I need some help with managing all these feedings

[annette.xx]

any better last night??

was thinking yesterday about when My LO was same age and something I forgot to mention was single sided feeding...I also started feeding her from just one breast until it went all floppy! cos a HV said to me about the layers and explained it as skimmed milk, semi skimmed, full fat and then if they suck for long enough cream!!...I would pop her on the booby for what felt like ages and then when it was completely empty (about 45 mins!!) If she wanted a bit of the other I would let her....and then what I did was let her have 10 mins activity and then back on booby for a bit!!....

seriously felt like I was feeding all day long but along with earlier DF the night wakings just mysteriously dissapeared!!!

and now they are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....must add I myself did DF earlier last night at 10.15 and she never woke up at all till 6.30 am!!!  ....was very happy with that!!

Ive got a question myself on this board about comfort BF ...do you think its ever ok cos I think thats whats been happening with my LO with the teething and illness etc...but I just cant say no when I know thats what comforts her so much and if it means her getting more sleep vs OT monster then I know which I prefer!!...do you think im too soft??!!!

Annette.xx

[opsmummy]

annette, great advise i might try this tonight!!

The 2am wake up has now turned back into a 2am feed

jess, lukes mom, how are things with you? any sleep yet?

Becky

[jess, lukeys_mom]

thanks annette - i was typing on here last night and then computer ran out of batteries.  so two nights since my last post.

the first night, i decide to skip the df and see what happened. i went to bed at 11, dylan woke at 1 to eat...and then again at 5.30. he was up for the day at 6.30 so our EASY was kinda messed up. 

second night (last night) i had read your posts and was sitting here trying to figure out what to do, when he woke at 10.20 or so. dh tried to settle him for a while but couldn't and felt like he was waking to eat. i decided to feed him, he took a full feed went back and woke again at 3.30 to eat, up for the day at 6.30 (but still not starving or even fussing to eat then).

i have thought he was going through a GS last 2 days though so it's hard to tell quite what's going on. i think it's a good idea to try that DF earlier as you said, and see if it helps at all. we'll start doing 10.30.

annette re the comfort BF, personally i am a believer that there is comfort in breast feeding and it's part of the breastfeeding relationship to offer the breast when lo really needs assurance, etc. however i also think that for everyone's sake you also need to find a balance so she's not expecting a breast every time she cries, kwim? and also that it's not her sleep prop. my sil did that, lo got a breast every time she was upset. it created not only a human pacifier situation, but also started in with tons of nw's starting around 7mo as lo couldn't self soothe without it. they were all exhausted, a situation i think you really want to be weary of.

[annette.xx]

yeah I think you are right....well she woke last night at half 9 crying and I went in and just patted her gently...she kept doing the usual lifting her head right up and screaming so instead of picking her up I gently kept pushing her head back down against the mattress so she was laying again and once I got her head to stay down i stroked her hair and patted her back and she went back to sleep without the booby!!!

I remember when I found out about the earlier DF reading that the reason we DF is to stop having 2 night wakings....cos what happens is STTN is classed as a 6-7 hour stretch and without the DF they have this 6 hrs from 7 till about 1/2am...then they will usually sleep 4/5 hr stretch after that so another waking will happen....
so the DF reverses it you go in around 4 hr mark so for example bed at 7, DF at 11 then the next waking will be about 7 hrs from when you put them down (for example DF takes about 45 mins for me- so would be 11.45 if i did DF at 11) so wake time would be about 6.45am ...but I often find with the earlier DF the stretch of sleep is much longer more like 8 hrs!!

If it helps at all I always found that really feeding her to the brim always helped at this feed...id put her on the breast for ages and then switch breasts and then always go back to number one for more ...even if she was completely out of it I would always manage more!!!

its so hard when you are so tired to cope with all the feedings!....I luckily had no night wakings last night...cant cope with them cos I have the swine flu and its horrid!!

good luck for tonight!

Annette.xx

[jess, lukeys_mom]

poor you with swine flu!!!!

i know the DF should in principle reverse the night feeding cycle...with our ds1 that's what happened, it made him start sleeping 11pm to 7 am right away. it's just that with Dylan, we were going 7-8 hour stretches at the beginning of the night (7pm to 2 or 3 am) and then started DF and now he can't go longer than 4.5 or 5 hours. So it feels like such a regression! 

I know it won't last forever though...but does feel like it should be stretching out more at this point. i can't help but feel like i messed something up without him getting those long stretches anymore, kwim?