Hi Everyone,

Hope you are well. It's stinking hot here in Adelaide today. DH and I took Darcey to the movies this morning, it was a 10.30am session, and the only people we saw buying tickets, or in our session were mums with babies in prams, pregnant women or grandparents! So I didn't feel guilty if she cried. She only let out one little cry when she woke up, I fed her, and then she fell asleep in my DH's arms. Everyone was happy, including me. The movie, Invictus, by the way was great, but I think Morgan Freeman could read the back of a cereal packet and I'd be rapt. What a great actor.

Got a couple of questions, wondering if anyone is interested in comparing notes?

If you are bf'ing, at the moment, how long are you feeding for, on each boob? Also, on average, how much sleep in between feeds? How much time is your baby alert for?

With the exception of the last two days (and some of the problem day/nights), wer're generally on 3 hourly feeds. She will take one boob for approx 20 - 25 mins, and then I'll swap her over for another 15-20 mins on the other side. Total feed time is normally between 35 to 45 mins. Plus of course, 5 mins rest time in between. We then burp for a while....5 mins to 45 mins, depending. I then spend time settling her (especially at night), so she's getting maybe an hour to hour and half of sleep within a three hour session. We also have at least one session, where she is completely alert, awake, not interested in sleep at all. I'm OK with this, now that we've managed to move it from the 1am feed to any other time!

We've changed our routine the last week, so that Darcey is having a bath around 9pm at night (seems late I know, but its working), when she wakes up for the 9pm feed, we're bathing her, then feeding, burping, settling. This is working well, as the last few nights, she has slept from around 11pm through to 4.30am/5.00am. I'm finding that sleeping through this particular time period is very, very restful for me, and I'm less tired in the morning. Hopefully it will continue.

Does anyone have any successful tips for settling, or keeping days and nights in the right order?

Also, if anyone is bf'ing, have you been expressing and letting DH feed breast milk with bottle? My DH is very hands on, he bathes Darcey (I just hold the towel), takes her for burping when she is very upset. He even changed her clothes the other day, to a "prettier outfit". He really wants to feed her as well, he went and bought a manual breast pump at the chemist, and spoke to the chemist about expressing milk... for effort I haven't pulled it out of the box yet, I just keep thinking she is too young??? Also, I'mthinking that the way they suck on bottle is different to sucking on nipple, and we already have challenges with her sucking and pulling and chewing on nipple as it is. Ouch, ouch and more ouch. (And no, it's not an attachment problem, it's a sucking problem) Any thoughts?

Thanks, and hope it isn't as hot for you in your neck of the woods.
Petal