I have dd who is 8 weeks and a nearly 4 year old ds and am losing the plot - apologies if this turns into an essay.
I was induced at 36 weeks with dd due to reduced growth although at 5lb she was larger then predicted, though she is still small now at 7lb 5. For various medical reasons we are mixed breast and bottle feeding her - although she has more bottle now than breast, around 500 ml formula a day on average. We were on a strict schedule to wake and feed her every 3 hours if necessary although have relaxed this slightly for overnight and I always offer breast before and after bottle.
We don't have a strict schedule but her routine at night is roughly, feed at about 7,pm, 11, 2 or 3 am and 5 or 6 am then ds comes in at 7am. She is a slow eater and
The whole process of feeding and resettling her into her sleepyhead can take anything from 40 mins to 2 hours.
During the day she won't be put down to sleep and is sleeping in a sling.
The longest stretch of sleep I've had for the last 2 months is 4 hours. She has her 8 week jabs yesterday and only slept from midnight to 1.30am then from 4.45 am to 6.30. I feel crushed.
I know this will pass but at the moment u feel like I simply can't cope with the exhaustion, can't give ds enough attention and the house looks like a bombsite. In addition if I have a spare moment I am pumping to increase my milk supply and so I can feed expressed milk instead of formula.
Dh helps as much as possible but works long shifts and obviously can't do the breastfeeding or pumping.
Any tips on how to get dd to eat more in the day and go longer stretches at night? Or how to cope with this bone aching exhaustion?Please don't suggest co sleeping - she's so tiny and I'm so shattered I think it would be dangerous