Still awake with a (not so) newborn - the further adventures of EBLL...

[Jellybean2017]

Hope everyone finds the new thread 😂 and new chatterboxes are welcome to join us and battle through the night feeds together (with or without the assistance of EBLL [Ewan's back left leg!) 🐏

Another how did you get on with “drowsy but awake?” I still refuse to believe it’s a thing.

@AMagdalena oh that sounds pretty textbook!! DD just seems to have silent reflux but I'm cutting it out anyway! Cashew and almond milks are easy enough to make, I haven't tried oat milk yet but since oats are good for milk supply I'll definitely give that a go too!!

@Lallypopstick it went fine! I fed her till she was super sleepy and then gently laid her down at 11, put the brown noise on and patted her until I fell asleep haha!! I imagine she fell asleep soon after, and then she woke up at 5

@AMagdalena I have been dairy free a couple of months. Unsure yet if it's made a difference. Hazelnut milk is good in coffee and hot chocolate. Also cheap jaffa cakes in tesco are dairy free. As are cheap bourbon biscuits! 😂

Part 2 of the night was good too! I put him down at 4.30 and he slept until 7.40!! So really just one nightfeed. My OH was giving him his bottle when I got up at 9 and I managed to express 10oz so that's a bottle for this afternoon while I'm out shopping (I have a wedding just after Xmas and need a better nursing bra and maybe some shapewear) and one for tonight.

I do love it when we have nights like this, naturally, but it makes it all the more frustrating when we then go back to multiple feeds. And of course if I'd slept beside him I would have been up 6-8 times to give him his dummy.

@NinaMarieP 10oz? Wow! I only manage about 4oz.

I was gonna ask how much i would need for an afternoon. ds is 7 weeks today. Will take me 3days to get enough at that rate.

I only got ten because I missed a feed. Normally if I express between feeds I can get about 4, between both sides.

I've split that into two bottles and it'll do two feeds. I find 4ish is enough but I prefer to have a little extra just in case.

Thanks!

Some people say one ounce per hour but I prefer doing 24 divided by the number of feeds he has which for me works out at 4.

So how long can this cluster feeding go on for? My ds is12 days old and is constantly feeding unless we have to go somewhere but when at home he just wants to feed and only sleeps 15-60 minutes in between. Once he wakes up he’s desperate for the boob and won’t open as wide as he used to do.this is happening during the day and evening, during the night we get between 5-7 hrs sleep with 3-4 feeds in between. I think I’ve already mentioned a couple of days ago that my health visitor wasn’t concerned and very happy with his weight gain, but it just seems to have got worse. Is it just that he is still very young and a hungry baby or does anyone have any experience of this? I really try and stay positive but it’s so hard...

Wishing everyone luck for tonight. We just got over a cold but having flown in a germ capsule (aeroplane) earlier in the week, we have another. My little one has been very sleepy today. Hope he isn't feeling too rotten.

Interesting to read about dairy free life. I've tried to cut milk out as much as possible but not butter or cheese. I really like Oatly Barista milk (but everyone is always fighting for it at Waitrose) and am interested to try hazelnut milk in coffee as recommended a few posts back.

I love minimalist baker for dairy free/vegan recipes if ever I'm in the mood.

Should say 15-60 minutes sleep between each feed... also I’ve got plenty of milk would it make things easier If I started expressing?

Little miss optimistic here is trying to start a ‘routine’ tonight. DD is 6 weeks so I’m not hopeful but I feel for my sanity I should at least try!
We have bathed, had bottle, got in sleeping bag and currently having cuddles before I attempt to put her down in her cot and go and make dinner before watching X factor...

A girl can dream right?

I found we regularly clustered for 2-3 weeks then dropped to once/twice a week until 5 weeks when it stopped altogether.

Expressing won't help I don't think as your baby isn't sucking for hunger - he's sucking to encourage you to make more milk. Putting in an order for future feeds if you like.

It will get better!

My DD still feeds frequently in the eveming and not as much in the day, but it's not full-on cluster feeding.
Went to Xmas market in town. So busy! Wom't be doing that on a Saturday! Cpuld barely get past people with the pram.

So much cluster feeding here too @sakura! DS is 3 weeks, but was a month premature so I'm kind of expecting this to be happening for a while yet...i just try to think of it in terms of how many calories I'm burning

I think cluster feeding for us slowed down at about 12 weeks...

Hoping for another long stretch tonight. Good luck all 😊

Yeh clusterfeeding slowed around 10 weeks for me. When it stopped I missed it.

We are trying out a sleeping bag for the first time tonight as he is close to growing out of his swaddle. I am not convinced it is going to go well!

My DS isn’t keen on the sleeping bag! May try one with arms ?! He wakes up whenever his arms move.
Had a lecture today about co-sleeping today from a relative surely safer than driving with 45mins sleep each night.

Got back from Bromley (avec the dress). Bromley just has such a quaint charm to it doesn't it..

DS has really lived up to the leap 2 wonder weeks stereotype, he usually pretty chilled but the last few days has been so fussy, especially in the evening with wanting to feed feed feed and then when my nipples in his mouth he won't latch.

I use the mori sleep bag, it's massive though as it's for up to 2 years but their newborn sleep bag was really good actually.

Bought the hakka pump thing it's really cool!

Ugh @Lovingtyrells relatives are the worst for advice! My mum recently recommended I give 10 week old baby a drink of water as she 'looked thirsty' and then suggested drinking special brew for the 'health benefits'. Cheers ma
Cosleeping is definitely safer than being exhausted, just follow all the rules re smoking & drinking yadda yadda.
Just given dd a solid 2 hours of dedicated boob time, bath and a 4oz bottle in a bid for a quick nod-off. Come on baby girl, I am so ready for a good nights sleep!!

@anotherexhaustedpigeon agree! Also should be doing xyz at x weeks ... not all babies are textbook! Hope you get some sleep, I really need some too.

Here's to another night of terror 😂

My night of terror has already started. For the past 3 nights DD has screamed from 6ish - 10ish, even during feeding. I'm seeing the doctor on Monday for the 6 week check and the health visitor on Tuesday. Hopefully they can provide me with some help

My night of terror has begun too. 45 min sesh on the boob
DH is on nappy duty tonight, so I don't have to get out bed at least because we'll end up cosleeping sooner or later.

Btw, DD slept for an hr in the pram today

Was it you who mentioned about relatives giving out parenting advice @Lovingtyrells? My PILs always go on about setting a 'routine' as if it's not good enough to follow your baby's lead? I feed DD when she's hungry, get her to nap (amd often fail miserably) when I know she's tired. And I co-sleep, too. My baby wants me which is perfectly natural as much as I like my own space at night