Help.... :-(

Replies

• Ems101

  Sep 17, 2010 8:49AM

  Gosh, I could have written that a few months ago! Apart from my LO is on the smaller side. She too always wanted feeding, had soooo many problems sleeping, and wanted to be held all the time. She is still a bad sleeper, i think some children just are. Th eonly way I could get her to sleepin the day was in the pram, she was born in Nov so we did lots of snowy/rainy walks, it was such hard work. I barely did any house work or anything except watch tv and walk. It was very very hard. I dont really have any advice, but weaning didnt help, so I wouldnt worry about him being hungry or giving formula. Perhaps put him in a quiet dark room for naps? at 7months we put Jen in her own room with blackouts and she napped much better.
  
  Good luck, hangon in there!
  
  Em x

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• Minnie76

  Sep 17, 2010 9:05AM

  I could have written this too! I started writing down everything we do, just to see whether there is a pattern to her day (and night!). for the past 2 days, it has been better, I have tried to implement the EASY technique (from the baby whisperer book that I was told about and will definitely buy!) which stands for Eat, Activity (play on activity mat, massage or simply talking time with you) Sleep and Y is for you time (do the housework or sleep!) I tried it yesterday and it seemed to work until the evening when she started to cluster feed (which is normal at this age). I'd say let him cry for a little while when he wakes up, I used to pick her up straightaway and now I have realised that sometimes she will just go back to sleep.
  I would also say not to worry too much about house work, it will get done at some point (do you have anyone who can help?) and enjoy your little boy

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• Peeptoe1

  Sep 17, 2010 9:12AM

  Hi ChocolateMuffin, you have described my son Hugo at that age! He's now 9 months old and things are much much better - and got much better well before now, don't worry.
  
  H was EBF too and I had a lot of pressure from my MIL (who went through my husband, grrrrr) to switch to FF. I'm glad I didn't switch as at least when he was screaming for a feed I could quickly feed him without having to faff around making up bottles.
  
  I used to spend my days holding him constantly, walking around the house singing to him, going out in the pram and dancing around the living room with him. Where I got that energy I have no idea but I just did it.
  
  I can't now pinpoint when things got better for us but from memory it was around 5 months. I know that sounds live forever away, but it got a bit better every week - the time between bouts of crying became further and further apart. And he got a lot better at sleeping (till we flew to NZ and turned his night in to day, but that's a different story!)
  
  Hugo is still a baby who cries a lot and needs more entertaining than most. He's not very good at just entertaining himself but now that he has reasonable naps in the day, I can finally get stuff done.
  
  At the moment, try not to worry about the housework or anything else other than taking care of yourself and your baby. Also, it IS ok to leave him to cry for 2 minutes while you make yourself a sandwich for lunch. If you are going to BF, you need to make sure you're eating and drinking lots so that your supply is good.
  
  I'm sorry that you're going through this but it will get better. You may have to ride it out for a few more weeks, but it will improve.
  
  Peeptoe x

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• proudmummy2010

  Sep 17, 2010 4:13PM

  Oh hon, im g/c from bij, please dont worry. I felt pretty much the same when my lo was 6 weeks - everyone told me he would get remarkably easier at 6 weeks but he didnt until around 9/10 he slept sooo well on me but not for very long off me. Your lo needs to learn to sleep away from you but that doesnt mean he has to if you are happy with him sleeping on you. I loved my lo sleeping on me but I gradually got him into his moses basket. Try putting it right next to you on the coffee table or floor - and by bed at night. Wear a t shirt in bed for a night and then use it as the moses basket sheet so it smells like you - or sleep with a sheet tucked on you to make it smell of you, and then start off by putting him in awake and keeping a hand on his tummy/chest for a while, and see how long you can keep him in there happy, and then just progress longer. I used to lay my lo in his basket and then lie next to it with my hand on him and breathing near him. He soon was fine and would then settle himself to sleep, it was great. In terms of the eating - its so hard! I used to make my lunch the night before or in the morning while my oh was here and put it in fridge til I needed it - I would also have lots of things like oatcakes, biscuits and ryvita in reach for eating while I breastfed. In terms of the cleaning, forget it...its not important, seriously, put your feet up, watch daytime tv, take a little walk in the afternoon. Rest, eat and cuddle, it will really only be a couple more weeks before everything changes and you will find your lo will start to spend longer periods of time in the bouncer for example so you can start to do a bit of cleaning again or take a quick shower. Its amazing how fast things change because now my lo is 12 weeks and I can shower, shave legs etc, do hair and make up while he watches. I can hang wash while he sits in his chair and watches me and have different bouts of 15-30 mins all day here and there to do stuff, plus then he is in bed 7:30pm to 5ish before he needs another feed - and plenty of other babies are sleeping through the night. You are doing a great job xx

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• pumpkino

  Sep 17, 2010 4:27PM

  Sorry you are struggling, this can be a really hard time I know but things WILL get better. Toby wasn't nearly as bad re feeding as you have described but he was and has always been a TERRIBLE sleeper at night. Fine during the day and up till about midnight but after that he sometimes wakes every 45 minutes and he is now nearly 9 months old!
  
  That doesn't sound very encouraging but I wanted to say that he was EBF until a few weeks ago when we started switching to formula and I can tell you it makes NO difference whatsoever. I had a lot of pressure to switch to FF in the early days as it would supposedly "fix" his sleeping (I personally don't think that there's really anything wrong with waking a lot at night - hard for us but doesn't do them any harm) and I'm glad I didn't cave. I know a few people from my NCT group who did make the switch for that reason and really regretted it - they gave up BFing before they wanted to and still had terrible nights!
  
  So please rest assured that you are doing a great job and you just have to tough these early days out. Sleep when he sleeps during the day and try to take care of yourself as firsttime28 has said.
  
  Chin up and good luck!!
  
  C

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