Lengthy night time wake ups?

[maplekitty]

DS takes, from initial first cry to falling back to sleep, over 1.5 hours in his nighttime feeds.
It's driving me nuts and I'm so tired!
First of all, I have to change his diaper when he first wakes up because he won't nurse well with a wet diaper - yah, totally sensitive little guy. And then feeding him takes about 40 mins (20 mins of nursing, 20 mins of bottle - we're doing a bottle supplement while I try and increase my milk supply). Then he'll need another diaper change because he won't go to sleep with a wet diaper. And then he'll fuss in his crib, and I'll have to shush him, and keep popping his soother back in.

Lactation consultant wants me to pump after ver feed - that includes night time feeds, but I'm not because I wouldn't get *any* sleep!

I dont know how to cut our night time feeding session shorter?
Who are you people who say you can feed your baby and they go right back to sleep in 5 mins - WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? :)

[j*east]

We were like this for the first several weeks, also b/c I needed to nurse, bottle-feed, then pump. It is much faster now and I stopped nighttime diaper changes around 3m or so. All I can say is give it time. Hang in there; I know it's exhausting.

[BusyBee]

Just want to offer my sympathy. All I can say is that it will pass.
I didn't have supply issues, so I only got up at night to pump if the baby slept. Maybe your DH can give the bottle or do the shushing/paci popping while you pump.

My DH could keep the baby occupied so I could rest a while, but she just couldn't fall asleep for him. I'd have to get up anyway to do it, though it was faster from that point on.

For a while, my DD (both IIRC) would wake at night for exactly 1.5 hours. She would nurse/fuss/cry, we would rock/walk/bounce, but it reallly helped that I could look at the clock and know only 30, 20, 15 minutes to go.

[Scooter]

I had a similar scenario with my twins until they were 2 mos old and I made enough milk for them. Diaper change, feed, burp, pump, maybe another diaper change, put them to bed. Sleep an hour, maybe two, do it again. I was seriously losing it, so I'm sorry you're having a hard time, too. :(


I dont know how to cut our night time feeding session shorter?
Who are you people who say you can feed your baby and they go right back to sleep in 5 mins - WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? :)

In one word? Cosleeping. It might not be what you want to do, but having me close to them or even having my hand on them was enough to comfort them to sleep. That way I could at least lie down, maybe even drift off to sleep before them. ;) Would you be against having him in a bassinet or something in your room until your milk supply is established? Just to make the routine easier.

[Lizzy]

I was going to suggest co-sleeping, too. My son is not the greatest sleeper, yet I've never been too sleep-deprived. He sleeps next to me and sometimes he might nurse 5 times a night, but it doesn't bother me too much as I can latch him on and go right back to sleep. It didn't get this easy until he was about 3 months old, though. I hope things get better for you soon.

[Annette]

Can you nurse and then have your DH give him the bottle, that way you can go back to sleep? Our wake ups took awhile because he would always poop while he ate. Then when we changed his diaper, it would wake him up and he would need to be rocked. The wake-ups got shorter once he stopped pooping so much.

[maplekitty]

In one word? Cosleeping. It might not be what you want to do, but having me close to them or even having my hand on them was enough to comfort them to sleep. That way I could at least lie down, maybe even drift off to sleep before them. ;) Would you be against having him in a bassinet or something in your room until your milk supply is established? Just to make the routine easier.


yah.....we *just* moved him into sleeping in his his own room. he was sleeping in our room for the first two months. we co-slept for maybe the first month, but he was too restless and non of us slept well with him in bed :(
And he's a snorter, he makes so much noise trying to fall asleep that it drives us batty and we can't fall back asleep while he's trying to fall asleep himself, LOL
Oh well...i guess it'll just pass....I just wish there was some secret trick - DD was so quick to go back to sleep (still is, can fall asleep in seconds). i guess he just takes after me and takes longer to fall asleep.