Baby waking when fed at night - how to keep her asleep!

[PickledLily]

Aaargh! Just when progress was going in the right direction...

Up until now, LO has always stayed pretty much asleep when fed during the night, so it's been a quick feed then flop her back into the side cot (sleeping in the side cot and not attached to me has been a recent development!). But in the last week or 2, LO has started to wake up fully when I feed her, or more accurately, when I transfer her back to the side cot. And then we are into the full 2 hour cycle until she wears herself out to get sleepy enough to settle again. Grrr. It only happens in the post-midnight feeds.

I'm wondering if I'm picking her up to feed her too often (I tend to do it when she's thrashing around but still half asleep)? Or is this just a 4 month sleep thing come early (she's 3mths).

You could be picking her up too early - DS will sometimes grumble in his sleep but not really be properly awake. Equally it could be the 'shock' of moving from warm and snuggly you to a relatively cold cot.
Is she in a gro-bag? I find that DS will wake less when he is - I assume because of less of a temp difference. I have seen others suggesting a hot water bottle on the sheets while LO isn't in there iyswim.

We tried a gro bag, it helped with the change on temp but she then woke herself up continually because her feet caught on the bag. I think its that she realises mummys arm is no longer there - she thrashes her head around looking for the nipple to chew on :)

Part of the problem is that I can't last thru the night without my boobs exploding. They can't cope with going from 3-4hrly feeds to 6 hrs - or 12 if she's only taking one side - at night. Had hoped they might settle but no luck yet.

I've been spoilt by a couple of months cosleeping with plenty (relatively speaking) of sleep.

Have you tried just holdng onto her for 20-30 mins so she is back into a deep sleep before you put her back down. I have to do this with 3.5 month old dd, I think it's something to do with sleep patterns changing at this age so they stay in a lighter sleep for longer. It's a pain having to sit in the dark while she sleeps but i think of it as an investment :o

Oh, and i also have a bedside cot and find that if i sort of snuggle up with her in the cot for a few minutes while she settles i can then carefully retreat once she calms.

Have you tried the breastfeeding forum? I'm not an expert, but my instinct is that you're encouraging the nighttime oversupply by feeding so often in the night.

I was in agony first thing in the morning with engorged breasts when DS started sleeping through: I lost the nighttime bra (for comfort reasons) and slept on a towel for a while (to absorb the milk lake). It settled down within a week or so.

Then you can just leave your DD until she's definitely hungry and enjoy some more sleep!

I think you could be right about needing linger to settle. I'll have to find something to keep me awake (mumsnet :)). She's also in a sleepyhead in the sidecot (not that she's demanding or anything!) which makes snuggling into the cot tricky.
Agree about increasing milk supply. I saw it as an opportunity to express the first few times. BIG mistake!

ok, so I thought I'd try a pre-emptive strike last night and having put her to bed at 7 (she eventually fell asleep at 8), I fed her at 10.30 (is this what they call a dream feed?). Disaster! She stayed asleep, but woke for feeds 2hourly for the rest of the night and at 3.30am refused to go back to sleep until 5.30 and was awake again by 7am.

What the hell is going on? Do dream feeds work?

And when do you feed your babies at night; do you wait for them to cry for food?

I will spot DS with his eyes open 1-2 times a night. I'll "shush" and if that doesn't cause his eyes to flutter shut again I'll pick him up for a feed. Its only if I'm very tired that he has to cry to get my attention, but he sleeps very close to me (as in I can't get between the bed and moses basket). I try to get him to go as long as possible between night feeds, so if he's easy to gently resettle I assume he's not hungry.

Thanks mrshoarder that's good to know, similar to what I do too. my eyes and pretend to be asleep until she starts Here's hoping for a better night tonight.