Cluster feeding

[Twilight]

I looked it up. That's what Zoe did from 9:30pm to 3am last night. Actually she was still rooting at 3am but I was crying inconsolably so we caved and gave her a binky, and that made her settle for 20-minute increments until 4:30am. Then she woke up at 5:45am to eat again.

then my 3yo daughter woke up at 6am... two hours early.

Tell me this gets easier... the recovery was going so well and I feel like I'm back to square one again... I just lost a day of my life.

We can't make it if the baby is going to cluster-feed at that time every night. Do you think I can encourage her to tank up earlier in the evening?

:

[bc1995]

It does get much better. Can you nurse her lying down? That will help you to be able to get some rest while she nurses. I remember both of mine nursing almost around the clock for the first two weeks.

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

aw, honey I don't know if you'll be able to do much about changing her feeding times yet...but I would definitely try to nurse her lots in the daytime, and just lie down with her at night and doze away if you can.
BTW, I would totally have gone for the binky at that point - don't feel bad! Mama needs her mental health

[Twilight]

I can't lie down and nurse yet... my poor nipples are so tender that I need to be really careful about latch for a while. We'll get there... I can't quite doze off in the glider while nursing, which is frustrating.

I am so tired. I'm going to dump on you guys majorly here and apologies in advance to you ladies still expecting your babies who don't want to hear how awful the first week is

I can't sleep. I don't know why my body does this to me. I've had every opportunity to nap with my parents here, and every time I lay down I just get groggy and can't sleep. I'm running on 2-3 hours of sleep per night. It is horrible... I did this after DD1's birth and I did this after my appendectomy - it's like my body's response to trauma is just to rob itself of sleep and it makes no sense. I can't make any decisions, I have no judgment, I break down into tears for nothing. I've been in pajamas since the birth and I haven't left the house. My boobs are so sore I have to wear baggy shirts and no bra. I don't even feel human. The whole 'babymoon' is such a cruel joke for me.

I know it gets better and it did with DD1 but it took quite a bit of time. I guess I should feel lucky that I have a little better perspective on it this time around, and I do love holding and feeding the baby... the sweet baby smell makes me feel better. But OMG everything else about life right now is a nightmare.

I am very lucky my parents are here to manage the care and feeding of DD1 because I couldn't do it if I tried.

I want it to be next week... or next month... and I want it now

[sbm1001]

I'm so sorry things aren't going well for you right now. It's such an emotional time, with all the hormones still raging through your body & not getting nearly enough sleep to help balance out some of it. I know my emotions are out of whack when sleep is lacking & I absolutely hate it when I need to sleep but can't.

Don't feel bad about giving her a pacifier. You're trying to meet her needs while keeping your sanity at the same time. There's nothing wrong with that. I promise it will get better. She won't always do this, nor when she does will it be at the same time each day.

You'll be in my thoughts.

Shannon

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

That reminds me...I have that weird insomnia when I have a newborn as well. It's one of the reasons I'm planning a homebirth this time - hoping I can sleep better in my own bed.

Do you have someone there who can put you to bed and rub your back and tuck you in? It sounds little silly but it helped me. I just would get dh to do that for me - rub my closed eyes, my shoulders, help me relax. I have had a hard time relaxing after both births.

Maybe your mom can just get you out of bed to nurse, and then tuck you back in. You need some mothering too!

Let yourself cry a bit too. It helps.
Have a cup of tea.
And know that it will get better soon!

[Twilight]

Mamajava, I will be really curious how the home birth works for you... if it helps you relax afterward. I wanted a home birth for the same reason, but I couldn't talk DH into it, so we did the hospital. I think the hospital worked out pretty well for us, and we actually got decent rest for the 2 nights we were there... it was when I came home that my issues started. So I don't know if they are related to the hospital or just my own way of processing hormones and the birth experience. It's maddening.

I actually took an ambien last night... I couldn't function on 2 hours of sleep a night anymore. I had DH wake me for the baby's middle-of-the-night feeding. It worked out ok... I got 7 hours of sleep. I feel almost human again. I hope I don't need the ambien again.. maybe this was enough to reset my clock.

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

That's great! I'm glad you got a good rest. You're still pretty behind though so make sure you get some more sleep

[jenr]

Originally Posted by Twilight

we caved and gave her a binky,

I had to run out to the local pharmacy at 2am the other day to get a binky because Cordelia was nursing constantly and I just couldn't do it anymore. She hates the binky but last night she started doing it again and we gave her one and she calmed down and slept for 5 hours. It was glorious!!! She only does it at night, and has only done the cluster feeding twice. I don't think I would mind so much if she did it during the day, but she is almost always calm and relaxed so it comes as a real shock in the middle of the night.

Jennifer

[sophiamama]

Dd did that same thing....waking up and wanting to be awake and nursing in the middle of the night. I remember sometime in the middle of our second week with her going into my mom's room (she was staying with us to help) and basically dumping the baby with her because I just HAD to get some sleep! I think that sometimes we forget to meet our needs too.....especially in those first weeks!

One thing that helped with dd was that we started to keep her awake in the evening instead of letting her sleep. So from about 8-10pm we would keep her awake, I would feed her as much as I could and then around 10pm we would all go to bed together and she would normally sleep for at least 3-4 hours before waking up. It took about a week for her to reset her clock and it definetly helped me feel more human! After that she started cluster feeding earlier in the evening and we got into a better rhythm.