I started back at work last week (LO is 12 months) and am still breastfeeding so expressing at work. He has settled fairly well at nursery although he goes into meltdown the moment he clocks us when we arrive to pick him up.
We finally managed to get him sleeping in his cot when he was about 10 months from about 7pm - 6am, at which point he'd wake up and come into bed for a feed and maybe sleep another hour or so. All good. Then I started back at work and it's all gone to shit. I'm exhausted and have returned on a full-time basis, and I work in client services so there is literally no room for errors.
He hasn't been drinking much of his expressed milk at nursery, probably due to the fact that it's a highly stimulating environment and he is, like most babies, prone to distraction. At first I thought "Oh god, it looks like he's reverse cycling.", but despite feeding relentlessly through the day this weekend, he hasn't resumed normal sleep in his cot and we are back to bed sharing and all-night feeding. I should say he is poorly at the moment, but then he's been poorly before without this level of disruption to normal sleep routine. On Friday, instead of saving the milk I had expressed for Monday, I gave it to him and he completely drained the full 6oz in a matter of minutes and STILL woke a short time later to come into bed and feed all night.
So, I guess my questions are as follows: if this happened to you, how long did it last? Aside from starting nursery and the other various bits I've mentioned, could there be anything else at play? What is the best course of action to remedy the situation? Any other useful experiences you could share?
Thanks in advance,
A severely drained and desperate mother 😔