I seem to have a baby who wont sleep. sorry long

[alfiemama]

I'm feeling quite emotional and sleep deprived today so please bear with me.
My baby just doesn't want to sleep. She is 6 months old and doesn't sleep well for naps during the day or at night.

Now I have a theory. She is ebf and I am trying to get her off boob and onto a bottle and have been slowly introducing formula. I am also doing blw and self feeding with her a spoon (so not really getting anything but tastes at the min).
I am finding that lo doesn't drink a lot during the day, now I have introduced milk she is only taking 3-40z each feed, and I think she is trying to make up for the feeding at night.

I find that we end up co sleeping but lo will feed on me for long periods of time, and I will drift in and out of sleep, also I sleep lighter because I worry about her, so find I am very sleep deprived.

Lo will sleep 10-15mins naps during the day, falls asleep on me put when I put her down she will wake up and no amount of controlled crying or soothing will get her back to sleep.
Lo will sleep 2-3 hours at night, if I am lucky.

I am even considering bringing cot back in room and putting it next to bed like a co sleeper (been in room for about two weeks now) but always been a bad sleeper. Well actually not strictly true, lo was on forumula at 4 weeks old and slept 10pm-8am but due to reflux I relactated which helped considerably but now left with a baby who doesn't want to sleep.

Oh and I would wean normally but lo wont let feed her, she has to hold spoon.

Any help appreciated.

It does sound like she is filling up with milk at night, so is not hungry enough to eat as much as she needs during the day.

Maybe you should start gradually limiting her feed times at night, and offering a drink of water instead? She wont be impressed at first and you'll have to go through a very rough few nights, but she will gradually start eating more in the day (and sleeping more, if she has a nice full tummy?)

I weaned using a combination of spoon feeding and finger foods. Could you try giving your LO a spoon of her own or some finger foods to play with, while you feed her from a different spoon?

Thanks IWILLOnlyEatBeans.
It does doesn't it, oh dear.
Slight problem lo doesn't like water, I suppose I could try and water milk down in a bottle. Thats when I don't give in and give her boob, or she helps herself to it.

I have also tried alternating spoons but she clamps her mouth shut unless she is feeding herself.

I think she has got herself quite confused with day and night. That being said she doesn't sleep during the day either.

I think still needing to feed in the night at 6 months is fairly common (and she might continue to need to until she is on three fairly substantial meals per day). But you could definitely try and limit the time that she feeds for - could you try putting her to sleep for some of the time in her cot, so she can't just help herself?

It will be difficult, and I know how easy it is to give in and offer the boob. I found that I became much stricter on not giving night feeds when I switched to formula, as it was soo much more effort to get up and go to the kitchen (does that make me sound awful?? )

I am was in the same position as you up to 4 weeks ago re; night feeds. I got strict as I was too tired to carry on and needed a new direction to get some sleep. I started putting her down next to me in a nest of pillows and only feeding in the night every other waking. I had a baby who woke almost every hour to feed so she only got it every 2 hours. Now she sleeps about 4 hours and when she wakes I just cuddle her back to sleep. If she wakes again I then feed her but she rarely does this now! Its must gave been a comfort thing. She can still wake every 2 hours some nights but it's only comfort she wants. Also as a result she eats better in the day and I agree with the suggestion of finger foods as I give all snacks this way and when she is really hungry she let's me spoon feed. When I was feeding all through the night DH was having trouble getting the spoon in. Now she opens wide for him and me when she sees the bowl. Take heart as you are doing an amazing job and try and stay strong. My LO had never sort anywhere but on me until she was 6 months. I can now get her in her own cot most nights for 6-8 hours. You will get there.

• slept not sort!

Hey there all,

I'm having a similar problem with my 8 month old, although mine is being aggravated by teething at the moment. I would have suggested that your LO may be going through a growth spurt, as mine did around that time, but when he did that he was eating for England during the day, so perhaps that is not the case...

But it may be worth considering what my HV said to me: that breast milk is digested more quickly than formula so bf babies may well wake more often than ff ones.

Mine used to take milk from a bottle but while my OH was working abroad for a month recently, he started refusing and hasn't taken it since. As a result, I've been using a doidy cup, which has worked really well for getting milk into him during the day. Maybe worth a try??

Also, for what it's worth, my LO is also fiercely independent and insists on holding the spoon when I feed him. I tried and tried before giving up and going with BLW with some spoon feeding - much as you have done. I give him his own spoon, or piece of toast to chew on while I get the odd spoon of food in whenever I spot an opportunity! Things that worked well for me at 6 months were rice cakes, chunks of pear and pieces of ripe avocado. The avocado is really good as it's sooooo easy for them to chew with their gums, is relatively bland and is calorifically dense so excellent weaning food.

Equally, after a bout of oral thrush that went on for weeks, DS will only nap with me. Frankly, I'm so knackered, I'm quite happy to get a bit of kip during the day (I am lucky to not be back at work yet so I can do that), so I just snuggle down with him in my bed, feed him to sleep and take advantage. I used to do that three times a day, but he's dropped a nap and will no doubt drop another in due course. So don't beat yourself up if your LO is only sleeping on you. Do whatever gets you some rest and then tackle it when you have the energy to do that. Others may disagree with me, but it's just my thoughts.

Nov75 I read your post with interest and I may well give your suggestions a go - at least, once this tooth has cut!!

Good luck!

x

Hi, sorry everyone, I couldn't get on yesterday.

Thanks Iwillonlyeatbeans, I really don't mind getting up with her, just its impossible to get her to go to sleep without waking all the house up. It's hard because my ds is autistic and needs his sleep, so I then give up and let her co sleep, which lets the rest of the house sleep, apart from me because she will then just feed for comfort.
No you don't sound bad at all. You have to do what you have to do.

Thanks Nov75, good advice and ideas ,I think for me though, I need to get her to sleep in her own cot and not co sleep as I know I will have problems later if I don't sort this now.

Balletmoo, sorry your going through it to, my lo looks like she may have another coming through, she has 2 already. The reason I relactated was because the bm went through the system quicker so the reflux wouldn't be as bad. She was also on domperidone which made any milk go through faster and I found she would wake every 1. 5hr so I suppose we have made progress there.
Good advice on the weaning, I think my baby is telling me she wants to do blw (ironic really), and I just have to trust that she can cope with it, my only concern is the paed she is under at the hosp doesn't really rate blw, so you kind of feel negative to it, but they are not always right.

Well, I have decided to stop bf, hubby says she is always looking for me and thinks we should go cold turkey and give bottles and formula as its making me run down, and he can help me with bottles.
I have also bought some goodnight milk by Hipp to give as her last bottle and she seems to like the normal Hipp milk, which makes me feel better emotionally.

I am trying her on the pick up put down method by the baby whisperer and trying to get her to have full naps during the day. Obviously early days yet though.