Almost 4 month old still feeding every 1-2 hours 24/7 for 5 weeks, I'm about to lose my sanity

[patrickmoore89]

@tribmartyr I follow her on Instagram! Really valuable, as well as thebreastfeedingmentor. I know it's the regression, I just didn't realise it could come with a TON of nursing. Yesterday from midnight to midnight I had nursed for 1.5 hours in total, 21 times really wishing for an end in sight soon

 

[tribmartyr]

@patrickmoore89 Yes! I remember those days, it was right when I was starting to go back to work longer stretches will come back slowly & surely. This is a season

You can check heysleepybaby's red flags highlight to see if you're worried & this is another account I've liked lately: https://instagram.com/infantsleepscientist

One thing I wished I learned sooner is how to do side lying nursing. We now do that most of the time at night unless he really can't settle.

 

[d00dlypeach]

@tribmartyr Came to comment this! It is a phase.

 

[turnip52]

@patrickmoore89 No advice just solidarity. Four weeks so far, hoping it changes soon.

 

[patrickmoore89]

@turnip52 here's to hoping it ends soon for both of us!

 

[wodan]

@patrickmoore89 Solidarity here. Wish I had advice. Mine feeds just as often, whenever she needs a nap. And then keeps sucking through the whole nap. I hope it improves for you!

 

[jasonws]

@patrickmoore89 I’m going through something similar. Baby will be 4 months next Monday and still sucks at napping and night sleeping. Getting him down at night requires nursing him a handful of times, almost like he’s cluster feeding again, then wakes every 2 hours. During the day he eats every hour but will nurse for as long as I let him (I swear sometimes he won’t stop unless I wrap it up). He’s gaining weight at a good rate so no issues there. People try to say maybe he’s going through a “growth spurt”. Anyway, I feel for you. This sucks.

 

[patrickmoore89]

@jasonws I mean sure they're going through a growth spurt, but it's not like knowing that helps us feel less exhausted, fatigued, desperate, at our wits end, etc. It doesn't suddenly make the nights easier to go through, or give us a burst of energy. It sucks. My son also sucks at napping and I often have to try to rescue at least one nap a day so he doesn't get so cranky. He hasn't learned to link the sleep cycles yet, but is gaining well and he's certainly learning a LOT right now. He's SO strong already in his back, neck and legs.

Still, doesn't make it easier being in the thick of it solidarity and sympathy

 

[jesus77777]

@patrickmoore89 Solidarity here too, my boy is about to turn 5 months and this has been our reality for a long time. Plus he only nurses sidelying so I feel chained to the house!

 

[patrickmoore89]

@jesus77777 Oh that sounds so hard! I feel with you.

 

[lupo]

@patrickmoore89 My daughter is approaching 5 months. We live in a small house on the edge of a major US city, but spend about 50% of our time (including nights) at my in-laws' house out in the country. At home, she seems to wake up 3-4 times to eat at night, but at the in-laws' she only wakes up once, if that. I think it might have something to do with proximity. At home, she's in the co-sleeper bassinet (large bassinet, directly next to me, but not in the bed with me. At the In-laws' she's in a crib that's in the se room, but several feet from my bed. I dunno if maybe she sleeps better bc I'm MIL wears her out or if it's bc she can't smell me so close to rouse all the way between sleep cycles or if it's something to do with fresh air.

I say all that to say: maybe try room sharing instead of co-sleeping bc proximity could be causing more frequent nighttime feeds.

My daughter started reverse cycling when I went back to work 2 weeks ago so I feel your pain on the broken sleep and she has definitely spent more than a few recent nights in the big bed (safely) so that I can get some shut eye too.

Eta: i only pick her up at night when she cries out, not just moving around and such. I can hear her in the crib at the in-laws' house she just doesn't cry out.

 

[patrickmoore89]

@lupo Interesting. So maybe moving the bedside crib to my husband's side of the bed, and letting him try to soothe to sleep first before moving the baby over to me perhaps? At least we'd get some use out of the crib with that if nothing changes in the coming days, we might try it. This night went a little better, only 4 ish feeds instead of 9, like the night before...

 

[vonda007]

@lupo Same thing for us! It was insane how much better she(and us) slept when we moved her further away and then to her own room.

 

[peaceloving]

@lupo Same here! Sleep improved a lot when we moved 4 month baby girl to her own room across the hall. She still woke up 3 times a night until about 6 months but better than every hour like during the sleep regression!

 

[brotherterry]

@patrickmoore89 Have you tried offering a pacifier to increase the length between feedings? I just had a conversation with my lactation consultant about something similar, but specific to nighttime feeds.

It sounds like he’s become used to eating frequently even though he’s maybe not that hungry hence the short feeds - it might be worth trying to lengthen the time between to get him used to “going longer” between and then eating more during - even though he’s cranky ir might pay off in the long run and he’ll sleep better and longer when he’s truly full and satiated. When I try to get my son to eat too soon he is a terrible eater, short feed, thrashing around, motorboating the boob and unfocused vs when he’s hungry he’s much more efficient.

For going longer between nighttime feeds my LC recommended trying a pacifier to see how long he could go before he was TRULY hungry or trying soothing to buy 15 minutes and then next time 20 etc going little by little longer. Might work for you in this case during day as well?

Not sure if this might be helpful but wanted to share in case it was worth trying. Best of luck!

 

[patrickmoore89]

@brotherterry Yeah, during the night I've tried giving the paci but it hasn't so far gotten him to settle. I'm currently trying to lengthen it during the day to encourage him to eat more, and right now I managed to get him to eat 7 minutes total from both sides. I've got a LOT of milk for it to be enough to give from one side, but it feels like once he has to work for it he becomes disinterested and distracted. So I tried to switch sides and got a few more minutes out of it

I could get my husband to try the paci and lengthening between the feeds during the night this weekend! He drives a lot during the day when he works so better to do it when he can nap during the day thanks for the tip

 

[keithrils]

@patrickmoore89 My son is 5 months now and this was basically us months 3-4 with an occasionally flare up day like this here and there. The ONLY thing I’ve found to help is to get him to nap for about 10 minutes, then wake him up and feed him. He’s so groggy that he will latch for 10 or 15 minutes per side and finally drain me. Otherwise his days devolve into frantic 1-2 minute snack feeds and a fussy baby. I agree though, absolute hell

 

[patrickmoore89]

@keithrils Oh jeez. Good tip, I might try that! Here he just hit himself with a toy, and then wouldn't stop crying because he also hadn't eaten in 2.5h, so I took the opportunity to stick him to the boob. Once he got distracted I switched to the other side and managed to get 7 minutes nursing out of him in total. It seems like once he has to start working for it a little bit more he doesn't want to? At least during the day. Before he'd be satisfied with one side no problem, but I guess he's too easily distracted right now

Holding out on hope that it gets better soon!

 

[cbaumgardner]

@patrickmoore89 So no real advice but it does get better! Reading this gave me some serious flashbacks!! I didn’t think I’d make it out alive! But now I have a 15 month old who’s still nursing and now wakes 1 - 3 times a night (more when teething but that’s a different problem!). But that’s plenty of time for me to get sleep over the 11 - 12 hours she sleeps at night.

Honestly my only advice is time. It does go by fast even thought it feels like FOREVER when you’re in the thick of it!

 

[patrickmoore89]

@cbaumgardner Surely feels forever yes it's so hard to entertain them during the day when you're a zombie yourself! Glad to hear from someone that made it out on the other side