MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 2

fluffnutter

Peanut2013 wrote: »

A sleep question here. I know, I know, I shouldn't be looking at what others do. But we're just not getting anywhere with routine over night!

He goes down at 7 pretty much on the dot. Most nights he'll wake about 12ish for a feed if we don't feed him about this time anyway (dream feed). For a few weeks he was then down until 7, which was do able. But the past 2 weeks some days he wakes at 3, some it's 5! Some it's both!!

Last night it was both, but on both he seemed hungry but took a single suck of the bottle before passing back out.

I don't have the newborn adrenaline anymore so am really struggling!!

Any tips? (all our baby friends sleep from 10ish till 7ish!)

Firstly, forget what the other babies are doing, partly because it will just make you feel bad, and more importantly, because their parents are probably LYING

How old is he? It might be a bit of four month sleep regression, where their sleeping patterns change and they start waking more frequently. He doesn't seem very hungry so it might be an idea not to offer him the bottle at this time. However, you'll probably still need to help him settle in some way unless you have nerves of steel and don't mind listening to him cry! (It's not advised to let babies under six months cry themselves to sleep anyway).

If it is sleep regression it will sort itself out in time. Although Freddie's nearly 10 months and is only just getting over his (with a lot of encouragement)

elisabeth854

Morning all, thanks for the welcome.

I had a really crappy weekend, cried most of it because if feeding. I'm exclusively bf and last week hv weighed Oliver and he had only gained 1oz in 2.5 weeks . I now have to express after each feed and give him expressed to up bottles to get more calories in him. I was exhausted at the weekend and was so upset that this could be the end of our bf bond... I really wanted to get to 6 months.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better now and Oliver is feeding much better although we have jabs this morning so that will probably upset things again!

I love how verbal little man is at the moment, even if he has found out he can scream and screech really loudly for no reason!

Lovely and sunny today so may walk to the dr's this morning, although it takes me ages to get organised for me and him in the morning!

Hope everyone else has a lovely day.

Me x

Gillyx

Elisabeth - I'm not sure how old your LO is but I'm guessing between 8-16 weeks. Try not to worry about the weight gain too much, I know there have been a few ladies on here that have had poor gain a few times but the next few weeks it shot up. As they begin to get older there weight gain does slow down a lot. If he is having plenty of wet nappies and seems content in himself, you are not starving him. You don't have to get him weighed either, so don't feel pressured into doing that if you don't want to.

We only weighed at injection time and that is the only weights he has in his red book

Bamama

Sleep regression has kicked in here. I was so excited because he was napping. regularly and then it started going to pot. He did a couple of 3am wakes. Then waking at 5.30am and not going back down. His naps are just all over the place and we had our worst night last night.

He was down at 10pm.
I went at 12am.
He woke at 2am for a feed and we fell asleep in bed together.
He woke at 4am for another feed.
He just nodded off when OH got up for work at 5am.
Awake for the day at 8am.

I know that this is nowhere near as bad as some of you LO's but it's hard going when you're used to a minimum of 10pm-6am with no wakes.

Doesn't help that I have this horrid cold!

Ps. Up til 12am cause OH was making it up to me for being an !!!! (for those who remember *wink wink nudge nudge*).

Bamama

Hi elizabeth. I totally agree with Gilly. So long as he is happy then youre not starving him! It was probably a slow gain fortnight. As Gilly said, you don't have to get him weighed if you don't want to.

DayDreamBeliever_2

Elizabeth, don't stress too much on the weight thing - I found and other ladies mentioned on here that you really do know best - if he seems happy, content, alert and you're having plenty of wet/dirty nappies then that's the most important thing. I had heaps of pressure put on me by the hv as my lil miss' weight gain was 'too slow' and she dropped from the 50th to just below the 25th centile - they tried to get me to have her weighed twice a week and to top up with formula but i just said no threw a strop and didn't have her weighed between 7 weeks (when the hv started!) and 20 weeks just before her third jab and she's thriving which I knew myself anyway. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, trust your instincts x

Peanut2013

Not a bad night. OH had to go to A&E though as sliced his hand open on a knife while doing the dishes. He didn't get home till 3 am and I stayed up as was worried about him (had to stay home with LO).

LO went down at 7 then took about 3-4oz at 12 and same at 5. He then woke at 7.30 and normally I'd get up then but was so tired I fed him again and let him go down again.

He's just woke up now and is awake, I'm proper tired tho

fluffnutter

Bamama wrote: »

Sleep regression has kicked in here. I was so excited because he was napping. regularly and then it started going to pot. He did a couple of 3am wakes. Then waking at 5.30am and not going back down. His naps are just all over the place and we had our worst night last night.

He was down at 10pm.
I went at 12am.
He woke at 2am for a feed and we fell asleep in bed together.
He woke at 4am for another feed.
He just nodded off when OH got up for work at 5am.
Awake for the day at 8am.

I know that this is nowhere near as bad as some of you LO's but it's hard going when you're used to a minimum of 10pm-6am with no wakes.

Doesn't help that I have this horrid cold!

Ps. Up til 12am cause OH was making it up to me for being an !!!! (for those who remember *wink wink nudge nudge*).

You have a four month old baby and you're going to bed at midnight and managing a bit of nooky too. You're my inspiration. I'm still in bed by 9pm with nothing more exciting than a cup of tea

Gillyx

Morning all! *waves* Hope everyone is ok, feel like I've not been around a lot lately, been all go here. My OH has the final call back for an interview tomorrow, so we've all been prepping for that His flight is 7am tomorrow and his flight back isn't until 8pm, so it'l be a longggg day for A and I (normally OH is out of the house 10 hours at most) so trying to sort loads of activities in case it's rains and if it's sunny we will go out to the park and other things to pass the day. He is very tantrum-y lately and I'm finding it very draining. I am trying not to engage with him and letting him work it out himself but it's so difficult.

Hope your LO's birthday goes well Nutella, love that she loves pancakes, I make amazing pancakes and I don't think A appreciates them...

fluffnutter

elisabeth854 wrote: »

Morning all, thanks for the welcome.

I had a really crappy weekend, cried most of it because if feeding. I'm exclusively bf and last week hv weighed Oliver and he had only gained 1oz in 2.5 weeks . I now have to express after each feed and give him expressed to up bottles to get more calories in him. I was exhausted at the weekend and was so upset that this could be the end of our bf bond... I really wanted to get to 6 months.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better now and Oliver is feeding much better although we have jabs this morning so that will probably upset things again!

I love how verbal little man is at the moment, even if he has found out he can scream and screech really loudly for no reason!

Lovely and sunny today so may walk to the dr's this morning, although it takes me ages to get organised for me and him in the morning!

Hope everyone else has a lovely day.

Me x

Elisabeth, if you want to carry on exclusively breastfeeding, then DO IT. Don't be swayed by one HV telling you you *need* to do such and such; another will have a different opinion entirely. Breastfed babies often dip in and out of their centile line because their intake varies enormously depending on their age, whether they're having a growth spurt, etc. When you feed by bottle, the amounts they take tend to be more stable simply because you can see how much they're getting and you adjust accordingly. But on the boob it's different.

Personally I think it's completely pointless to weigh a fullterm, healthy breastfed baby more frequently than once a month because the fluctuations in weight gain always send the authorities into a spin and they start to advise a different feeding method.

The fact is, if you've got over the initial hiccups with early breastfeeding and you've been happily feeding since, it's HIGHLY unlikely that your boy's not getting enough. Provided his nappies are wet and you get plenty of dirty ones too, and he's not losing weight, he's OK.

Please, please, please don't give up if you don't want to. If you want more support, ask your health visitor team whether they have a lactation consultant who can advise.