When will it get easier??!!

[AmeliaM27]

My son is 3 weeks old and is exclusively breast fed. He's thriving on it and my milk supply is very good, no sore nipples so in many ways it's going well. The issue is that he still only goes between an hour or 2 between feeds and it takes ages to wind him and get him to settle again. I end up only getting about 30 mins sleep in between. He also won't settle in his Moses basket or crib - he only wants to fall asleep on me, I'm trying to work on this in the day as during the night I just don't have the energy to persist with it. I'm so tired I lose track of when he's fed, when I've changed him etc.

When will he start going more like 3 hours? I really don't want to have to move to bottle feeding but I can't carry on like this for much longer!

 

[Leeslocket]

My lo would only sleep on me too and I like you used to give in just yo get some rest, don't worry about that it won't spoil him at 12 weeks my lo,puts herself to sleep in her cot! But for weeks I was having to jiggle her to sleep and the couldn't put her down by it gets better. As for going between feeds you've done the hardest part and it should start to increase now. My lo started giving me 4 hours at night from about 7/8 weeks and now I get 6 or 7 in a night it really does get better very soon and now I can't remember it being that bad (but it was!)

Hang in here it will get better soon and it's worth it . Just try to sleep in the day even if the house is a mess or dinner needs cooking just leave it and catch up on sleep

 

[BunnyN]

It got a lot easier for me at about 8 weeks.

 

[Pumpkin9]

I'm having the same trouble with sleeping arrangements! You're def getting through 'the worst of it' now, my little one is now a month old and I'm starting to notice him going for longer between feeds, he's also feeding heavily before bedtime now and goes slightly longer sleep wise at night.

You'll get there Hun x

 

[Jajis]

There's no guarantee of when your LO will settle down, it varies from baby to baby, but they will settle down into a longer pattern eventually.

One thing to consider is that formula might not necessarily make your LO sleep any longer, in which case you'll still get very little sleep, and when it is time for a feed instead of just popping out a boob, you'll have to get up and faff around making a bottle up and waiting for it to be the right temperature... not good!

Hope you manage to get some more sleep soon, it really, really does get better!

 

[Lisajo5]

I could have wrote this post!
My LO feeds every two hours or less sometimes. He is 3 weeks old too, I also can't get him to sleep in Moses basket.
I feel bad having him in bed but it's the only way I get any sleep! Let's hope things improve for us both soon, because I need a good sleep!! x

 

[Rednursie]

How are you getting on now Amelia? I've started to express throughout the day so oh gives one feed of expressed milk late evening time. He doesn't necessarily sleep any longer but it gives me Andy boobs a slight break xxx

 

[AmeliaM27]

Had a better night last night, had a couple of 2 hour gaps between but still can't get him to settle anywhere other than on me. He's such a hungry baby I was worried he wasn't getting enough but he was weighed yesterday and has put on 2 pounds in 2 weeks so I'm reckoning he's ok!! HV said to give it another couple of weeks and if no better to try introducing a formula feed in the evening as it tends to fill them up for longer. Hoping things will improve before that so it won't be necessary. Have just invested in a
Medela swing breast pump and have started expressing some but it's difficult to find the time when he's feeding so frequently!

 

[BunnyN]

Hugs, I know the lack of sleep is so hard sometimes. 2hrs sounds okay until you realize that 1/2 is spent feeding, 15mins burping, and 15 mins settling them back in the cot, then another 15 mins when they wake up while you are putting them down and need settling again, and then 10 mins getting back to sleep yourself, by which time you only get about 1/2 an hr before they wake again :/.. LO has always fed frequently, day and night. At 10 months old she still has 3 night feeds but the good thing is that feeds get a lot quicker as they get older so I hardly wake up for them anymore at times. She still only settles on me and I transfer her to her cot though, I'm in aw of mothers who put their babies down in bed to go to sleep!

Just to warn you a FF can work for some but it just makes it worse for others. I decided not to try it in the end for my LO and I was glad didn't because it turned out that she had cows milk allergy. Not saying you shouldn't try it just HVs seem to think it will solve every thing sometimes so only try it if you feel it's the right thing. It didn't feel like the right thing to me but I seemed to get a lot of pressure to.