I mostly just need to vent/rant but if anyone has any practical advice I'd appreciate it.
DD (DC1) is 3yo. Never been a great sleeper but finally sleeping through most nights in her own bed. Typical toddler.
DS (DC2) is 3mo. Much better sleeper than DD ever was but not sleeping through yet. Prone to trapped wind, otherwise a delightful baby.
My problem is that DS wakes regularly for a feed around 4-4.30am (he also wakes around 1am). Feeds and tries to go back to sleep immediately, around 4.45, but won't burp/wind. I usually have him in bed with me at the time. He squirms, squeals and screams due to trapped wind for the next 45 minutes. I massage his tummy and do the usual wind-relieving tricks but nothing works.
Sometimes his squealing wakes DD at this point, and sometimes we can get her back down. Before DS was born I heard lots of reassuring stories about how DCs didn't wake each other, but in our house that has proved to be nonsense. They hear each other through closed doors in a large-ish detached house, in which they sleep as far away from each other as we can get them!
At 5.30am DH's alarm goes off. DS is usually still awake but settles towards 6am. Which is when DD wakes up, comes through and climbs all over him, covers him with kisses (lovely but fecking annoying) waking him up completely. And then I have no choice but to get up and get on with the day, having been awake for two hours already.
DS eventually catches up his sleep with a long morning nap, but I have to keep going until 10-11pm. DH is working long hours at the moment, got home gone 10pm last night and DS was only just asleep before that, so an early night isn't an option. Don't have family/friends nearby who can help. DH also working lots at weekends, trying to cling on to his job. Thank goodness DD goes to pre-school some of the week, but I still don't get to catch up on sleep when she's there.
As this is DC2 I know it will pass, is just a phase etc. I coped pretty well with lack of sleep when DD was a baby, even when I went back to work and she was waking twice a night. But I'm so fecking knackered at the moment from these early mornings that I'm dizzy most of the day, caffeine doesn't work (am bf'ing anyway so can't have too much), and I lack the patience to deal with DD when she acts like a toddler. I'm starting to get worried about doing things like driving a car, which is essential where I live. My health has also been awful, which doesn't help. Nothing serious, it's all relative, but I've been to the GP once a week for the past six weeks for various things.
It would be nice to hear from anyone who has survived similar, or is going through this at the moment. As I said, mostly I just needed to vent. Thanks for reading!