Breastfeeding agitation?

[HotI]

Much the same at night, thanks for asking. It's only at night time (overnight) when I feel this way.

DD is very slowly giving me longer stretches at night now with sleep - at least one 4 hour stretch so I guess I am just really really tired and run down just now. Feeling the strain more than ever. When she wakes for a feed I am physically anxious and cringing at times. So weird because I LOVE feeding her in the daylight hours.

*sigh*

This too shall pass! (It bloody better!)

Does she feed at every wake up? My LO used to feed at every wake up, and then i began rubbing her back first. Initially, she wasn't keen and would just want boob, but over time she began to relax just with the backrub and would go back to sleep. I never refused to give her a feed, and (fortunately for me) over time she got used to going back to sleep with cuddles instead of a feed. She still wakes most nights and comes into our bed (she is in a side car cot atm) but usually doesn't feed overnight. She has been sick this week and has had feeds overnight, but i feel ok about them cos i know she needs/wants them rather than both of us feeding overnight out of habit. I also wear clothes overnight that mean bub can't just help herself and i have to rearrange to feed. Also, we have a non-drip drink bottle of water easily accessible so she has something to drink if she is thirsty.

Will she go to your partner overnight? Can you swap sides of the bed and see if she will settle for him first?

I know it's hard to make the night changes, especially when you are so tired, cos they don't always go easy. Keep remembering.. this too shall pass

[MummaSue]

Thanks again for the support, lovely people.

She won't be settled by daddy overnight. Only boob. I have tried rubbing her back instead of boob and that has worked a grand total of ONE time - and even that time she woke half an hour later for boob. I do try to lie still and see if she'll settle herself back off and again, she's done this a handful of times. I made my peace with her being a wakeful baby a long time ago. She's even barely sleeping in the day time. She'll have a day time nap maybe 4 days a week. She's too busy taking in the world.

I dunno. I guess, this too shall pass. It has to.

I was more concerned about the agitation I was feeling rather than her frequent waking. Although, I know that the two are linked and I'm tired.
DD seems to be writing her own version of the rules.
xx

[HotI]

A woman in my ABA group had agitation with her first child when she was pregnant with her 2nd. She weaned the toddler cos it got too much. When her 2nd child got to a similar age, she had extreme agitation again, even though she wasn't pregnant, and again stopped feeding cos it was too much for her. She is not sure now whether the first time was due to pregnancy hormones or something else. Or whether the 2ns time was related to the first.

My LO (when she is not sick) doesn't always sleep in the day either, maybe couple times a week, and only for a n hour. It's better than a few months ago when there were no day sleeps at all. These April babies!

[MummaSue]

These April babies!

Indeed!

[onthefly]

do you think that's what it is? April?

[HotI]

ooooh, your munchkin is an April baby too! must be the month.

[MummaSue]

Google "Aries baby personality".

It's very interesting. And combine that with my spirited child and we have one very challenging little miss!

[Arcadia]

again. You're such a wonderful tuned in mumma!

For the aversion feelings, I found it helped to work on the latch. Dd would slip off and was a bit lazy and it meant I could feel her tongue rubbing my nipple *shudder*, so I kept getting her to reattach when that happened. Counting backwards from ten is a great idea at this age too (as HotI suggested).

You could also try distracting her with a zippy cup (or bananas!) like we did.

Thinking of you