Keeping Your Sanity

LadySamLady

As I'm entering the 6th hour of a clusterfeed-o-rama for the 3rd night in a row, I'm trying everything I can think of to stay awake and stay sane with my LO attached to my boob. So far that includes snacking & Netflix. What do you do to stay up and stay sane?

lalala2004

Bump and Facebook one handed! I also think and plan a lot. I'm sure soon his first birthday party will be ready to go  

Sunshinebins

Yeah Pinterest has been my friend. TV. Texting friends who are also up feeding babies. For a few nights I would only get maybe 2 hours of sleep between both girls wanting to eat, and I swear I just would almost sleep with my eyes still open. 

Kurrant

When does your LO clusterfeed? Lucy starts at 4-5pm and ends around 10-11. My breasts are actually extremely sore but really the most frustrating thing about it is that I MH gets home at 5. I started prepping dinner at noon so that once the time comes I can just turn on elements/oven and its ready when he is home but really we don't get much time together now.  MH and I watch TV while I feed . . . We aren't TV people so it's frustrating to be plastered to a sofa for so long. 

For Lucy's 2am feed it is 10am in the USA so I text my cousin but that feed only lasts an hour or two. 

LadySamLady

@Kurrant Holly starts between 5-7 pm and goes for 5-7 hours. I'm shocked that I have enough milk to last this long, my pediatrician said I may have oversupply issues down the road.

The hardest part for me is staying awake - I'm just so scared of falling asleep so I don't let myself get too comfortable. I'm still on pain killers from my c-section and so my H has to stay up with me to make sure I don't nod off. I'm hoping it will get easier once I'm off the meds and we can trade off more, he can nap while I nurse and then I can nap when she's done.

My nipples are sore, too. I've been using hydragel pads they gave me at the hospital and just ordered a similar, more reusable product called Soothies. They're cooling gel pads that feel amazing.

I thought she was done but nope...I'm up now if you need company!

yogahh

LadySamLady said:

@Kurrant Holly starts between 5-7 pm and goes for 5-7 hours. I'm shocked that I have enough milk to last this long, my pediatrician said I may have oversupply issues down the road.

The hardest part for me is staying awake - I'm just so scared of falling asleep so I don't let myself get too comfortable. I'm still on pain killers from my c-section and so my H has to stay up with me to make sure I don't nod off. I'm hoping it will get easier once I'm off the meds and we can trade off more, he can nap while I nurse and then I can nap when she's done.

My nipples are sore, too. I've been using hydragel pads they gave me at the hospital and just ordered a similar, more reusable product called Soothies. They're cooling gel pads that feel amazing.

I thought she was done but nope...I'm up now if you need company!

Hey girl! I'm up too. Not cluster feeding but I'll be your company!

Bltbear82

I have zero advice just sympathy. We are up too, Its not a great solution but I find it easier to stay awake while using my phone. It's problematic when babies are a little older but helps during the zombie newborn time. Good luck ladies!

eaorear

Pinterest, that can go on FOREVER! We've been feeding about every 45 minutes since about 7:00 tonight with no end in sight. Looks like a long night ahead for me too!

LadySamLady

She tricked me! Went down at 2:25 but is back at it now. I thought I might be able to get an hour or two of sleep... 

Charissadeats

What is cluster feeding? And why does is sound like I don't want to do whatever it is? 

LadySamLady

Charissadeats said:

What is cluster feeding? And why does is sound like I don't want to do whatever it is? 

Kelly Mom definition: "Cluster feeding, also called bunch feeding, is when babies space feeding closer together at certain times of the day and go longer between feedings at other times. This is very common, and often occurs in the evenings. It’s often -but not always- followed by a longer sleep period than usual: baby may be “tanking up” before a long sleep. For example, your baby may nurse every hour (or even constantly) between 6 and 10 PM, then have a longish stretch of sleep at night – baby may even sleep all night.

lbachran

I'm up too. Fed from 10 pm to 11:30 pm, then 1 am to 1:45 am, and now he's hungry again. I've had a constant headache ever since I left the hospital and he's just been screaming for the past 20 min. DH finally took him for a little because I was just melting down crying since I feel like he hates me. I'm just so tired and my head hurts so much.

kbrands7

I started rewatching Parks and Recreation through clusterfeeding, snacking, and bumping/reading. I try to shift my position often enough too so that I don't settle in too comfortably. Mine is a late night clusterer too. Today, I interrupted his longer daytime stretch of sleep to get in extra eating, so tonight's marathon was far shorter.

Bltbear82

@kbrands7 curious if you're running into the same problem I am - baby is up throughout the night as expected and has been settling around 4:30-5:30 but then DS1 is up by 7. I even let DS1 snuggle in bed yesterday just to get a few more minutes of sleep but he wasn't having it. I'm ok for now but I can't imagine how I'll feel next week. 

LadySamLady

My H cannot keep it together. He keeps falling asleep and then just complaining when he is awake. I'm not sure what he expected.,.

Bluejay3030

LadySamLady said:

My H cannot keep it together. He keeps falling asleep and then just complaining when he is awake. I'm not sure what he expected.,.

Dads... Yeah most of them can't hang with us  .  Mine tries his best, but he is about 80% useless during the nighttime hours.

Im so glad you mentioned Soothies earlier!  I have some that I'd forgotten about.  I'm definitely going to bust those out before the next growth spurt!

kbrands7

@Bltbear82 Yes! Thankfully DS still takes a good afternoon nap, but yesterday, I only had 3hrs of sleep because between their nighttime schedules, and got in 1hr during the day. Last night was better sleep wise, and I'm hoping to get more nights like that. 

Sunshinebins

LadySamLady said:

My H cannot keep it together. He keeps falling asleep and then just complaining when he is awake. I'm not sure what he expected.,.

Yeah...I never knew how dramatic he was until the last few weeks at about 2am haha. Suddenly the world is falling apart. Now he's more used to it and has even done entire feedings since I pump so much, but at first? No way. 

DanandVan

I am a huge proponent of safe cosleeping. (I'm still pg with May baby, but he is baby #4). With my other 3, I coslept from day 1. Baby wakes up, change him, lie down in bed, latch him on, and go back to sleep! Your mom brain keeps track of where he is, how he is breathing, etc while you sleep. You're up for literally minutes instead of hours. You just wake up to burp (if needed) and switch sides.
 It scares me to hear about moms falling asleep while nursing upright  and dropping their babies. 

mello13

Things that keep me sane during cluster feeds:

1. Netflix 
2. Books/Kindle/magazines 
3. Facebook 
4. Candy Crush (no shame!)
5. Pinterest (I'm a big planner and holiday obsessed)
6. Cookies. Because, priorities.