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How to get rest...

How do other mums get rest during the day? My hv has been out and told me I have to rest in the daytimes as I'm still rather aneamic following lo birth and I'm literally dead on my feet.... I'm up in the night bf (usually only once) and bf every 2.5 hrs during the day, she will nap but not long enough for me to follow, as soon as I think 'oooh could have a sleep here' she wakes up

My MIL will NOT come and sit with her for me so I could go to bed and have a proper sleep (obviously she would be changed and fed before I went anywhere so she wouldn't have too)

How do others manage?

Replies

  • I think you will just have to feed her and nap on the sofa hun thats what i did when lo was very tiny but i always found it difficult aswell and my mum came over a lot when she was tiny so she would sort her out apart from the feeding and she would do all my housework aswell as i worried about all of that. Is there anyone who can help you out? Maybe you could express a bottle so someone else can feed lo? Make the most of when your hubby is at home and get to bed as soon as you have fed lo? xx
  • It's so difficult, isn't it? How old is your lo? Obviously as she gets older it will get easier as she goes longer between feeds, but that doesn't help you now... Do you have any other family or friends who could pop over for a couple of hours if MIL is not being helpful? Even if you can't sleep while lo naps, you can at least lie down and rest as soon as she is settled. And get your oh to help as much as possible- if he can take over as soon as he gets home, you could get an hour or two to sleep in the evening perhaps. Have you tried giving a bottle of ebm so that oh could also do the odd night feed?

    Hope things get easier for you soon- you're doing a great job.
  • I'm expressing and have 9oz of milk in 2 seperate bags frozen atm.... but it can't be given as the teats we have are too small (took her 30 mins with 4oz) so am waiting for mediums to come from the m'care site. She's 16 wks now but doesn't really seem to be going any longer between feeds but not hungrier quicker - just the same?

    My hubby is out tonight from work and won't be home till gone 9, so this evening I'll be doing bath & bed alone.... I'll probably follow to my own bed once she is asleep.... I won't get a break with someone else looking after (e.g. him ) till tomorrow night

    I really don't know how I cope some days, I'm probably dangerous!!
  • iv never been able to as justin never slept at all when really small and when he did start to sleep it was only at night never during then day, intill he was 3 he didnt even sleep through the night, and then maya came along when he was 2 year 10 months old and she was sleeping all day all night from birth, she never once got a feed during the night as she has slept through from birth so even when she was napping i couldnt get a sleep as i had justin to look after and now it the same again as she is 4 and dosnt nap so when charlie is napping i cant, but you do get used to it, i can go live on less than 2 hours sleep if needed thankfully charlie dosnt get up now any more but i still wake and he has been sleeping through for about 7 weeks now he is 17 weeks old now.
  • I totally sympathise (sp?) it sounds exactly like my lo, but he's bottle fed. He's 16 wks and will only go 3 hours before he wants feeding. He's an absolute nightmare through the day, and hardly sleeps, 45 mins at the most. If he does it has to be on me, (two weeks ago he was able to settle himself in his cot until he was ill for a couple of days with cold) he wont even sleep in our bed so I can nap. He also spends most of the day crying, so he's very trying on tired old me.
    Luckily he's in a nighttime routine, and I know that by 6.45pm he'll be fast asleep in his cot and if I'm really tired I can be in bed by 7.30pm and get a few hours in before his dream feed.
    I'm going to ask the HV about getting him back to his daytime cot napping tomorrow so I will let you know what she suggests.
    I can see myself holding a sleeping 3 year old for his afternnon nap at this rate!
  • We've got a dog as well, thankfully she's very laid back (greyhound x) and although it's not ideal she is quite happy if she doesn't get the walks she is used too, were very lucky that she fits in with us and not the other way round!

    Lo is in bed now, I know that if I feed her at 8 and then bath & bed, she won't wake till after midnight for her next feed - usually 1am(ish) which means I can go to bed around 10.30 and get a few hrs before she is up. She then goes from 1-5 which is excellent :\)
    And then she usually wakes as hubby is getting up which is the real arse as it's his alarm that gets her up, she would sleep longer e.g. this morning he crept out of bed (cause I told him at her 5.30 feed if he woke her or me I would remove his eyes with a spoon) and we both slept till 8.20!
  • Try having her in bed with you when you know she's tired in the day. She'll fall asleep easily and will probably sleep longer...so you can sleep too. I've done this with Gabe when he was going through a bad sleep phase, it was good to snatch back a couple of hours. On New years eve I went out clubbing and still had to get up with him, I just let him play with toys next to me while I dozed...I don't co sleep anymore unless he's mega unsettled...cos he's a right bloody pain and thinks its hilarious to hog the bed, grab my teeth and poke his fingers up my nose! :roll:
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