thread: Feeling used......by my own baby

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  1. #1
    ♥ BellyBelly's Creator ♥
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    Feb 2003
    Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Australia
    8,982

    I better add, me too, with an 18 month old! It's been the cause of many a burn out here - if you don't have much support it makes it so hard. I had one big one last night - the whole energy required for the expo and breastfeeding was too much - you need something like 2000kj to make breastmilk! No wonder we get so tired.

    Elijah wakes at 12, comes into our bed then every few hours will latch on. This is normal behaviour, Marisa did this too, but it doesn't come across as normal due to the way things have changed and certain routines have been introduced. Some babies are just like this and you can either try and make it as easy as possible through co-sleeping or try some other methods of coersion - expressing for hubby to bottlefeed. I know it is hard, trust me, both f my children have been like this and it's exhausting over four years. Hard work at times and nothing else has worked for me - I was kicked out after two weeks at a sleep school with Marisa when she was 4-5 months old, both of us in worse shape than when we went in.

    So get support behind you, call the ABA, have a think about what you want to do, weigh up pro's and con's and know lots of other women are going through this and your baby is normal. Unfortunately we no longer live in such a communial / community living that we can't draw on as much support - you have to go seek it to survive. Make sure you take out time for you, get some rest and go for a massage or something else regularly. Get out for an hour or even half an hour each day without baby if it's possible. Who cares if it's to the supermarket to get milk - it all helps the sanity. Sleep when baby is sleeping, sleep on weekends, get a post-natal doula for the hard times - anything helps. The worst thing you can do is not seek help.
    Kelly xx

    Creator of BellyBelly.com.au, doula, writer and mother of three amazing children
    Author of Want To Be A Doula? Everything You Need To Know
    In 2015 I went Around The World + Kids!
    Forever grateful to my incredible Mod Team

  2. #2
    BellyBelly Member

    Jun 2005
    Sydney
    2,121

    Sophie is great in the day - feeds every 2 hours, sometimes less. Has a play with her sister, then falls alseep. SOmetimes on the breast, othertimes on her own. She doesnt have a lot of hours sleep in day - prob 3 hours all up. The thing is I LOVE BREASTFEEDING, did with DD#1 too, but when its almost every hour your up, by the 4th or 5th time you start resenting it a bit. I think i yelled, 'right, we're goign onto formula' sometime during last nights escapade - i resent saying it now, i dont want to feel like that, but i guess thats what broken sleep does.

    Ive tried the dummy today and she suckign it like a trooper. For the past week at lunchtime ive been giving her 20mls of EBM - every day she's been smiling or just playing with the teat - but today she gulped the 20mls. Its been a long day, but im so happy she took it.

    I LOVE co sleeping, but DH wont have it (grrrrr). We'll see how tonight goes......maybe it is a growth spurt like some of you have said......