Anyone else still feeding 5 month old through-out the night?

[@llli*tanpixie]

I wrote a post at 4 months I think discussing how my LO is a distracted feeding and up all night - The 4 month sleep regression, but it isn't changing!
She sleeps, if I'm lucky 3 hours in one go, she wakes up, I leave her to see if she'll fall back asleep but she never does so I feed her and of course she's out but only for another 1,2 or 3 hours!

I'm exhausted and today my fuse which is short to begin with has gone - so grumpy - not at her at all of course just so tired.

I feel like I'm in dream land 24/7 at the moment and feel loony.

Anyone else experiencing this as well?
I haven't had a good night sleep since 6 months pregnant!

Really just need support as I hope it's just a really long phase and soon she'll sleep through the night like so many other babies I keep hearing about!!

I'm feeding her 3 - 4 times a night....

I don't think I have low milk but maybe I do hence all the feedings!?

[@llli*auderey]

ummmm, yep, this is totally normal. not a sign you have low milk. she's just hungry/needs to suck. i found it got a lot better around 8-9 months, then worse again with teething. you've gotta find a way to get yourself rest - co-sleeping, napping, going to bed really early?

sympathy!!

[@llli*vivsmaman]

Our DDs are just a few days or weeks apart and I think I'm living your life 300 miles to the north.

YES!

I had a great 3 month old sleeper -- 5-6 hours at a stretch in the bassinet next to the bed. She started turning over and was way too big for the bassinet. We decided to co-sleep instead of the crib or pack-n-play. Now we have a 5 month old who is up every single hour for a munch. Every.Single.Hour. I haven't had more than 2 hours of unbroken sleep in longer than I can remember. I'm exhausted.

I was going to write about this today as I don't know if I can handle much more either. I love nursing her to sleep. Love it. I also don't intend to night wean. I want/hope that we'll nurse into toddler-hood.

But I can't do this every hour -- even with co-sleeping I'm still up & even if she's just on me for 30 seconds. I'm pretty sure she's not hungry -- these are quick and short sucks with no swallowing. Instead, she needs to suck every time she completes one sleep cycle.

Can I break/sway her away from the 1 hour dependency without night weaning? Can we do this as co-sleepers or should I try the pack-n-play? In a bassinet, at 3 months, she would stir every hour but put herself back to a deeper sleep without fully waking. I really want to get back to that.

I'll post another thread about napping as I don't want to hijack. My girl has stopped nursing to naps and I'm not sure how to get 3 daytime sleeps without walking in the ergo 3 times a day. It's Canada and the cold is coming! What can we do???

[@llli*mommal]

Nothing to do with low supply. It's just totally normal, totally frustrating baby behavior. It might be related to teething- that horrible, horrible process which starts around 3 months and ends around 2-3 YEARS. I'd take a peek at Elizabeth Pantley's book "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" for some gentle techniques which may result in longer stretches of more independent sleep.

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Totally normal. And to be frank, you're lucky to get three hours straight and a lot of moms would kill to have a baby that wake 3-4X a night (rather than 10-12X) during the teething months. If you think baby is uncomfortable and that's causing the waking, try tylenol or motrin.

[@llli*tanpixie]

THanks so much ladies, so nice to hear - the support is wonderful - and yeah I was starting to think it might have been teething, although there are no signs of teeth yet!!

I"m sure it will get easier for now I guess we do what we can!!!
cripes!!

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Also, if you're not already cosleeping and going to bed early as coping mechanisms for your own rest, it might be a good time to consider it. I would not have survived my crazy nonsleeper and my demanding job without cosleeping. If he woke up 12X a night, at least I was just rolling over and popping a boob in his mouth, rather than having to get out of bed.

[@llli*tanpixie]

I"m kinda co-sleeping I think, we have not put her crib up and her mattress is right next to our bed, so I do just roll over but I'm worried she wont be able to breathe once I fall asleep so I do pick her up for the most part, also she has been rolling over in her sleep and waking up a lot as well - it's all wonderful stuff - growing and changing but I"m just turning into a zombie, and we have a neighbor who plays hip hop through the night, so i go to bed when she does around 7.30 but then he's playing music till all hours which keeps me up as well - moving to the country!!!!

[@llli*djs.mom]

WHere are these babies you are hearing about? Not here. I was coming to say EVERYONES 5 month old is still waking several times a night. Even if they see a longer stretch at 5 months, rest assured that stretch disappears at 6months. And after what will come at 6months when teething really begins, 3 consecutive hours will seem like a dream come true. Let go of the idea that you need your sleep to be consecutive. Most mothers should work to get 8 hours. But however and wherever you get those 8 hours in a 24hour period, will change every 4-6weeks for the 1st year at least. (and really it's longer.) Time spent worrying about how to correct or fix it is time wasted. Because whatever you do it's all going to change every few weeks. Just let go of sleep. We have all been there. Learn to nap during the day with the baby. Hand your baby over after dinner for 2hours so that you can rest. And then do the best you can at night. When night wakings increase to the point of resentment it's usually teeth. You aren't there yet. But it's coming. And when you get there, have patience and empathy. Because your baby is in constant pain and nursing relives it. But every nap dropping, every developmental milestone, every corner, every turn, sleep changes. And the babies that sleep for longer than 4 hours at this age are myths. Or tanked up on formula. You are doing fine.

[@llli*auderey]

i found this helpful for learning how to safely side-lay nursing. the key is good back support so you can really relax your body and be sure you won't roll over on top of baby.
http://mother-2-mother.com/tut-layingdown.htm