at wits end with 5 1/2 month old's night wakings..HELP!

[evelyn]

Please help me if you can, i am so so tired, and am returning to work in 2 weeks and dont know how i will cope....
Ok, we started EASY with lily 4 weeks ago, previous to this she snacked her way around the clock, now the days are much better and her naps are good most days too, she never has more than 3 hrs total.  She settles herself with an average of 5 PU?PDs.
o but the nights.....she would like to snack her way through them.  We started doing adreamfeed with a bottle (she is bf and this was a way to get her used of the bottle) but she has never taken more than 3 oz and will usually wake about an hour later.
FOr example...last night, we dreamfed her at 10.30, she took 2 oz,
                           woke at 11.45.... 8 Pu/Pds
                            woke at 12.30...i gave in and she had feed for 5 mins
                            woke at 1.45...Pu/Pd until 3.30 when i fed her again for 10 mins
                             out of sheer exhaustion she then slept in the bed until..
                            5.15...good feed this time
                             slept til 6.30
It is really beginning to take its toll on me , i have thrush(which makes these habitual feedings physically painful aswell as emotionally, im tired all the time,my skin has erupted....but that is enough of the self pity!
how should i tackle this problem? any advice would be greatl appreciated!  

i dont mind doing one even 2 feeds at night.....just so you know im not expecting miracles, just a fair bit of time between feeds!

[Jaime]

have you been trying the dreamfeed for the past 4 weeks with no improvement, or was that a fairly recent development?  if you've been trying for that long i'd say it's doing more harm than good & would probably stop.  i think you could be disturbing her sleep a bit too much at that time, whiich helps contribute to the additional nightly wakings. 

hopefully you are also getting help for thrush??  if not, then i would suggest seeing  a doctor or lactation consultant for help with that.

at 5 months she really doesn't need food at night, so i would also recommend that you commit that you do not need to feed her or let her sleep in your bed - if you think you are tired now, imagine how you will feel once you start work again. 

you have made some fantastic improvements, and i think you are on your way to making some more - good luck!!   

[evelyn]

Thanks for the reply! 
We did leave out the dreamfeed a couple oof nights just to see.....made no difference whatsoever!!
O my god..... how hard would it be not to feed her when she wakes up lokking for it?  If i wanted to continue with say 1 feed... should i choose a time??
I am on diflucanfor the thrush and lo is on miconazole....slowly slowly improving.
She had 3 feeds last night ::)i dont feel as tired today though...no idea why!

[rossilu]

hi!  i don't have answers for you, but i am in the same boat and also trying to decide about night feedings....but my son is now almost 7 months (therefore, it has not gotten better on it's own).  the dream feeds seemed to disrupt my son also, but now he wakes before i even attempt to df him.  his schedule has gotten crazy over the past 2 weeks.  no lie, last night he was up every 20-45 minutes.  i fed him at 7 and he fell asleep, he woke at 9:30 and i fed him, then he woke at 10:00 and so on and so on.  dh attended to him till i fed him at 1:00 and then again till he had to get up for work at 4:00.  i fed him when he woke at 5:00 he was still up at 6:00 so we got up.  he took a 20 minute nap in the swing from 6:30-6:50 and then another short nap on my chest (after nursing) from 9:00-9:20.  he is just starting w/ a cold so i'm not pushing anything today.  but UGH i am SO tired (can't even imagine how dh must feel today).  anyway, ds was eating at bedtime (7) then again around 10-11 (not usually a df cause he'd wake first) then between 1-2 and again between 4-5.  naps are a nightmare as well.  i can't decide what to do about the night feedings.  2 weekends ago, dh went to him at night (i slept in the basement) so he went from 7pm-6am w/out eating for 3 nights....he was getting better, but on the 4th night i caved and fed him at 1 (cause i was worried) and it has been so bad since then.  i think i have to stop all night feedings b/c sticking w/ 1 seems to confuse him.  i don't know what to do....sigh.....

[teezee]

if are already stuck feeding your lo and (imho i wouldn't suggest it for a younger infant) they are 6 months or older you can try watering down feedings (if bottle fed) or cutting back number of minutes feeding (bf) every few nights. here is a link to the post concerning this and it worked wonders for us.  it took about a month to achieve but definately well worth the results.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46907.0

good luck!!

[evelyn]

o rossilu...{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}, nights like that seem to go on forever dont they?!  You have my empathy, sympathy and best wishes.  keep me posted on anything that works for you.

[evelyn]

thanks for the link teezee.....my first dd was an angel baby and was bottlefed, she started to wake up each night at 5months(had been sleeping through from 3) i used to give her a bottle and she would go straight back to sleep.....at 8 months one night i gave her a bottle of boiled water....which she finished....never woke for a night feed again.
breastfeeding has made me into a first time mom all over again! and this time to a spirited lo!