staying awake for a feedzzzzzzzzz

[kaiki]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this problem ? My daughter is 8 weeks old and sleeps okay-ish at night - we sneak her into her cot once she's asleep and she usually kips until about 2am for a feed. as her cot is next to the bed i usually grab her and pull her in with me for breastfeeding - recently i have started waking up with her in bed with me having nodded off, unsure whether i stayed awake until the end of the feed or not. i'm not averse to co-sleeping but am aware if i am just falling asleep in bed with her we're not practising it safely. i used to pick her up and feed her in the lounge but wound up waking up on the couch with her, and have come dangerously close to her rolling off the sofa on occasion.
my daughter minnie is not suffering aversely because of this, she gets her full feed and seems to sleep well - but i need some tips on staying awake until the end of her feed - for safety reasons and also so i can put her back into her cot as we're trying to get her accustumed to sleeping in it more often.
i have tried turning the lights up but this wakes her up more than i would like in the dead of night and the tee-vee just makes me drift off. i tried drinking tea but wind up awake myself for hours after she has gone back to sleep.
any advice on keeping myself would be appreciated - similarly, if anyone has advice on getting her into her cot without tears and traumas it would be most appreciated.

the same thing was happening with me (DS is 5 weeks). When he wakes for a feed in the night I get up out of bed and go to the toilet first to wake myself up a bit more and then I sit in a chair in the bedroom instead. I do put the tv on (watching stuff I have sky plussed during the day or a DVD rather than the middle of the night rubbish!). I just drink squash or juice in the night.

As for getting her into the cot - not sure, DS sleeps fine in the moses basket but I am putting him down pretty much asleep. I just nudge him as I put him in so he does open his eyes a little then goes off again.

Good luck

It's really tricky to stay awake when feeding as your hormones give you the same sleepy feelings that men get after a nice orgasm!
I just gave into it in the end and co-slept! I woke up too many times with DS in my arms or on my shoulder having fallen asleep when burping him!

oh thank you! i think part of being a mum ~(especially first time) is knowing that other folks are doing the same thing as you, and struggling with what is considered 'right' and 'wrong'.
i'm going to try to sit upright tonight armed with a nightlight and a possibly a herbal tea....or failing that a large glass of red wine.
cheers guys!

I used to prop my pillows up and have the bedside light on a read a newspaper / magazine. But I angled the light away from DD and it didn't seem to bother her.

It was amazing how well I could concentrate on celeb trash magazines in the middle of the night. Anything heavy and I would have nodded off.

I know you'd like to put her back in her cot after the feed so I'm not sure if this is useful advice for you but I tend to feed my DS lying down so that if I drop off it's of no consequence (my arm around him, covers down by my waist etc). Unless he's dribbled milk all over the sheets I generally drift off without moving him back to his bedside cot after his feed. It took me a bit of practice to work out how to position him and even now there are some occasions when he refuses and wants me to sit up but it's a handy ability to have when you're feeling tired/lazy!

I struggle with this as well - I get up and feed in a chair as well (quite firm, so less of an issue than squashy sofa), though still really struggle with 'nodding dog' head, particularly at that 4-5am feed time.

In the early days, I was feeding sat up in bed and really struggled (DS is now 22 weeks, but we're still feeding 3 times a night - don't ask!). I found that having a nightlight on helped, or I used a camping headtorch, which meant I could direct the light away from DS and towards my book. Having something to read that was really 'page-turny', so a bonkbuster or thriller helped massively (and meant I wasn't so resentful about being woken again!).