mama at my breaking point

[CrunchyMamaB]

I couldn't find the original "sleep deprived mamas at their breaking points" so could I just please vent here??? i only have a few minutes because my husband is giving the little man a bath.

i feel like I really hit rock bottom last night/early this morning. My son used to be an awesome sleeper and now it's just fallen to pieces. We put him down in his crib around 7:30, after a huge long nurse, he wakes up an hour later SCREAMING, like 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, hysterical shrieking. My husband goes in and soothes him, he goes back to sleep, but wakes up every 45 min to an hour crying after that until hubby finally brings him into our room at 2am or so just because he's too tired to keep getting up and going into my babe's room.

Well....then he's pretty much nursing CONSTANTLY until getting up for the day at 7 or 7:30. I can't stand it, he sleeps, then whines and head butts me, until I nurse him, so I nurse him, then he falls asleep for 15 min-half an hour, then rinse repeat.

This morning I was so tired, I had a splitting headache, and I was dehydrated from so much darn nursing, and I was just so ANGRY and resentful towards my baby!! I felt terrible. I even pounded the pillow with my fist at one point. I feel like I'm not being a good mom because I'm not really "nurturing" during these early hours, I'm surely sending off a super negative, pissed off vibe and who knows, maybe that's why he's nursing extra, for reassurance!!

please tell me it gets better. I HATE cosleeping if it means breastfeeding every half hour. But, he won't stay in his room without freaking out. I just hate feeling so angry before I'm even out of bed for the day!!

[hollytheteacher]

Your baby is really young and it sounds like as soon as he is nursing he is really hungry!

For me cosleeping works best (well bedsharing i mean) becasue when ds goes through his phases of needing to nurse more (hunger, growing, teething, etc.) I'm right there to nurse him/calm him down.

As you said your baby is going from 0 to 60...if he was right beside you and you nursed him the second he wiggled he might go right back to sleep within 5 min. kwim?

I think you should try it...it will probably help you both get more sleep and help you feel less frustrated?

I think the hardest age for me was 15 to 18 months (for the night nursing stuff) and then he really started sleeping longer and longer stretches. He is now 2.5 and some nights only nurses once or twice.

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by hollytheteacher

For me cosleeping works best (well bedsharing i mean) becasue when ds goes through his phases of needing to nurse more (hunger, growing, teething, etc.) I'm right there to nurse him/calm him down.

As you said your baby is going from 0 to 60...if he was right beside you and you nursed him the second he wiggled he might go right back to sleep within 5 min. kwim?

I think you should try it...it will probably help you both get more sleep and help you feel less frustrated?

Definitely! This is what helped me survive teething, growth spurts, all the waking when they're learning new skills (crawling, walking, etc.), the separation anxiety. That is a hard hard hard age!

I'm not sure it's co-sleeping that's causing it? It sounds like he's waking constantly when he's in his crib too? If so, it probably will help if you can just roll over and nurse, rather than one of you having to wake all the way up and go to another room.

I don't know if this article will help, but it helped me when things were so rough.

:

[Minxie]

Originally Posted by CrunchyMamaB

I couldn't find the original "sleep deprived mamas at their breaking points" so could I just please vent here??? i only have a few minutes because my husband is giving the little man a bath.

i feel like I really hit rock bottom last night/early this morning. My son used to be an awesome sleeper and now it's just fallen to pieces. We put him down in his crib around 7:30, after a huge long nurse, he wakes up an hour later SCREAMING, like 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, hysterical shrieking. My husband goes in and soothes him, he goes back to sleep, but wakes up every 45 min to an hour crying after that until hubby finally brings him into our room at 2am or so just because he's too tired to keep getting up and going into my babe's room.

Well....then he's pretty much nursing CONSTANTLY until getting up for the day at 7 or 7:30. I can't stand it, he sleeps, then whines and head butts me, until I nurse him, so I nurse him, then he falls asleep for 15 min-half an hour, then rinse repeat.

This morning I was so tired, I had a splitting headache, and I was dehydrated from so much darn nursing, and I was just so ANGRY and resentful towards my baby!! I felt terrible. I even pounded the pillow with my fist at one point. I feel like I'm not being a good mom because I'm not really "nurturing" during these early hours, I'm surely sending off a super negative, pissed off vibe and who knows, maybe that's why he's nursing extra, for reassurance!!

please tell me it gets better. I HATE cosleeping if it means breastfeeding every half hour. But, he won't stay in his room without freaking out. I just hate feeling so angry before I'm even out of bed for the day!!

If I read your sig correctly, he's about ten months old. Is it possible he is still hungry and the breastmilk is not enough? I know it tends to metabolize quickly and if he is in a growth spurt, he could need additional foods.

Something else to consider: is he teething? He is the right age for it and the nighttime behaviour is pretty consistent with teething behaviours. You might try giving him a Little Teethers or Hyland's tablet the first time he wakes. If he goes right back to sleep with no fuss, that's likely your culprit.

HTH,

Minxie

[CrunchyMamaB]

thanks mamas! I feel better that I'm not the only one who is dealing/has dealt with constant night waking. He's in his crib now, but tomorrow I'm going to try bedsharing...we are also going on a trip next week, for the whole week, so we'll be bedsharing then and I'll see if starting the night out cosleeping will help.

He is 10 months old and we do baby led weaning, so he is eating lots of different things throughout the day...although with BLW it's hard to know how much gets in there. His poops are pretty solid though. Come to think of it, we've had a very busy last few days and he hasn't nursed as much during the day, so maybe it will get better when we get back to our usual routine.

it felt better just talking about it though! I just nursed him to sleep and he was so melty and beautiful and delicious smelling, I couldn't even remember how I felt this morning

[LadyCatherine185]

sleep deprivation sucks. We're going on 18 months of it here.

It sounds like he could really be hungry, and that's why once he is brought to you he is nursing so much in the morning. Could your husband give him a bottle during one of the wakeups, or bring him to you to nurse and then take him back to his crib? What about putting his mattress on the floor next to your bed, that way you could nurse him and then get right back into bed until you want to bring him into your bed for the rest of the night.

[Louisep]

I'm not sure I agree with the hunger theory if he had a good nurse before bed and is nursing all night - how can he be hungry? If it's a growth spurt, maybe. X post in breastfeeding to make sure there isn't something funky with your supply for whatever reason.

A few questions - how long has this been going on? Have you introduced any new foods around the time it started?

If he woke without crying I would say it's the busy developmental age. But because of the screaming and constant nursing, he sounds uncomfortable and I would hazard a guess it's teething or a food intolerance issue.

Some reassurance - I have so been there! It is not great here but much much better, well, mostly.

A couple of suggestions - can your dh take him in the morning for an hour so you can sleep? How about bringing the crib into your room or side carring it? We bedshare because it gives us more sleep but if that isn't the case for you, I'd look at partial bedsharing or cosleeping in the same room.

It will get better, hang in there and try to manage your own sleep deficit, it will make things much easier.

[LadyCatherine185]

Originally Posted by Louisep

I'm not sure I agree with the hunger theory if he had a good nurse before bed and is nursing all night - how can he be hungry? If it's a growth spurt, maybe. X post in breastfeeding to make sure there isn't something funky with your supply for whatever reason.

.

The OP said he nurses around 7:30 and then not again until 2 AM when her DH brings him to the bed. That is a long time to go without nursing, and I was just wondering if his frequent waking would be because of hunger, and then once he is in bed and can nurse he is making up for that 7 hours he didn't get to nurse.

I agree though, it could be an allergy/intolerance issue, or teething. Or, he could just be a bad sleeper like my DS.