One week old nightmare

[kenmore12]

My son is 1 week old now & slept well on his own in the first couple of days, during the day he's fine sleeping in his Moses basket, come nighttime it's a whole different game, he's breastfed so will feed to sleep & will be moved gently over to his next to me crib but wakes within 2mins & fusses til he's back in with me & on the boob. Tried a dummy but he can't keep it in and wakes the second it falls out. Tonight's just about broke me, it's 2am & ive been fighting to get him to sleep for the past 6hrs, both nipples are red raw, it's as if he can't get enough, I really don't want to go into formula (I'm not against it I just bf my other son for 2years and was hoping to do the same this time). How can I up my milk supply and how can I get him to sleep without being pretty much on me? I'm now sat downstairs at 2am with baby asleep on my chest crying my eyes out as I feel like such a failure, it wasn't this hard the first time round 😭

Can you safely co sleep with him?

This was me a month ago. Co sleeping saved my sanity.

@MaverickDanger

Can you safely co sleep with him?

This was me a month ago. Co sleeping saved my sanity.

That's what I was doing but it's to the point now where he's got to be in my arms, so I have no space or freedom to move etc.

Have you tried swaddling?

I'm in exactly the same situation here, currently feeding my 5 day old, who will sleep soundly in my arms but not his crib or next to me in my bed! No suggestions, but you're not on your own.

It took me weeks to get my baby in his next to me, it was just too big and cold. In the first couple of weeks me and DP took turns holding him so the other could sleep, and then we managed to get him down swaddled, in his pram basket instead as it's more contained and cosy, warmed with a hot water bottle. I know how hard it is, but it's very normal. Hugs x

Hi OP that sounds hard. I didn't breast feed but had the same issue with DS at that he going into the crib. What worked for us is we put one of our worn t-shirts in his crib, wrapped tightly round the mattress of the Moses basket and for five minutes pit a hot water bottle on it to warm up. It worked. Sounds basic and daft but found he just wanted our scent to feel secure, as he was so tiny at the time. Also the transfer from a nice warm body to a cold mattress woke him up as well. Appologise if your doing this, but if not maybe try it to see how it goes. As for the bf hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be along

Firstly congratulations. Secondly you are not a failure.

Your DS has spent his entire life either in you or on you. That’s going to take some time to adjust. This period I known as the fourth trimester. Have a google. It will make sense. He wants to be on you even when not feeding as that skin to skin will be helping to up your supply as well as feeding. It’s so bloody tough as you’ve just delivered him into this world and need to rest too.

Is your partner on paternity leave? Can you do shifts? You feed he holds? So you can get a few hours sleep. This saved us in the early days.

You could try putting a Muslin sign
Your scent on in the crib. Put some Brest milk on it wear it down your top for a day or so then put it in crib. You could warm the crib slightly with hot water bottle. Be sure it’s not too warm and remove bottle before placing DS in. You could try swaddling. White noise. Persevere with dummy.

Hang in there it does get better

DS was exactly the same with only wanting to fall asleep on us etc & would still be the same now if we let him! I basically let him fall asleep on me & slowly shift him off after about 15 mins.

You’re not on your own.

OP, if you manage to figure out why our babies sleep like angels in their cribs/baskets in the day but not at night, please update! In the meantime, if you can, sleep as much as you can in the day if there's someone to look after your older one. If there's lots of wet and dirty nappies it's not likely to be your milk supply so don't worry about that, and get some Lansinoh and put it on your nipples before and after every feed. It wasn't this hard for me the first time either. We'll figure it out! Hang in there.

We did shifts. Tried Dd in her cot but if she wasn’t sleeping one of us would hold. Kept persisting with the cot and after a couple weeks she was mostly in there. By 10 weeks sleeping through and definitely only sleeping her in cot.