Please help a new mum - baby will not sleep!

skintchick

Krystaltips wrote: »

Really glad things are getting better for you Skinty, in another week it will be even better than it is now! the first 6-8 weeks are definitely the hardest but they do get so much easier.

And well done for sticking with the breastfeeding!

I'm actually really proud of myself! It's still sometimes painful when her latch slips but mostly it's fine and I know I'm doing the best I can for her, which encourages me to keep going (not saying other mums aren't doing their best if on formula, just that I feel this is right for us).

She is smiling now and becoming more of a person which also helps with feeling more connected to her and that helps me through any bad days/nights as well.

tiamai_d

Great news that she is doing better now Skinty. As to how I manage to get Amber to sleep... it' more the fact that she is still jaundiced and so sleepy than anything I'm doing.

The night time EBM has turned to a formula or EBM or mix of the two depending on how much I manage to express. I'm scared to use an electric pump as I think thats what caused my masitis and I dont want to get it a thrid time! My little hand pump is great but I don't have the patience to sit and pump now. I need to get back to pumping for that night feed and stop being lazy.

And the night time position that is working for us is me lying propped up but not too much on pillows with her in a cradle hold. I wirggle down once she is firmly on so she lies across my belly on her side.

Nerth

When I went to baby massage classes with DD1 I was hanging around at the end (breastfeeding and generally taking ages to get myself organised as per usual!) The other mum who was doing the same as me turned to the health visitor and said (with a note of desperation) "How do I know if he's feeding or just sleeping?" It probably sounds like such a silly question to anyone who hasn't been through it but I understood exactly what she meant! We are firm friends now and our 1st born children are nearly 4!

Anyway, just reminiscing, the useful (I hope!) bit of what I wanted to say was the advice of the HV who told us about "breast compression" (sounds horrendous doesn't it!) :eek: All it means is holding your breast in to your chest to squirt the milk out which wakes them back up again. When you release your breast it releases the milk and has the same effect then. (Just re-read this and realises that it's so easy to demonstrate, difficult to put into words! I hope you get what I mean!:o)

I use this a lot with my second child (now 8 months) at night time. A few squeezes gets her sucking properly. She then "tails off" again so I repeat the process. After a few times I decide that she's obviously not that hungry so take her off (she's a very different temperament to my 1st child who would never have stood for that!) In the early days this was a great help when I was suffering from blocked ducts (due to holding her incorrectly as if feeding an older child - midwife said a common problem when mothers successfully feed 1 child and then remember the experience of feeding an older child - different technique!) I would massage the blocked bits in the direction of the flow, that woke her back up as well!

Glad to hear all is improving, will be a great help to all co-sufferers who will realise (along with you) that "everything is a phase and nothing lasts forever." This became a mantra for one of my best friends and has been a great help!

P.S. The poster (sorry can't remember who) who said that just when you think you've got it sussed something else comes along was so right! I'm currently sitting in the room with my DD1 (3) at the moment because she "can't sleep". :mad: DD2 (8 months) is fast asleep! :A Who reversed my daughters' personalities?!?!?