Im desperate....

[barbie1]

Firstly apoligise if this has been done before but im desperate

DD is 4 and a half month old (ebf and on the 5th percentile) and for the last 4 weeks has been waking every 45 to 90 mins throughout the night.

Firstly i blamed a growth spurt, and then the 4 month sleep regression (she can roll and is desperately trying to crawl), next to blame was the 4 month injections and then teething....

She settles really well at 7.30pm, a few tears but can successfully get herself off to sleep. She used to go until 2.30 and then 5.30 but now no such luck.

Im beginning to lose the plot, i have nobody here to help me as i live abroad, we have no midwife or health visitor service in place. To talk to anyone i would have to pay a private doctor who would only tell me to try c crying.

Im getting really down and desperate now ...im on the verge of tears all the time due to lack of sleep, dd is grumpy throughout the day as she is tired also. This could also be due to her teething.

As it's my first baby i feel totally clueless. So should i feed her on demand every 45 mins? Could my milk not be enough for her?

Anyone with any encouraging words to help me through this tough time?

Is she definitely hungry every time?
My DD started to do this at 13ish weeks after previously going 9pm - 5am, but in the end DH tried settling her back without a feed a few times (sometimes sucessfully, sometimes not so) and now she is back to doing 7.45 - 5am (or thereabouts) again at 15 weeks.

The reason I got DH to do it was because obviously she associates me with the milk-filled boobs, and won't necessarily take no for an answer, but if DH goes then as long as she really isn't hungry she will usually settle again for him... If she really is hungry, she won't settle and lets us know.

I also make sure I offer her lots of feeds late afternoon, early evening (whether she asks or not) to make sure she has got he calories she needs for the day.

HI there, I feel your pain, not much to offer. You could try to introduce a dream feed at around 10 or 11 pm, wher eyou take your dd out of the cot (while asleep) feed (they're almost feeding in their sleep) and put her back again. No need to burp, usually they're so relaxed they don't swallow any wind.
How is her daily naps? She sounds a bit overtired? It's just sooo hard to say because each baby is unique, but YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS!
Trust your own instinct, if you think she's hungry, feed her, but sometimes they cry because of other reasons and then a feed is not the best idea. Try maybe to skip one feed after a 45 min wakeup, as long as you're there while she's crying it's ok. You could also try the Babywhisperer shush-pat method. The mums are very helpful on that website, so go check it out. Good luck!

Thankyou...

Firstly i try not to let her fed all the wake up times, if she is hungry she will be fully up doing mini press up's and not ready to settle again, if she was going to settle she would more likely be rubbing her nose on the sheet and rubbing her eyes. Dh will try to settle her during these times.

Her day time naps are still regular, she will sleep for 45 mins sometimes 90 mins after being awake for about 1 hour 45 mins. She cant go any longer than that between naps

Dream feds sadly dont work, only because she is already awake by then and crying

She is feeding more during the day than ever, she lets me know by shouting at my boobs!

Do you think it's just teething?
Shh/ pat was working for us up until this all started now nothing will settle her unless i feed her to sleep or try cc which i hate and can take her 30 mins plus.

Hey barbie

There is no golden amswer to night wakings but hopefully there is somethings you can consider...

Environmental issues:

Is your DD's room cool/warm enough? I know you have A/C so it should be but is it too cool? 18-20C is recommended..

Is she in a sleeping bag albeit a light weight one? She is so active that her wriggling might be wakening her?

Calorie issues:

I know its so hard to know with BF (and is used to drive me mad) but if you are confident that your DD has fed well and lasted well between 7am-7pm feeds then you can be reassured that she DOES NOT need milk every 90 mins during the night from a calorie point of view. Yes she may want your boob for comfort to aid teething/getting back to sleep/cuddles but does not need it from hunger.

Suggestions:

I would carry on what you are doing with the shush-patting but even when she wakes alert doing her mini press ups then don't feed her unless 3 hours have passed..

Introducing a formula feed at bedtime? I know she is EBF and is fussy with the bottles but it can be a life saver and help her sleep longer giving you better sleep and allowing you to have the energy to continue bf rather than just switching to FF thourhg sheer bloody utter exhaustion.

If you remember that's exactly what happened to me at 5 months as DS2 was up 3 times every night between 12am and 7am and I just had enough.

Only you know how long you want to bf for and you wil know when you want to stop but from my experience I was a million times happier when I made the switch to FF and DS2 is the happiest wee thing ever .

HTH xx