very soon

Oh bless you, those early nights are so tough. It honestly will improve.

Dd1 was like that, it got a bit better by 4 weeks and was much much better by 8 weeks.

Some things to try -
Can you co-sleep and feed lying down? I didn't learn how to do that until dd1 was 6 months. Total game changer with dd2 and saved my sanity!

Getting out for even a short walk in daylight every day will help the baby begin to learn day from night.

Are you breastfeeding or formula feeding? Do you have a partner? If you do, share the load - if breastfeeding, can you express so partner can do one bottle, or do a bottle of formula every night? I used to go to bed about 9pm straight after a feed. DH would hold the baby and do a bottle, and only bring her up if she was either asleep or needed the next feed. Sometimes I got 2 hours sleep, sometimes 4, but it was a lot better than nothing!

If she naps in the day, sleep then. Or ask friends or family to hold her or take her for a walk so you can sleep. It does get easier, but this bit can be really tough, so do ask for help.

Is it definitely hunger they're waking with? My little one was doing that initially until my aunt asked were they warm enough. Adding an extra blanket fixed it and tbh I was embarrassed I hadn't realised itbwas that myself.

This is the most baby is ever going to need you OP. You need someone to mother you so you can mother baby. You need someone to ensure you have drinks and snacks and do nappies, settling and cuddling in between feeds in the day at least so you can sleep. I'm assuming you're not a single mum so apart from when you're doing the actual feeds, your partner should be able to tag team.

Things will settle really quickly. Baby is getting your supply where it needs to be and short frequent feeds are essential when their stomach is the size of a tiny nut! Keep going!

Their tummies are the size of a walnut atm, or thereabouts. It will get better but for now, little and often is the rule and is totally totally normal. Billions of us have done it and will continue to do it, sometimes more than once, forgetting each time quite how tortuous no sleep is!!

It will get better.

Thank you for your kind messages ❤️ little babies are hard!
I think sometimes maybe it's wind but checking the blankets is a good idea too.
Hopefully this stage won't last too long 🥴

Just had 2.5 hours sleep, which was about three hours since the last feed..
Really valuable insight that he might not have been properly hungry all those wake ups. I think wind and maybe a little chilly might be impacting it also. Thanks so much x