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Really struggling with 5 week old. Don't know if I am doing the right thing?

5 replies

KippaxMumof2 · 14/06/2019 11:20

Would really appreciate some advice regarding my 5 week old. He is breastfed and seems to need a boob constantly in his mouth to stay asleep. He will fall asleep feeding, fall off the boob, seem to be deeply asleep but then wake after 10 minutes and frantically roots around and cries until he gets the boob back again. No amount of cuddling or rocking him at that stage will get him back to sleep. He isn't doing it because he is hungry either. He has a really good feed before he falls asleep. So much so that he often gets stressed when trying to feed back to sleep because he is clearlyfull to bursting but keeps suckling because he is tired.

I know lots of people will tell me that he is only 5 weeks old and that it will pass and just to give him what he needs for now but I am really struggling. It often takes me 2 hours to get him back to sleep at night, after 5 failed attempts at putting him down and him waking again wanting the boob. And I have a 4 year old that I feel like I am constantly neglecting because I am constantly pinned under a feeding baby. Doing the school run is a nightmare as it is a similar situation. Baby will fall asleep in the pushchair on the way to school but if anything disturbs him whilst we are out- loud noise, wind etc, he will wake and again starts frantically crying and wanting a boob which is not very practical when walking home from school along a busy road. We had horrendous tears on the way home the other day - both from mum and baby!

I have tried a dummy- he won't take it. I have tried to feed until drowsy and then take him off and soothe him repeatedly but he just became so irate after a few attempts at this that I gave up.

Do I keep trying to gently train him to fall asleep without a boob in his mouth (And if so how?? I have failed miserably) or do I just keep letting him have it whenever he wants and hope that he grows out of it by himself?

Advice would be greatly appreciated!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
SeaToSki · 14/06/2019 12:03

I would keep trying with a dummy, try some different brands, hold it in for a bit until he has got a really good grip on it, tap it gently for a few minutes. It sounds like he is just very sucky, and you cant be a human pacifier it just wont work long term. When he finds his hands at about 4 months, you could try weaning him from the dummy to sucking his thumb and self soothing, but it wont work until he is old enough to control his arms and hands

Girlies1019 · 14/06/2019 13:26

I understanding how tiring and hard work this is... I used many different brand dummies which did help when found one that my daughter could use... either way though he will outgrow this it’s just a comfort thing but agree it’s hard work and especially during school pick ups... when my daughter was two months old this stopped for us and then you get new phases lol... it will get easier.. I also tried my daughter with a bottle for her last feed which helped us but every baby is different

Darkstar4855 · 14/06/2019 20:01

I would try swaddling, it was a lifesaver for us.

Ifsomeonehadtoldme · 20/06/2019 11:04

I gave into the feeds. It still happens sporadically and coincides with development leaps. Am currently in four month one and baby has gone savage!

HideousOrangeDress · 20/06/2019 11:09

Ooh this all sounds very familiar. Mine would also wake up at the slightest noise after I had battled for hours to get him to sleep.

Honestly, this went on until I stopped BF at 4 months. Obviously I'm not saying you should do this.

Finding the right dummy also helped. MAM were the chosen ones!

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