Newborn awake and unsettled in the night...can I do anything?!

[MrsRadicchio]

Hi,

DS2 is only 4 days old so I'm hopeful this won't last too long but it is a killer. He is generally feeding and sleeping most of the day, then at about 10pm ish he becomes hard to feed, won't fall asleep, roots constantly for the breast (though really struggles to latch on when he is there). This just goes on and on and he has been eventually settling at 2 or 3am.

I'm not sure what is going on...is he cluster feeding? I remember DS1 doing that but it was at the more sociable hours of 5-10pm!

I've been trying to feed lying down so I can at least rest. He seems to find it harder to latch on that way though. Is it worth perservering with?

Is there anyway of getting him to realise 10-2 is for sleeping, or is it just a case of riding through it? He's been in daylight all day and in darkness at night.

I'd really appreciate hearing some reassuring stories of this too shall pass...its only 4 days but I feel like a zombie. I have been considering dummies and a bottle of formula, though aware that these are not good to introduce so early as I am hoping to continue with the breast feeding for as long as possible.

Sorry, this has turned into a lengthy ramble...

Hi, I couldn't let this go unanswered though I don't have much advice other than to say stick with it. He is very new and probably just wants the comfort of being near you as much as possible. Is there anything you can do to make night feeds more comfortable? Things chaned for me when I realised I needed a footstool and a scarf round my neck. I would steer clear of formula/bottles/dummies at this stage. Try to make sure he is feeding enough in the day, waking him up if necessary and keeping him awake once he is feeding. And he will eventually get the hang of feeding lying down but it's early days and presumably your milk is just coming in, which makes your boobs hard and therefore tricky to latch on to (at least it did with me). Can you get some rest during the day to help tide you over the nights? Hang in there! And congratulations on your lovely son.

It'll change, then it'll change again! Sometimes these patterns seem to have lasted for ever then you realise it's only been 2 days!

Hang in there, it'll settle down a bit soon. Sounds all normal stuff to me.