sleep feed sleep feed sleep feeeeeeeeeeeeed!

[lizlou]

my DS is nearly 8 months and is EBF. he is healthy and happy but I am tired! I don't feel like I can carry on fully breastfeeding him and I am losing so much weight. I have tried giving him small amounts of formula but he is reluctant to take a bottle and only takes little sips from a cup.

At the moment He always wakes 45 mins after I put him to bed for another feed, then 45 mins later for a really long feed.

Could it be that he isnt taking much solids at the moment? we end up co sleeping for most of the night because of the long feeds and he rarely stays asleep in his cot and will cry out. I am back to work in a few weeks and feel like this is the best way to get sleep at the moment.

we want to move him to his own room but I think tgat will be a challenge as he is definitely not comfort feeding and is a hungry baby.

He feeds more quickly in the daytime and is quite distractible!

any ideas or similar experiences? I just want to know there is an end in sight and am tired of hearing about babies who sleep through the night. 5 hours in a row is a thing of the past! thanks

My DC were the same at that age, so distractable in the day that they wanted to drink all night. Bloody exhausting. I found offering the breast hourly during the day helped a bit.

Some of it might be habitual feeding, I found my DS dropped his habitual feeds after I did PUPD with him at bedtime. He was 14 months at the time though. It had been better in between but had worsened again.Nothing helped with DD, was just a waiting game.

It's just a phase and it does pass quite quickly IME. Still, is hellish.

As for the weight loss, do you like cake

love cake! got such a sweet tooth now, i suppose cake is good consolation prize... thanks, i did think about PUPD and maybe will be brave enough to try it soon, as wll as the move to his own room. its nice to know i am not alone. now, back to the fridge......

I think I'd pursue the fact that they're not taking much solids. Milk is calorific and nutritious, of course, but it doesn't exactly 'stick to the ribs'... if you've ever tried living for a whole day on nothing but milk it's really not that satisfying. Bloated but not satisfied.

I'd try introducing three squares a day with something nicely carb-loaded for the last meal of the evening to go with the protein-rich milk. What have you got to lose? Good luck

I'm in almost exactly the same boat, with a nearly 9 month old. Had some success in getting her to sleep longer than 45 mins at a time by increasing her daytime sleep and bringing bedtime forward to 6.30pm.

I found that as she was overtired and wired by bedtime so would only sleep 45 mins before waking. Now she sleeps 6.30 - 10, 10 - 3, and then feeds hourly 3-7am. Also if she wakes after 45 mins during the day, I try to anticipate this and quickly feed her back to sleep so she completes a full sleep cycle (90 mins)

Am working on not feeding her to sleep now, but teething has hit with a vengeance plus she's starting to pull up to stand so not much joy there. Reading No Cry Sleep Solution helped me a bit.

Is he definitely hungry then? have you tried not feeding at that waking?

I could have written your op except ds is 6.5 months. Also, he likes his food.

I look back at the hesdy nights of 6 hours sleep. Disheartened to learn that it may not get better any time soon.

My dd was so much easier.

Sometimes just lying next to him is enough and he will go back to sleep, then I usually try to put him back in his cot, but most of the time he will have a proper feed. If he was in his own room and not side carred to oir bed maybe it would be easier to tell if it was hunger as my DH could go in. last night I think there was one comfort feed but I was much stronger and kept putting him back in his cot, he is still there! I think we do disturb each other.