night time breast feeds

[babynumbertwo]

Hi ladies

I'm currently breastfeeding my baby and struggling a bit with the night time feeds. I just feel so tired I often feel like I'm going to fall asleep in the middle of a feed. After a lot of thought I've decided I don't really feel comfortable with bed sharing so I wondered if any of you had any tips for staying awake! Any suggestions will be much appreciated xx

 

[mum's the word]

How old is baby? I co-slept for 6 months and often fell asleep whilst feeding. the midwife told me this was normal and that feeding produces a hormone which induces sleep in mothers and there wasn't anything to worry about.

 

[purple13]

i still co-sleep and feed now. i only barely wake up for night feeds - just assume the position and let connor get back to it whilst i sleep...

have you given it a try? it honestly helps keep you sane especially in those early days...

if you still don't want to do it, i'd suggest TV and lights on, sitting up, doing crosswords/sudoku, and not wearing anything too cosy and warm. if you go down this route, make sure you get as many daytime naps as your LO allows so that you don't lose too much sleep

 

[millylillyrose]

where does you LO sleep? it might help if you feel comfortable to put LO in his/her own room. once india went into her own room, i had to get up and go feed her, i have a nice chair in her room and it seems to help. also getting to bed at a reasonable time helps. the last few nights ive been up working till around 12 and i've found its been harder to stay awake.

 

[LisaJ1986]

In the early days i had my laptop on hand and just played card games. About 2 months later i ended up giving in to co-sleeping as i just went back to sleep! Makes the day much easier than being tired.

 

[aramintalovegrove]

I did sudoku or had my laptop and sat up in a chair but found myself faling asleep with her in my arms, much more dangerous than co-sleeping, or I ended up being so exhausted during the day, so I gave up and now have her in her basket till about 4am hen she feeds and then in bed with me from then on I find mostly Im still light sleeping so do sometimes put her back in the basket if I need more room or a snuggle with DH.

Hope you find a way thats good for you

 

[Charlie:-)]

Its really hard to stay awake during night feeds, I used to just sort of doze not actually fall back into a deep sleep.

 

[jills10uk]

i'm like you and am not comfortable with co-sleeping as my DH is such a heavy sleeper he wouldn't wake up if he rolled over and i wouldnt get any sleep for worrying so i read a book (i have a book light so i don't disturb LO while reading) and this keeps me awake.

 

[babynumbertwo]

Thanks for all your replies.
Baby is only 2 weeks old so he's not really old enough for his own room yet. I'm happy to feed him on the bed during the day but it worries me to do it on a night. Can anyone share their stories of how they actually go about this. My hubby would also be in the bed so I'm assuming I would be in the middle and baby on the end? How do you go about separate covers for you and baby?

Thanks in advance for any replies x

 

[purple13]

re co-sleeping:

connor is either in the middle or on the edge of our bed, depending what boob he fed from last

if he's in the middle, the duvet gets pushed right down between me & OH so that it doesn't cover connor. if he's on the edge, the duvet covers me, but not connor. having said that, now he's older and more than capable of crawling out/pushing off covers, i tend to dress him in pyjamas and keep him under the covers with us, rather than put him in his sleeping bag.

we invested in a bedside cot when we realised that co-sleeping was going to be a long term thing for us. it gives us more space - especially cos OH and connor both like to starfish when they're asleep! it also means that there's no edge of the bed for him to fall off

i was always a bit worried that OH wouldn't have the same instinct as me, that he might roll over onto connor whilst asleep. but it was an unfair assumption for me to make as, even though he's a heavy sleeper, he's just as aware as i am.

 

[aramintalovegrove]

re co-sleeping:

connor is either in the middle or on the edge of our bed, depending what boob he fed from last

if he's in the middle, the duvet gets pushed right down between me & OH so that it doesn't cover connor. if he's on the edge, the duvet covers me, but not connor. having said that, now he's older and more than capable of crawling out/pushing off covers, i tend to dress him in pyjamas and keep him under the covers with us, rather than put him in his sleeping bag.

Ditto.

Esme only has a little fleece blanket when she is on our bed as I think it is warm enough.

I find it easiest to lie on my side facing LO with my bottom arm extended, this means I cant roll over on her and DH would roll on my arm before Esme (not that I think either of us would do so) Esme sleeps below my arm and I use the top boob as its easier to put it in her mouth that way. Hope that makes sense!!

Do what you feel comfy with Hun if you feel scared or worried dont feel you have to Co-sleep.

I find it better to sleep this way as I am then able to sleep lightly and be aware of what is going on with her rather than getting myself up and being exhaused and falling into a deeper sleep by accident IYKWIM.