Sleeping & Feeding Advice Needed

[amores0121]

After we got through the 4 month wakeful (which lasted about 2 weeks), my son was sleeping until 2 or 3, wake to nurse, wake 2 hours later to nurse, then 2 hours later nurse again and we would be up. Beginning of Dec I started partial weaning. By the end of the month we were down to evening, night time and one am nursing session. I went back to work this month. He now has one nursing session before bed, nurse through the night/early am.  Well, he has decided that he is going to wake up 8 million times a night. I don't know if he is not being satisfied since my milk supply is lower or what. He is teething, and he isn't officially crawling now, but is somewhat mobile.

Last night he probably woke up 4x, wanting to eat every time. The night before i got lucky and he was only up 2x but two nights ago he was up 6x--not every time to eat, though.  Since I am not filling up like before, I am wondering if that could be why he wakes up so frequently. Or if since he has started rolling around his crib he is waking himself up.  Our sleep situation is his crib is sidecarred to our bed, and of course I sleep on that side.  My thoughts are to let DH feed him a bottle for his first feed that way I can at least get some sleep. Or  should I move him to his room and see if that helps?  I thought once he started eating solids he might sleep better, but no dice.

This is uncharted territory for me as I have never nursed this long and my daughter was a wonderful sleeper.  6 months with no sleep has me on the brink of insanity. Please any suggestions are welcomed.

[flumma]

Jan 28, 2015 9:40:49 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

After we got through the 4 month wakeful (which lasted about 2 weeks), my son was sleeping until 2 or 3, wake to nurse, wake 2 hours later to nurse, then 2 hours later nurse again and we would be up. Beginning of Dec I started partial weaning. By the end of the month we were down to evening, night time and one am nursing session. I went back to work this month. He now has one nursing session before bed, nurse through the night/early am.  Well, he has decided that he is going to wake up 8 million times a night. I don't know if he is not being satisfied since my milk supply is lower or what. He is teething, and he isn't officially crawling now, but is somewhat mobile.

Last night he probably woke up 4x, wanting to eat every time. The night before i got lucky and he was only up 2x but two nights ago he was up 6x--not every time to eat, though.  Since I am not filling up like before, I am wondering if that could be why he wakes up so frequently. Or if since he has started rolling around his crib he is waking himself up.  Our sleep situation is his crib is sidecarred to our bed, and of course I sleep on that side.  My thoughts are to let DH feed him a bottle for his first feed that way I can at least get some sleep. Or  should I move him to his room and see if that helps?  I thought once he started eating solids he might sleep better, but no dice.

This is uncharted territory for me as I have never nursed this long and my daughter was a wonderful sleeper.  6 months with no sleep has me on the brink of insanity. Please any suggestions are welcomed.

No real advice from. just sleepy hugs. I feel like I Gave up trying to figure put why either of my boys wake up at night. Honestly, I still have no idea why they do.  Would reverse cycling be a possibility though? Does he just miss his mama? 

[rockiesnugget]

How is he eating during the day while you are at work? If you are ready for him to move to his room then it wouldn't hurt to try it.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 9:45:47 GMT -5 flumma said:

Jan 28, 2015 9:40:49 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

After we got through the 4 month wakeful (which lasted about 2 weeks), my son was sleeping until 2 or 3, wake to nurse, wake 2 hours later to nurse, then 2 hours later nurse again and we would be up. Beginning of Dec I started partial weaning. By the end of the month we were down to evening, night time and one am nursing session. I went back to work this month. He now has one nursing session before bed, nurse through the night/early am.  Well, he has decided that he is going to wake up 8 million times a night. I don't know if he is not being satisfied since my milk supply is lower or what. He is teething, and he isn't officially crawling now, but is somewhat mobile.

Last night he probably woke up 4x, wanting to eat every time. The night before i got lucky and he was only up 2x but two nights ago he was up 6x--not every time to eat, though.  Since I am not filling up like before, I am wondering if that could be why he wakes up so frequently. Or if since he has started rolling around his crib he is waking himself up.  Our sleep situation is his crib is sidecarred to our bed, and of course I sleep on that side.  My thoughts are to let DH feed him a bottle for his first feed that way I can at least get some sleep. Or  should I move him to his room and see if that helps?  I thought once he started eating solids he might sleep better, but no dice.

This is uncharted territory for me as I have never nursed this long and my daughter was a wonderful sleeper.  6 months with no sleep has me on the brink of insanity. Please any suggestions are welcomed.

No real advice from. just sleepy hugs. I feel like I Gave up trying to figure put why either of my boys wake up at night. Honestly, I still have no idea why they do.  Would reverse cycling be a possibility though? Does he just miss his mama? 

Reverse cycling is where they eat more at night than day time, right? I don't think it's that b/c he eats the same during the day. He is a very big boy, though. Around 22#

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 9:46:39 GMT -5 rockiesnugget said:

How is he eating during the day while you are at work? If you are ready for him to move to his room then it wouldn't hurt to try it.

He eats a 4-6 oz every 3 hours during the day. 2x a day he is eating fruit or veggie.

[TJ]

Some babies just don't sleep well at that age. Neither of mine STTN till 10m for E, still waiting on P at 8m. Have you tried a magic suit? White noise? Music? Sleepy hugs from me too.

[rockiesnugget]

Jan 28, 2015 10:03:21 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

Jan 28, 2015 9:46:39 GMT -5 rockiesnugget said:

How is he eating during the day while you are at work? If you are ready for him to move to his room then it wouldn't hurt to try it.

He eats a 4-6 oz every 3 hours during the day. 2x a day he is eating fruit or veggie.

It appears he is getting enough calories in the day to not wake every 2 hours to eat. It could be teething and/or comfort nursing. Sorry for the no sleep.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 10:05:12 GMT -5 TJ said:

Some babies just don't sleep well at that age. Neither of mine STTN till 10m for E, still waiting on P at 8m. Have you tried a magic suit? White noise? Music? Sleepy hugs from me too.

How much does P nurse at night?  No haven't tried a magic suit or white noise. Maybe I will try that tonight. Idk if that will bother my H sleeping, but at this point I don't really care.  

[rrrrrachel]

It's just so hard to tell. My daughter didn't sttn until two. During that time she slept better and worse at different times for different reasons. Only some of which I ever figured out.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 10:15:45 GMT -5 rockiesnugget said:

Jan 28, 2015 10:03:21 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

He eats a 4-6 oz every 3 hours during the day. 2x a day he is eating fruit or veggie.

It appears he is getting enough calories in the day to not wake every 2 hours to eat. It could be teething and/or comfort nursing. Sorry for the no sleep.

Yes, that's what I thought. The night he only woke 2x I had given him Tylenol b/c his teeth were really bothering him. I gave him some Tylenol last night, but that didn't appear to help. However, he was rolling all over the place last night. I woke up with feet in my face and he woke me up by slapping me in the face this am. That was lovely. I think he also smells the milk and he wants it b/c he knows it is there.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 10:23:32 GMT -5 rrrrrachel said:

It's just so hard to tell. My daughter didn't sttn until two. During that time she slept better and worse at different times for different reasons. Only some of which I ever figured out.

Oh, Lord. YOu poor woman. I pray he sleeps through the night before 2.  I'm dying now. It's just so hard now that I'm back to work.

[rockiesnugget]

Jan 28, 2015 10:23:28 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

Jan 28, 2015 10:15:45 GMT -5 rockiesnugget said:

It appears he is getting enough calories in the day to not wake every 2 hours to eat. It could be teething and/or comfort nursing. Sorry for the no sleep.

Yes, that's what I thought. The night he only woke 2x I had given him Tylenol b/c his teeth were really bothering him. I gave him some Tylenol last night, but that didn't appear to help. However, he was rolling all over the place last night. I woke up with feet in my face and he woke me up by slapping me in the face this am. That was lovely. I think he also smells the milk and he wants it b/c he knows it is there.

Even though LO is sleeping well now, occassionally if I open the door to check on him and he smells milk he wakes immediately and has to have all the milk 

[unaveragejane]

I moved L to his room a few months ago, and we both get more sleep now. It could be a coincidence, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Also, getting YH to give the LO a bottle can help. We did this with DS1 bc he was FF. MH is a night owl, so he would stay up and give DS1 a bottle around 10 or 11pm. It helped me survive until he started sleeping more. Also, fwiw some solids sometimes gave DS1 gas that kept him up more at night rather than helping him sleep. I can't remember what we wound up doing except gas drops.

[meesh]

My son is 22 months....and only within the last few months has his sleeping improved.
He woke several times a night to nurse up until he was 19 months old. He still wakes up once, sometimes twice.

I got suggestions to let mh feed him or try to get him down to sleep again-but it was honestly easier for me to do it. I went back to work at 8 weeks PP and have dealt with the sleep issues by surviving, pretty much

So, I offer sleepy hugs. Is just been pushing through this nighttime thing bc I know M needs me. Yup, I'm exhausted all the time-but I try to remember that it's me that he needs. If mh were to getup with him, it just turns into hysterics. Keeping me up anyway

And FTR, I cried and begged for help from everyone to help me with my son's sleep-but eventually accepted it

I don't know. I'm no help

[clldll]

Wait I'm confused. What do you mean by partial weaning? Does that mean he gets 4-6 oz of formula every three hours during the day? Or are you still pumping for him? What about in the afternoon/evenings are you giving formula or BM on top of fruit/veggies? Solids should not replace BM/formula until 1. So he should still be getting the same amount of BM/formula as before. Also it's been years since I dealt with formula, but my vague recollection is you need to give more the older baby gets...because the calorie content doesn't change like it does for BM. Maybe he really is hungry at night?

[Nik Pal]

Not sure how to help, but I can commiserate. I got like 2 hrs of sleep last night and I'm at work today. I would def give sleeping in a different room a shot. I hope things get better!

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 10:35:33 GMT -5 clldll said:

Wait I'm confused. What do you mean by partial weaning? Does that mean he gets 4-6 oz of formula every three hours during the day? Or are you still pumping for him? What about in the afternoon/evenings are you giving formula or BM on top of fruit/veggies? Solids should not replace BM/formula until 1. So he should still be getting the same amount of BM/formula as before. Also it's been years since I dealt with formula, but my vague recollection is you need to give more the older baby gets...because the calorie content doesn't change like it does for BM. Maybe he really is hungry at night?

Yes, he is FF during the day.  Yes, he is still getting the formula in addition to his fruit and veggies.  He usually drinks 5 oz of formula, sometimes 6.  When he started on formula he only took 4, so he has moved up. Sometimes he stilll only takes 4, but that is because he does not want any more.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 10:32:48 GMT -5 meesh said:

My son is 22 months....and only within the last few months has his sleeping improved.
He woke several times a night to nurse up until he was 19 months old. He still wakes up once, sometimes twice.

I got suggestions to let mh feed him or try to get him down to sleep again-but it was honestly easier for me to do it. I went back to work at 8 weeks PP and have dealt with the sleep issues by surviving, pretty much

So, I offer sleepy hugs. Is just been pushing through this nighttime thing bc I know M needs me. Yup, I'm exhausted all the time-but I try to remember that it's me that he needs. If mh were to getup with him, it just turns into hysterics. Keeping me up anyway

And FTR, I cried and begged for help from everyone to help me with my son's sleep-but eventually accepted it

I don't know. I'm no help

I have thought of you a few times b/c I know your son does not sleep well and wondered how the hell you've been doing it this long.

[TJ]

Jan 28, 2015 10:21:10 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

Jan 28, 2015 10:05:12 GMT -5 TJ said:

Some babies just don't sleep well at that age. Neither of mine STTN till 10m for E, still waiting on P at 8m. Have you tried a magic suit? White noise? Music? Sleepy hugs from me too.

How much does P nurse at night?  No haven't tried a magic suit or white noise. Maybe I will try that tonight. Idk if that will bother my H sleeping, but at this point I don't really care.  

P is at anywhere between 0 and 6 wake ups.  We've had like 2 nights where it was 0.  It's typically 2 times. 

I'm confused though too.  So you are giving formula during the day, and BFing at night?  Are you pumping during the day too?  Because if not, your supply is probably really low.  So he's not getting much during night time feeds.

I also agree that smelling you will make him want milk.  If you are ready, try putting him in his room.  And I don't see why white noise would bother YH's sleep.  MH and I loved having P's white noise machine in our room so much, that we bought another to keep in our room. 

[meesh]

And-for some reason people expect babies to get into a new sleep pattern and keep it forever. The needs of my son are different every night. Sometimes he wakes and waves at me...and is back to sleep in a minute.
It could change night to night. It could be teething one night, and needing comfort the next.

I don't know. I always sound insensitive-but hoping for SingTTN is an unfair expectation for such a small baby.
I've just been powering through it. Blech. Okay. Done. Lol

[zaraceligon]

I think is totally normal, the all babies wake up several time during the night. There's to many reason why she does it, she could be theething, and she just wants to comfor while nursing, or she wants to practice to be able to roll faster or staring to crawl or sitting who knows. How you try the Baltic Amber necklace, the will help a lot, not just for teething but for sleep as well. Other than the, I don't have a real advice, I usually let both of my kids wondering during the nigth,specially when they where the young, both of them they where just playing, and after ten mins they when back to sleep.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 11:44:41 GMT -5 TJ said:

Jan 28, 2015 10:21:10 GMT -5 amores0121 said:

How much does P nurse at night?  No haven't tried a magic suit or white noise. Maybe I will try that tonight. Idk if that will bother my H sleeping, but at this point I don't really care.  

P is at anywhere between 0 and 6 wake ups.  We've had like 2 nights where it was 0.  It's typically 2 times. 

I'm confused though too.  So you are giving formula during the day, and BFing at night?  Are you pumping during the day too?  Because if not, your supply is probably really low.  So he's not getting much during night time feeds.

I also agree that smelling you will make him want milk.  If you are ready, try putting him in his room.  And I don't see why white noise would bother YH's sleep.  MH and I loved having P's white noise machine in our room so much, that we bought another to keep in our room. 

No, I am not pumping during the day. I am not able to pump at work as it is a very small business and there is nowhere to pump.  So I did some research on partial weaning and thought that would be best and that way he would still get some BM. Before bedtime, I am usually very full. But once he drains me, they don't fill up much which is why I am thinking to give him a formula bottle at one of the MOTN feedings, b/c I dont' think i have enough milk to satisfy every MOTN feeding. 

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 11:49:56 GMT -5 meesh said:

And-for some reason people expect babies to get into a new sleep pattern and keep it forever. The needs of my son are different every night. Sometimes he wakes and waves at me...and is back to sleep in a minute.
It could change night to night. It could be teething one night, and needing comfort the next.

I don't know. I always sound insensitive-but hoping for SingTTN is an unfair expectation for such a small baby.
I've just been powering through it. Blech. Okay. Done. Lol

I get what you're saying. I don't expect him to STTN, I am just wondering if my low supply could be contributing to his wake-ups as well...

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 12:31:18 GMT -5 zaraceligon said:

I think is totally normal, the all babies wake up several time during the night. There's to many reason why she does it, she could be theething, and she just wants to comfor while nursing, or she wants to practice to be able to roll faster or staring to crawl or sitting who knows. How you try the Baltic Amber necklace, the will help a lot, not just for teething but for sleep as well. Other than the, I don't have a real advice, I usually let both of my kids wondering during the nigth,specially when they where the young, both of them they where just playing, and after ten mins they when back to sleep.

I thought about the necklace the other day, I think I will order one today. 

[TJ]

Order from Inspired by Finn. They are the best. Lighter color, and unpolished.

[amores0121]

Can anyone reccomend which teething necklace to buy? There are so many on Amazon...

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 12:58:10 GMT -5 TJ said:

Order from Inspired by Finn. They are the best. Lighter color, and unpolished.

Ty, TJ

[flumma]

Jan 28, 2015 10:32:48 GMT -5 meesh said:

My son is 22 months....and only within the last few months has his sleeping improved.
He woke several times a night to nurse up until he was 19 months old. He still wakes up once, sometimes twice.

I got suggestions to let mh feed him or try to get him down to sleep again-but it was honestly easier for me to do it. I went back to work at 8 weeks PP and have dealt with the sleep issues by surviving, pretty much

So, I offer sleepy hugs. Is just been pushing through this nighttime thing bc I know M needs me. Yup, I'm exhausted all the time-but I try to remember that it's me that he needs. If mh were to getup with him, it just turns into hysterics. Keeping me up anyway

And FTR, I cried and begged for help from everyone to help me with my son's sleep-but eventually accepted it

I don't know. I'm no help

I'm just agreeing with MH not being of much use either. At one point if he went in,  V would scream for an hour or more. Not like that helped me get anymore sleep. ...

[clldll]

So first off I want to say I'm sorry if my last post came off sounding like I was accusing you of starving you son. I re-read it and it kind of sounded that way. I really didn't mean to imply that you'd intentionally do that! I just wanted to be sure I understood what you're doing.

That being said, I do agree with TJ that by not pumping during the day, you are probably losing your supply very quickly. Once you've BF'ed for 10+ months your body knows how to handle not being stimulated every 2-3 hours during the day, but before that point what you're calling partial weaning will probably eventually dry you up....I say probably because everyone's different. Maybe it won't happen to you.

So I think you have a choice to make. If you give him a bottle, my guess is he will be more satiated than he's getting from nursing. But that will probably further decrease your supply because he'll nurse even less. Which is fine if that's what you want. Don't be shocked if it doesn't change the amount of sleep he gets though, for all the reasons others have mentioned above.

But if you really do want to keep nursing at least part time, I'd suggest cutting back on solids and nursing more in that late afternoon/early evening time. I pumped at work, but at 6 months I experienced a supply dip and for me the only way to keep my supply up enough to continue BM only ( which was what I wanted) was to nurse more frequently in the evening. Like literally he'd be attached to my boob a good chunk of the time between 4:30 and 7:30, most nights, until right around a year. Thankfully my milk lover was ok with that.

Anyway good luck with whatever you decide and I do hope you find an arrangement that works for both of you.

[amores0121]

Jan 28, 2015 13:36:59 GMT -5 clldll said:

So first off I want to say I'm sorry if my last post came off sounding like I was accusing you of starving you son. I re-read it and it kind of sounded that way. I really didn't mean to imply that you'd intentionally do that! I just wanted to be sure I understood what you're doing.

That being said, I do agree with TJ that by not pumping during the day, you are probably losing your supply very quickly. Once you've BF'ed for 10+ months your body knows how to handle not being stimulated every 2-3 hours during the day, but before that point what you're calling partial weaning will probably eventually dry you up....I say probably because everyone's different. Maybe it won't happen to you.

So I think you have a choice to make. If you give him a bottle, my guess is he will be more satiated than he's getting from nursing. But that will probably further decrease your supply because he'll nurse even less. Which is fine if that's what you want. Don't be shocked if it doesn't change the amount of sleep he gets though, for all the reasons others have mentioned above.

But if you really do want to keep nursing at least part time, I'd suggest cutting back on solids and nursing more in that late afternoon/early evening time. I pumped at work, but at 6 months I experienced a supply dip and for me the only way to keep my supply up enough to continue BM only ( which was what I wanted) was to nurse more frequently in the evening. Like literally he'd be attached to my boob a good chunk of the time between 4:30 and 7:30, most nights, until right around a year. Thankfully my milk lover was ok with that.

Anyway good luck with whatever you decide and I do hope you find an arrangement that works for both of you.

Yes, before I was doing 2 evening feeds. I could try to go back to that and see if it helps my supply. Thank you for the advice.