2 hourly feeds overnight

[Sammiejane]

I am after some advice as this is just getting beyond a joke!

when i bought DD2 home from hospital she was feeding 3-4 hourly over night, by 6 weeks she was going down at 8.30pm and then i was getting up at around 4am for a feed and then again at 7am - when we would get up for the day.

Around 10-12 weeks she started waking more frequently and it would be 2am and 6am and then back to sleep again and wake at 8am, which then deteriorated further...

Now (this has been like this from around 14 or 15 weeks) she goes down at around the same time and is awake around 11pm, 1am, 3 or 4, 5 or 6am... each time she has a feed, will not be patted, rocked or sung to sleep.

In the day she feeds in the morning and afternoon (until around 4pm) on both sides 2-3 hourly (i demand feed)
After about 4pm she feeds hourly on one side only, so at around 5, 6.30. 7.30 and then bed
Overnight she only feeds on one side, usually for 5-7 minutes with decent sucks and then goes straight back down to sleep.

I am beginning to doubt myself, DD1 was a terrible sleeper, as in she took ages to go back to sleep or go to sleep, but she was sleeping through from about 6 weeks and then started waking for one feed overnight at around 5 months... But she feed at regular times in the day and night, DD2 has no real day time patter at all...

DD2 is far from undernourished and i know that she is getting enough - WHY is she waking so much over night for feeds?

She has not started solids yet as we will be doing BLS again and she is only 20 weeks, I aim to start her somewhere between 5.5mths and 6 months.

Please tell me that this is 'normal' with other babies?
I am getting run down and tired

Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully received

[Jakabella]

Im sorry I dont have any advice hun but I did want to offer you some hugs and I do know it will get better for you! xo

[Kmn]

I think it is pretty normal - and it is much harder when you can't sleep in once you finally do get her to sleep well. As far as I can tell all kids have some period when they do their level best to ensure that their mother is a zombie.
Can you feed lying down? That can make it a bit less horrid.

Also, try and really really encourage her to feed more in the hour before bed - actually offer a couple more times.
And would trying to get her to nap more in the day help - so she has practise at falling asleep?

[Arimeh]

Hey SJ, we are going through a similar thing here so I think its normal - not that that is helpful to you!!!

She feeds basically 2 hourly during the day, then feeds around 5ish, then 6.30, 8.30 then either 10.30 or 11.30pm and then gets up usually at 1, 3 and 5.30am.

I'm hoping its normal!

[Jellybean29]

omg this sounds like me!! Just lately DS has gone from 2 feeds overnight to 2hrly feeds! I am hoping its just an age thing..
But I am taking the other posters suggestions on board.

[Heaven]

Unfortunately for us, normal.

Both my DD's did the same. It's very tiring I know DD2 is now up God knows how many times a night. Actually, 2 hrly feeds are sounding heavenly at the moment, lol.

Don't look at the clock!! It REALLY makes a difference not knowing how much sleep you have(n't) had! I also co-sleep and feed lying down so I can get more rest.

Actually, although I'm woken up A LOT all night I have a pretty sweet deal I reckon. If ever DD2 doesn't go back to sleep with a feed DH gets up with her. So I never actually have to get up at night. Makes a difference. So sometimes DH may get to sleep pretty much all night if she feeds back to sleep or sometimes he'll have a shocker where he's up all the time. I like my side of the bargain better.

[onthefly]

yes, same. aside from a few nights of reprieve every now and then, DD has been doing this since around 3 months I think. sometimes it's hourly
Is she in bed with you? Definitely don't look at the clock - I agree it makes it worse. Sometimes DD doesn't go back to sleep and wants to muck around. I just put my earplugs in and roll over. She lets me know when she needs me. If that doesn't work I hand over to DH for a few hours of shut eye.

[Kazzo]

, this sounds like my DD2 when she turned 5 months old. She was a great sleeper up until then and then all of a sudden she was waking up 6 or more times a night and nothing but a BF would settle her. I ended up going to an Osteopath to get her checked out and after 4 appointments over 6 weeks she was back to sleeping through the night again. I also ditched her dummy, she was waking up looking for it, I would put it back in, she would suck on it for 5 or so minutes then spit it out and then wake up and the cycle continued.
I also upped my protein by way of shakes (after a thread on here suggested it). This might not have helped in any way with DD2 and sleeping but it did make me feel better and gave me some more energy.
I also started co sleeping and now DD2 sleeps in her cot which is right next to my bed with the drop rail removed so she is right next to me.
Oh and I also started putting her down on her tummy and she liked that better too. It helped with wind issues so much as well.


I am sorry I can't be very much help, I just wanted to let you know that your not alone and that there is sleep at the end of the overnight feeds eventually.

[Sammiejane]

Thanks everyone... I think

Re cosleeping, DH takes medication at night that make him a very very deep sleeper, he doesn't even hear dd2 cry (he use to get up for DD1 as he was not taking the mess then) so it's not 'safe' for her to be in our bed.. That said, at around 5am she comes in then as he is no so knocked out. Our bedroom is too small for a cot or bassinet, so unfortunately she is in her own room




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[onthefly]

My DH sleeps in teh spare room

[blue_hebe]

Sounds a lot like my DS (just turned 6 months). I was coping ok until I got sick with a cold and then I really started to miss the sleep...

The sleep is starting to improve slowly (getting one 4, sometimes 6 hour stretch along with the 2 hourly ones) from making the following changes:
- moved him to his own room
- visit to osteopath (although he admitted there really wasn't much of a problem there)
- re-wrapping him (hadn't bothered earlier as he hated his hands being wrapped). This helps settle him down more easily (still gets out of it during the night)
- starting to implement some techniques from the No-Cry Sleep Solution book that suggests gently removing the baby from the breast as he's falling asleep (rather than fully asleep) and gradually working through to just going in and verbally reassuring him (about 6 stages). Hard to explain everything here, but I got the book from the library and found it a good read. I'm only at stage 2, so it's a work in progress!

I hope you get some more sleep soon!!

[Sammiejane]

My DH sleeps in teh spare room

DH did when she was waking every 45 mins and we coslept then, but DSS has just moved in so we no longer have a spare room!


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[sloane]

that is tough DS was exactly the same - till about 18 months i did find that i regained some sanity when we co-slept - in the end we put a mattress on the floor in his room from when he was about 9 months. maybe just a bit too soon for you though! hope it passes quickly & she stretches out those feeds

[~ Mylitta ~]

My DS didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 18 months old, and my DD spent last night feeding every 1/2 hour, so I guess I probably don't have any useful tips, lol. Like Heaven said though, I find it best not to even look at the clock.

[Arcadia]

Normal here too. I have ds on the outside edge of the bed and have a cot next to us, but you could get a bed rail.

Cosleepling is the only way to survive this period. Ds has fed two hourly 24/7 since he was born. It's a little less some nights now, but it's still a lot.

This too shall pass