What do I do please can someone help

[kitcat83]

14wk dd is an awful sleeper and i am my wits end, can anyone offer some advice?

She is bf apart from a bottle at ten in the evening, which I introduced about two weeks ago to see if it would help her sleep and to give me a chance to get s break. However, she won't fall asleep inthe evening for longer than twenty minutes at a time!!

After the bottle she is sleeping for a couple of hours but then is waking every half an hour to an hour throughout the night, I can't do much more of this with Ds(4) to look after too ....

My dd2 was the same at that age. In the end we co-slept until she was managing 2hour stretches. I was very reluctant to do this though as I felt that it would mean my already difficult sleeper would become worse when I needed to go back to settling her alone in her cot. No such problems arose. Don't think that starting co sleeping means you'll be doing it for the next few years- it can be, and was for me, a short term solution to a desperate problem. Fwiw dd went back to her cot at,18w. She only spent 4w co sleeping, and it saved me, because I was really struggling and desperate. It does get better. Good luck. X

How long does she feed for kitcat?

I know When my DD's both went through this stage a MW advised me to have a small bottle of Guiness every other night just for a week to boost my milk I was so exhausted I just wasn't producing enough good stuff. She said it was an old wives tale but had worked for previous clients.

I was v. reluctant but tried it one evening. Boy did it work -Daisy the cow would have been proud of me! It meant DD had a good guzzle for slightly longer & therefore was sustained for a longer sleep. I only needed to do it for 3 nights over the week & it kick started my production massively.

Some babies are just sucky babes so a dummy could be an option. Hate the things personally but they saved my life (& probably hers!) with DD2.

Good luck-it's miserable not getting sleep. You can see how sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture... I would have confessed to anything to get sleep when mine were small!

Sorry, no answers but feel your pain. Ds2 is the same age and I am dizzy with fatigue today. I agree, co sleep or do whatever short term thing you need to get you through. It is always just a phase so keep that in mind too. Keep your expectations low of how you will spend your days too!

Thanks ladies! I feel awful too and feel for you all that are going through the same.

Currently she feeds for about 10minutes BM during the night about three times and at the ten o clock feed is taking around 3/4oz's formula.

The trouble is that she doesnt seem to drop off into a deep sleep. She is a very sucky baby and has been since day 1 , she has a dummy but am now thinking this is stopping her from dropping off properly?!

Another tip I was given was to put something you have been wearing close to her but out of reach. They have a highly developed sense of smell & your odour & the milk smell can be reassuring. Worked with one child not with the other!

After you've fed her at night, try changing her nappy which will wake her up a bit more & then try another 10 mins on the other side.

desperately trying to remember what worked !

Can't offer any help really OP but I am hereby sharing your pain courtesy of my DS (4.5months) who is a dreadful sleeper and always has been. 'Nap?' he will look at me in astonishment 'you expect me to nap?!' He will sleep for a couple of hours in the evening in his crib, but will then wake/feed/doze from first wake up till morning on me, but not in crib. Will not settle co-sleeping in bed, so I've been having to kip in a reclining chair for the past month. Sheesh.

Hi kitcat, really feel for you as know it's exhausting with a little one waking up so much throughout the night. Although you feel at your wits end you will get through it! A few thoughts from when my DS was that age (now 17 months):
Is your DD getting enough milk in the day? My DS was on a 3 hour feeding routine at that age with 3 naps in the day. I used to cluster feed at 5 and 7 and do a dream feed from a bottle at 10 or 11. I occasionally used to top up with expressed BM too in the day. Expressing will also get your milk production up and I used to drink at least a pint of full fat milk a day to try and keep energy levels up and milk production good. My DS also had a bed time routine such as bath, milk, bed with him heading off to bed at about 8. He always had a lullaby to go to sleep too and I would occasionally put this on in the middle of the night if he wouldn't settle. I would defo recommend cluster feeding and dream feed (I think you can tell my DS responded well to baby whisperer ideas) He also loved being swaddled and slept like that until about 6 months old. Good luck with it and keep us posted.

Well just given her a bottle as she woke early,fingers crossed she will sleep for a while- thanks for all your support ladies

Any other thoughts on getting milk supply up would be appreciated

Night

Hi again, kitcat. How was the night? Thoughts on milk supply, express when you can to give as a top up, or just get your supply up. Eat and drink plenty and if you can stomach herbal tea drink lots of fennel tea, adding nettle and raspberry leaf if you can in a pot. Drank loads of this early on and felt like it had a good effect on my milk production. Have you tried cluster feeding in the evening?