help, waking every hour?

[MantaRay]

Same thing happened with my bub with not much helping but in the end i tryed some constant sound like a fan that humms i found for a while that worked then my mother in law told me to put some farex in a bottle so its just a bit thicker that worked aswell but my midwife said it was not a good idea when i told her, i hope that helps

Hmmm,not a good idea is a bit of an understatement given that this is a huge choking risk. And also farex meets no nutritional needs so is unlikely to help the situation.

Erin, this must be very tiring for you. Waking every hour is not so common, but unfortunately waking frequently at this age is very common. This is the age at which the brain is rapidly developing in readiness for the next milestones of crawling and sitting if they are not already, or walking and talking. What is really needed at this stage is frequent drinks of breast milk, so solids either don't make any difference, or potentially make it worse. Babies do not need solids until 6 months, although this behaviour is commonly mistaken for a readiness for solids.

I wish I could give you a magic fix, but really it is just a phase which will pass, but which you can't do much about just yet. Keeping up the bfing on demand is exactly what your DS needs right now. Good on you for doing just that. And wow at 5 months of exclusive bfing. You are doing a fantastic job hun, keep up the great work!!

[Erin_25]

Thanks for the ideas, replies & encouragement everyone!! I just got back onto the computer to see the messages as DS sits here wide awake....grrrrr!

I am so proud of myself for BF this long & do not want to give up. I also promised myself to give babyled solids a go past 6months....not before. So I'm keen to ride it out but it's been going on for 2wks now & I am exhausted!!!!

Arcadia, I would love someone to take DS1 for even an hour, but DS2 doesn't sleep much during the day either grrrrr & we don't have any family help here. I guess that's why its so frustrating.

ooooooh I'm sooooo tired, but I'm pushing through. Is there anyway with this stage they can mix up day & night?

[Erin_25]

Ok....HELP...... I got some great replies to this thread, thanks everyone. But 4 weeks on and he still is waking every hour, some times every half hour. I'm actually starting to regret having succeded in BF this long & wishing he would just have a bottle of formula.

I'm soooo tired, and I've a 3yr old who wakes still sometimes, a DH who works away lots!!! and I study and am getting nothing done.

He used to sleep great, now it seems to me he wakes most sleep cycles and will not go back to sleep without using me....what can I do, I'm ready to give up. I can't even get him to take EBM in a bottle so DH can do some of the work. So over it.

[Lewis's Mummy]

Hugs to you! I remember it well from DS1 although he'd never been a terribly fabulous sleeper before. I don't know if you can do it, but I ended up going to a day service settling/sleep clinic thing to get him used to going to sleep without having to feed. It didn't magically make him sleep longer overnight, but gradually he did get better at going back to sleep between cycles. Even now we still use some of the techniques from then... he has music going softly for his day nap and sometimes stll sit and pat his bottom (although now he requests it when he's having trouble winding down). He needs one of us sitting beside him while he drifts off at night and if he wakes at all during the night, which still happens every few days too. I found back then that expressing so someone else could feed him was just more work for me. He didn't start solids til 7 months and that didn't change the waking thing either. This time around I'm consciously reminding myself that the hug police are not going to walk through the door and we co sleep whenever we need to. It's a matter of time and yep, it sucks! But remember you're not alone - you have the rest of us sleep deprived bellybelly girls to keep you company in the wee hours via cyber space. Hope it gets a bit better for you every day.

[MantaRay]

Erin, that must be exhausting How is he during the day? Can you give us some idea of how much he is sleeping during the day, whether he has one longer period of sleep at all? There will be some things you can try but it is hard to suggest things without knowing more about your situation.

Another option is to call the ABA helpline - 1800 mum 2 mum (1800 686 2 686, drop the last 6 for VOIP) and talk it through with them. They can ask questions and give you appropriate ideas to try.

I hope things settle down soon for you.

[Erin_25]

Lewis's Mummy, we live in a remote area so no access to a sleep school or anything like that.

Mantaray, he has about 3 sleeps a day. I was about to jump on here and say how he only goes through one sleep cycle during the day also.....then he slept for 2.5hrs this morning?!?!

I never BF DS1 so didn't even think about any issues with BF....I'm told its usual for a BF baby to wake more regularly but every hour....ouch!

He goes to sleep fine both day and night, most days doesn't sleep longer than an hour at a time. We've checked he's not too cold, too hot etc and so on. Can't get him to take a dummy and prob would have given up with BF now too but he won't even take a botttle!!!

[Kmn]

Maybe get some opinions from the queen elizabeth centre - they do phone consultations....