This is doing my HEAD IN

[Daffodil]

Hi

Its 4.40am and I'm frustrated again...

Basically Meadow keeps waking me up in the night to feed (squirming around, wriggling towards my breasts, making noise etc.) and when I try to feed her she goes immediately to sleep. Then if I place her down again she starts making noise again to feed.

After picking her up several times and having her fall asleep on me I'm just about ready to pull my hair out. She won't wake up if I try to wake her but as soon as we are back lying in bed she starts again.

What do I do?

I tried sitting her up, talking to her to wake her etc. but she doesn't want to. Feeding lying down isn't working right now I can't seem to get it right and worry that she isn't even drinking anything (just using my nipple like a dummy). BTW if I give her a dummy this doesn't work she spits it out and cries for food again.

I'm feeling really tired. She does this in the night but in the evenings she will feed for 3 or 4 hours straight (half the time not feeding properly but crying if I try to lay her down or if OH tries to hold her - she only wants me)

Any ideas on what is going on?

Dawn wishing I was

 

[kelsey]

Hey hun she's still very little and maybe still wants mummys comfort a lot. do you co sleep at all? Also can you practice feeding whilst lying down? I found this a life saver in the middle of the night.
Dream feeding her maybe an options too??

 

[purple13]

as kelsey says, maybe try practising feeding in the lying down position during the day when you're awake - if you can master it, its a real lifesaver.

in the early days, connor would only sleep on mine or OH's chest which meant we would take it turns to doze in bed propped upright with cushions and pillows. it wasn't ideal, but it didn't last too long either.

FWIW i can send you hugs next time you're awake at 4.40am - connor's doing pretty much the same thing as meadow atm. i keep reminding myself that its a phase and it will pass try and get a good nap during the day if you can?

 

[babyroo]

Jessica did this alot when she was a newbie, have you tried changing her nappy before feeding because i found it woke her enough to get a good feed into her. Big

 

[Squiglet]

Its really common... Lil miss was (has gone back to being) the same... If I didn't cosleep there would be no sleep...

 

[Sherlock]

Sounds normal to me for that age. She is still very small and wanting to be near you.

We didn't co sleep but Galen only wanted to be cuddled or right next to me (or sometims hubby).

I worked bloody hard from 4 weeks or so to get him to settle in his moses basket during day and night time sleep. By 6 weeks he would go down in his cot (we moved him over at 6 weeks because of his size) wide awake and settle himself at night. Same if he woke in the night. Would be changed, fed and back in his cot.

But please know it was a lot of effort and didn't happen overnight. And I only did this because of health problems (mine). Otherwise I'd have gone with the flow and not worried about it too much.

 

[nickilubs]

I sleep with Ivy on my chest and her blanket over the both of us (duvet over the rest of my body just her thin blanket over her and my chest) and give her my little finger to suck. Alot of the time when she wakes me shes not hungry but she just wants comfort she spits dummys out too she cant seem to keep them in but shes happy to fall asleep sucking my little finger (palm up). Hope it works.xx

 

[Sage]

i no alot of people are against this but ky would constantly want to suckle in the night and just wouldnt settle so i did give in to a dummy but it was the best thing ever. it just made him happy and if hes happy then i am. He only has it now when hes tired and i must admit its a life saver.

 

[jills10uk]

i would try changing her nappy too or rubbing her face with a bit of damp cotton wool. my boyo did this at the start too and no amount of tickling him would wake him so i tried the above and it seemed to wake him up. the other thing to consider is perhaps she has wind? Joshua falls asleep after a feed but when i put him down in his cot flat he starts to make noise and grizzle and it is wind bothering him.

 

[DaisyRose]

It does sound very familar!!! I'd definitely recommend practising feeding on your side. I never managed it with my 1st as I had a c/section but it's been a life saver with the others!!!

In the early weeks I had Ruby next to me in bed and just let her suckle when she wanted (sometimes this went on for a couple of hours but at least I was sort of dozing!!!) Gradually, at about 4 weeks, I weaned her into her basket (started with short periods but she got used to it and then she started sleeping in it longer). Now she's in the basket all night because I do find now that we all sleep better that way.

Good luck, sounds like you're doing fine. All I'd say really is try to go with the flow and introduce the change gradually.

 

[Redshoes]

Like Sherlock says you will have to put in a lot of time and effort and miss out on sleep to get her into a bedtime routine where she doesn't sleep with you, if that's what you want. Sorry I cannot help, we co-sleep through the night, very best wishes