Positive thread to help the dreaded night feeds!

[Hannah58]

Hi all!
I was just wondering if anyone was interested in joining in on a thread filled with fun/light hearted/positive stuff that we can add to and read during the dreaded night feeds?!
My little one is 4 weeks and I'm finding myself dreading the night times due to the 3 hourly feeds. Sometimes I find myself scrolling on my phone whilst I wait for him to settle and I thought it might be nice to have somewhere to chat to people in the same boat!
I was thinking it could be funny pictures/ quotes/ stories/ positive affirmations and a place to ask questions if needed?
I'll start off with a funny picture ☺️

[Hannah58]

How's everyone doing with the night feeds at the moment? My DS just will not settle back in his crib after a feed! He just wants to be on me all the time. My other half seems to be able to get him to settle in the crib much easier- has anyone else found this?!

[Betsyboo87]

Hi I’m on my 3rd wake with my 4mo right now. It’s torture! He wakes every 1-2hrs and it’s killing us.

@Hannah58 is your baby bf? If so it might be that your DS can smell your milk. My DH has much more success with putting DS in the cot but I think it’s because he know I can feed him and daddy can’t.

[Hannah58]

@Betsyboo87 Oh gosh, has your little one always woken up that much?
No he's bottle fed which is why I don't really know why he won't settle for me. I'm hoping it's just because he loves his mummy so much he doesn't want to be put down rather than him just preferring daddy 😳😂

[Betsyboo87]

He was doing 5/6hr stretches until 2 months but then he changed overnight and we’ve had this now for two months. He randomly did a 6hr stretch a week ago but seems it was a one off. We know he can do it though.

Yes I’m sure you’re right! He just wants to stay close to you .

[KiriAndLou]

Mine's up... 45 minutes after he last went down. One month old. Magical six week old lady is lying. I just cottoned onto this. Saw a mum claim her three week old had slept through. Turned out they'd done 1 a.m. until 6 a.m. That is not sleeping through the night in my book!

[Needallthesleep]

I’m with @KiriAndLou and @Betsyboo87 tonight. I’m getting really short stretches of sleep. My four week old barely ate during the day so I was sort of expecting it. So annoyed though.

I’m debating doing a day of formula as an experiment to see whether she sleeps better at night after it.

[KiriAndLou]

@Needallthesleep

I’m with *@KiriAndLou and @Betsyboo87* tonight. I’m getting really short stretches of sleep. My four week old barely ate during the day so I was sort of expecting it. So annoyed though.

I’m debating doing a day of formula as an experiment to see whether she sleeps better at night after it.

DD also did this with me. On the plus side, she didn't do a four month sleep regression at all (I think she'd just done it insanely early) so it's swings and roundabouts.

[flissity]

Morning 🥱😴😴 my 5mnth old wke at 3:20 and went to sleep about 4am and is now awake again. I’m on MN trying to stay awake while feeding her.

[PeggyMoo]

Hi! Joining in with a 2 week old who does a good stretch at the beginning but feeding and settling takes over an hour because if hiccups etc. And then will probably wake every hour or so.

Forgot breastfeeding was so intense.

I basically scroll Twitter / mumsnet buy wondering if watching something on phone would be better?

Does anyone else take snacks to bed?

[Needallthesleep]

@KiriAndLou crossing fingers I don’t get the 4 month sleep regression either then! I didn’t with my first, I was so lucky. But she was a lot better sleeper than my second.

Does anyone else do the thing where you keep a tally at night of how many hours sleep you’ve got? I think I’m up to 5 tonight, which isn’t bad. I don’t think I’ll get much more though.

[flissity]

@Needallthesleep yes I often do that!! Although sometimes it makes me more tired if I realise how little. And then occasionally I’m surprised at how I’m feeling on 4hrs of sleep.
My DD isn’t too bad now though. Generally wakes once or twice a night but not for long.

@PeggyMoo 100% would take ginger biscuits to bed and a glass of milk! Feel at 5 months now I can’t really do this !

[Hannah58]

I definitely find myself keeping a tally of how much sleep I've had! It's almost worse when you realise that you've actually had a fair amount but still feel absolutely exhausted 😅
I'm not even breastfeeding and I find myself wanting overnight snacks 😂

[Thespottytortoise]

Meh. Bed at 11. Toddler up at 11.15. Get her back to sleep. Go to bed. Get up again because I forgot to put the bins out. Back to bed about midnight.

2.45: toddler awake. Get her back to sleep, back to bed at 3.15.

4.00: 3 year old awake. I wake before my husband is and give him a nudge. It takes me a few minutes to get back. Then husband comes back in, this wakes me up again. 10 minutes later the 3 year old is back in our room, and off they go again. I go back to sleep. Husband comes back in again, which wakes me up. 3 year old wakes again, and he goes in with her for the night. I get back to sleep about 5am.

5:50am - toddler wakes for the day (usually she wakes between 7-8).

It's now 7am, Ife woken my husband, I'm eating crunchie spread in bed, locked my bedroom door, to stop my 3 year old wandering back in (she'll go downstairs instead to my husband), and I'm going back to bed for a couple of hours, and will work this evening to make up the extra hours with work.

Urgh.

[Thespottytortoise]

I find tally's are misleading personally. A 5 hour stretch (ha, rarely!):makes me feel like I can take on the world. 5 hours total, in 1-2 hour lumps makes me feel like my eyes have dissolved and are leaking into my brain.

And 5 hours total back in the early days with maternity leave (and first child) meant the occasional day nap, which helped quite a lot, saying that, I got a lot more sleep in those days than now full stop.

But, I'm lucky that I can WFH and be flexible with my hours, though it's so hard to stay awake sat at a computer.

[Needallthesleep]

Yes totally agree @Thespottytortoise. I would kill for a 5 hour stretch now.

So I put the toddler down at 5.20ish. She then woke again at 6.20 and 7.20. Ahhhhhh. Today is going to be tough.

[Needallthesleep]

I don’t know why I said toddler there. I meant the 4 week old. The toddler was surprisingly well behaved.

[Needallthesleep]

Wishing you all luck for tonight. I’m about to go to sleep. It’s ridiculous that I spend 11 hours in bed and struggle to get 6 hours sleep overall!

[Hannah58]

@Needallthesleep Wishing you luck too! About to go to bed myself in a few mins. Let's hope for a good chunk of sleep! 🤞🏼

[Hannah58]

@Thespottytortoise 'makes me feel like my eyes have dissolved and are leaking into my brain'- this made me chuckle! 😂 You're right about tallys being misleading!!

[Hannah58]

Too true 😂

[Shefliesonherownwings]

I’ve found my people! We have a two week old here and I’m praying the relentlessness of it all passes at some point.

DS was born via c section and is very mucousy and congested as a result so struggles to lie flat in his Moses basket. He also doesn’t settle well with DH so basically wants to be asleep on me. We’re doing shifts at the moment so both of us get a chunk of 5-6 hours and DS is bottle fed but I still feel on my knees with it all. DH is also getting frustrated with not being able to settle DS which isn’t helping. By the time DS is fed, winded, settled and I am trying to express as well, I feel we’re starting all over again. He’s currently asleep on me now looking super cute but my god I’m knackered.

[Thespottytortoise]

Eye melting day again here.

Gremlin toddler was up at 10 (which was when I finished work), 11:30, 2.30-3, so stiry from 3-4 that I didn't get back to sleep until 4, she briefly woke at 5 and was then up for the day at half 6.

Powered on sugar and caffeine today, and will probably (again) need to work this evening to make up hours as I ended up sleeping in, whilst husband got up with her, to get the 'luxury' of a 2 hour block!

@Shefliesonherownwings
Definitely continue with the shifts as long as you can - it's what we did for our first baby. This one (well 18m now) I ended up accidentally breastfeeding, and I really miss being able to take shifts, so make the most of it!

[Betsyboo87]

@Thespottytortoise accidental bf happened to me too! I was so adamant I wouldn’t and then I was really encouraged to in the hospital. I’m so desperate to stop now at 4 months but DS usually refuses a bottle.

Our night was terrible last night. I find some nights I can just get on with it but about once a week I have a bit of a meltdown. DH is always so calm and DS settles much better when he puts him down as I think he can sense my stress. I wish I could be more like him!

[Hannah58]

I've had massive guilt about not being able to breastfeed but bottle feeding does have its benefits!
@Betsyboo87 I'm exactly the same- some nights I feel like I can just go with the flow but other nights I have a bit of a meltdown! I'm guessing it's a build up of tricky nights in a row sometimes! I'm sure my DS senses my stress too! I try to tell myself to calm down and take deep breaths 😂

[PeggyMoo]

Inspired by this thread I’ll be taking myself to bed early tonight. Keep going to bed ‘normal time’ and missing out on sleep as a result