Desparate mum of 16wk old!!!

[CheekyGirl]

I have a 4yr old dd and a 16wk ds. Ds is bf and weighs 15lb 7oz.

He is a very fussy feeder and will only feed properly if he is sleepy. He is easily distracted, too.

During the night he feeds well, but wants to feed 2hourly and is unsettled much of the time. We are not getting more than 45mins of sleep at any one time. It makes no difference if he is in his cot or in with us.

I can't catch up during the day as I have my dd to look after and he never naps longer than half an hour (not through lack of trying, believe me!)

I can't cope much longer with this. I can barely function during the day. All my HV says is give him formula/solids or let him cry it out. Is there really nothing else I can do???

Any ideas???????????

Have you tried leaving it a little longer inbetween his feeds in the day? if not do try, it may help him, as he may start taking more on bored at feed time this in turn may lengthen the times inbetween feeds..HTH

Cheekygirl - I can totally sympathise with you. My ds was a very hungry boy and didn't sleep longer than a couple of hours at a time. And he used to cry out in his sleep too, so even when he was sleeping DH and I weren't! It's torture, but does get better I promise you. Perhaps he is ready for weaning? That's not a bad option. I had to wean ds at 17wks as I just couldn't take anymore. We had moved him onto the Hungrier baby formula and he STILL wanted fed every 2 hrs through the night.

You could try giving him some baby rice at bedtime and see if that tides him over a bit longer.

Hope it gets better soon.

hi cheekygirl, im in the same boat have ds 4 and dd 24 wks... so i cant catch up with sleep in the day either... but dd will sometimes sleep 4 hrs 1st sleep through the night but then its 2/3
gonna bottle feed her today (if shell take it ) not had much luck b4 now with teats.....

Am weaning her at the moment but it dosent make a lot of difference with the sleep..

she only has 3 x 20 min naps during the day so thats not the problem either....

dont think im being much help to you am i?
just having a moan as usual....

gonna try cc in next coulple of weeks see if that helps...

I NEED SLEEP>>>>

Cheekygirl - sympathies (sp) I remember feeling as you do and as others have said, it WILL get better. I also mainly BF on a 2hr cycle for the first couple of months - got some respite when we introduced one bottle feed a day from about 4wks and dp could do that. I think by 16 wks, ds2 was going longer at a night than your lo.

Do you think he's not getting full feeds? if he's easily distracted during a feed, is he taking in and retaining a lot of air making him feel fuller than he really is/ uncomfortable. Do you burp him during/after feeding? What's he getting distracted by do you think? If he's feeding whilst sleepy, he may be dropping off before he's had a really full and satisfying feed and plenty of hind milk.

Have you read the Baby Whisperer book? she's got some great descriptions of baby's body language when they're tired, hungry, in pain etc. I got in with ds2 and realised that I often got ds1 signs all mixed up esp hunger and tiredness, which is one of the reasons why things were more chaotic with my first than with my second. With first, at times, ds1 seemed only to be snacking at times, specially on an evening (practically attached all evening when he was v little), whereas looking back, now know that he was displaying all the tiredness signs rather than hunger.

Maybe if you can crack the feeding, the sleeping / napping one will also get better. There's plenty on here who can give you really good advice about BFing. Best Wishes

CheekyGirl - forgot to say, it might be worthwhile posting your initial message on the 'breast/bottle feeding topic' so people who normally use those topics see your request for advice. There's probably a way to link it over automatically, but I don't know how to.

HTH

THanks guys, it's nice to know I'm not alone with my devil child!!

He used to go longer between feeds day and night when he was younger....perhaps he's getting hungrier now. Whenever he feeds at night, he takes full feeds, both sides, but during the day unless he's sleepy, he just snacks. Nothing I do can persuade him to feed if he doesn't want to or not feed if he does want to!!! if that makes sense!! He seems quite stubborn.

It's not even 9pm now, and I think I'll have to go to bed.........