Hello everyone
Where to start....
Well I'm a 28 yr old first time mum to a gorgeous 7 month baby girl. Whilst pregnant I was convinced I would do another sleep training method, bought the book and read from cover to cover. Well, let's just say that didn't really work out. I learnt a lot about myself in the first few weeks.
No.1. I wasn't going to let my baby cry unnecessarily. And that meant not forcing her to stay awake or feed at certain times "baby must be awake and feeding no later than 2.15..." I don't think so.
No.2. My baby was my world. My vision of baby fitting into my life did not happen, my life had changed, for the better and I had to adapt.
No.3 I literally had no idea what I was doing, and quickly realised I had to figure this out as I went. This resulted in me being in survival mode re sleep (I'll sort a routine out later, right now I need to sleep") Get baby to sleep in any way possible. I was, and still am exhausted.
When she was born she wouldn't latch, and I have been using nipple shields ever since. I have pumped milk out and bottle fed, but it takes up so much of my precious time when she is napping. she has cmpa, and reflux. This was only recently diagnosed when I tried to put her on formula and she suffered for 48 hrs with horrendous constipation, tummy cramps, and wind. Since cutting dairy out and increasing her ranitidine she seems to be betterish.
So, her feeding is nothing short of a nightmare. Now after reading the bw book, it's apparent that feeding her on demand has lead to her being a snacker. However she hasn't always been this way. At 3-4 months she was able to self settle really well and was only waking once at night for a quick feed. Now, I'm literally at the end of my tether. She won't self settle. Back arches kicks, gurgles, cries pulls dummy out etc. I've resorted to swaddling to stop her wriggling, but today has been awful she breaks out if the swaddle, back arches, and eats her feet. I've resorted to feeding her to sleep which i am really annoyed at, but I need her to sleep.
Her longest sleep time is 3 hrs, from 7.30-10.30pm. Then she's up every 2 hrs screaming. I resort to feeding her as I am exhausted and it's the only sure fire way to sleep. I haven't had more than 6 hrs sleep since she's been born. Recently, it's been no longer than 2 hrs.
So, came across the baby whisperer as I am very against cio and cc. I wanted a gentle yet structured way to encourage her to sleep
Read the book and wanted to cry. Clearly I have literally no idea what my baby wants or needs, and my solution to every cry has been stuffing a dummy or boob in her mouth 😭 I really felt like a failure, and wish I had the book from the start.
So have just ordered the bw solves all your problems (and I do have problems) as I need to read about starting easy from older than 4 months. I've read a fair bit on here about this, and have some questions....
What do I do if she doesn't feed well at the E stage? do I feed her later? I know that eventually she will feed better on a schedule, but to begin with I know she will literally be on for 3 mins before she starts fussing.
How hysterical do I let her get before doing something else with pu/pd? Or do I literally have to ride it out?
Has anyone else been in a similar situation and has successfully adopted easy and got their lo to sleep?!
Sorry for the epic post, I'm exhausted, emotional, and wondering when I will get some form of life back whilst making my little girl happier and less anxious ( she won't let me put her down, including bring in the pram...)
Thanks
Xx