Breastfeeding
DD february 2010 | DS october 2011
*please excuse my typos, bumping from my iphone*
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about to throw in the towel - please help!
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Ladies, I need help here. So far, I've EBF, but I really don't think I can continue with it. DD is 5.5 weeks old and still eating every 2-3 hours around the clock. If it were just during the day and she was going longer stretches at night I could probably manage, but it's 24/7. Even the 1-2 "relief" bottles per day aren't much relief because I still need to pump...
It
can't be a growth spurt because it's been like this for 3+ weeks now
(She was actually going up to 4 hours at night for the first week or
two). She's 10.5 lbs, 85th percentile for height and weight, so clearly
she's getting enough to eat.
DD february 2010 | DS october 2011
*please excuse my typos, bumping from my iphone*
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Re: about to throw in the towel - please help!
if exhaustion is your main problem, then you can do something about it! you are probably feeling delirious from sleep deprivation.
it sounds like your supply is great... baby is growing, and honestly eating just right for her age! why not pump after a couple of your daytime feedings (10 min), and then give her a bottle for one or two of the night time feedings. specifically, let dh give her the bottle. drop those night feedings completely, so that you are not pumping or bfing for those feedings. you will probably have to pump a bit and not drop them cold turkey.
ideally you wouldn't do any of this kind of weaning for several more weeks to "cement" your supply. but if it means not quitting completely it may be a good answer for you.
good luck.
Similar to pp's I would pump in the daytime and then go to bed EARLY (like 7pm) and then DH would do any feedings till midnight, then go to bed and C usually slept from a couple hours after that so I would get a good 7 hours. I'd be FULL when I woke up but ti was worth it to get the sleep. Then I'd cover any nighttime feedings after 3am or so. On nights he didn't have to work he would try to cover till 2-3am and then he'd sleep in.
If you're doing every feeding yourself of course you are exhausted! Get DH to do some and skip a couple feedings. You'll just need to pump a little more in the daytime to make up for it...and make sure to sleep with breastpads in or you will wake up in a puddle.
I know it doesn't feel like it, but it WILL get better! It seems everyone I talk to says between 6-8 weeks it gets so much better. My LO was still doing that pattern at 5-6 weeks and at 8 weeks he magically started sleeping 8 hour stretches at night.
It seems to me, that if she needs to eat every few hours at night anyway, it would be even more work to mix up bottles of formula than to nurse, KWIM? Can you nurse laying down? Can you nap during the day to catch up on some rest? For a while I had to put myself to bed by 8:00 and only get up to nurse until 6 or 7am. I would be really hesitant to skip any feedings without pumping at your point.
Keep up the good work! It will get better!
At 5.5 weeks I would say that still eating every 3 hours is perfectly normal. Thats what my LO was doing at that age and I EBF also.
It gets better, DD would eat at 11, then 2, and then 5am, slowly the gap between the 11 and 2am would get longer until she was going from 11 to 7am.
Can you keep her closer to you at night, DD doesn`t have her own room (tiny apartment) so her crib isright next to my bed which meant it took all of 2 sec to get out of bed and get her compared with walking out of my room going somewhere else.
Not sure what your situation is but it does get better
Honestly, this sounds normal to me. When DS what that young, I was up that much at night feeding him too.
Are you still sleeping when baby is sleeping? One tip I got from my LC is that often times she will hear from women who are bfing and exhausted only to find out that during the day they're trying to do all kind of other stuff instead of sleeping. Her advice is what I will say here, at this stage your only priority is baby. Forget housework. Forget any projects you may want to do. If you nap during the day when DD sleeps, it will make the night wakings more tolerable.
I followed this advice and trust me when I say it gets better. It's temporary. You are on the cusp of another growth spurt (6 weeks).
If you start introducing formula or pumping ahead to skip feeds later, you are setting yourself up for tanking your milk supply, which will lead to more frustrations. Hang in there! You're almost at the part where it gets easier (I promise). You've already been through the hard part. Try to stick it out a little longer and you won't be sorry. GL!
Ditto this.
I agree with pps - this sounds pretty normal and you should recruit DH to help! Plus, definitely nap when she naps. There is no shame in it.
Is she in her own room? We didn't move C from the bedside bassinett until he was down to one feeding at night, otherwise going back and forth would have been totally exhausting! Have you tried feeding her in the side lying position? I still do that when C gets up a little too early and I'm not quite ready to get out of bed.
Good luck!
I agree with pp....completely normal for her to eat that frequently. My daughter STILL nurses every 2-3 hours during the day, even with solids (however she does sleep a 8-9 hr stretch at night).
I did start pumping at night after one feeding & having my DH give her a bottle for the next feeding....that really helped me feel more rested.
Please don't give up...it will get better & is SO worth it in the long run!!!!