Going through the night and sore bbs

I'm not sure if there's an answer to this really .. C has just started going through the night (8ish till 7am) but has essentially dropped two feeds really quickly - less than 2 weeks? - so I'm now going over 12 hours without feeding him ... HE'S getting lovely long sleeps but I keep waking at 4am with sore (.)(.) and this morning there were hard spots They came right after his 7am feed but that was 3 hrs of not v good sleep for me. Do I just wait for my (.) to get used to it and sort themselves out? I figure if I express in the night that's just prolonging the problem??

Thanks Saffron Gosh, it doesn't feel like he's really young but he was so little for so long and all of a sudden he's become a fat wee piggy, I think that's how he gets through the night!

Thanks for the tips, we don't have any cabbage in the house at the mo but I will get some tomorrow when I'm at the shop if it's still the same tonight. I've got some breastfeeding bliss warm/cold pack thingees which worked a treat when I was engorged at the beginning so will hunt those out and see if they help too.

Mine are the same, DD started sleeping thrpugh at 9 weeks, before that she would be waking at least once.

They have only just started to settle down now.

At first they got very sore, and leaked everywhere.

Im still leaking a bit but nowhere near as bad.

It has taken 5 weeks to sort itself out however. Im just thankful DD sleeps through lol

And a tidbit of advice from someone who did it the "hard way" , they do stop on their own when they are ready so do what you feel is right for you and your family. Denying a baby food just in case they may start waking again for food for an extended period of time is a stupid thing IMO and in fact in our case (and many others I know of) it used to take me longer to try and force him (which is essentially what you have to do) to go back to sleep if hungry than if I fed him.

He did 3 weeks of 10 hours at 7 months, then stopped and dropped his night feeds again of his own accord when he was about 11 months but continued to wake for another 4 months before going back to 10 hours all on his own without training or tears and we now average 12 hours at night.

Just because they start sleeping "better" doesn't mean that they will forever more; they have needs and though it may be a pain in the ass for you, that doesn't mean that you should put your needs above theirs; they don't understand that it is 2am and they "should" be sleeping, they only know they are hungry and they expect to be fed. Waking after periods of "sleeping through" happens for various reasons from teething to illness to hunger to developmental milestones, it doesn't mean that just because they haven't needed it lately that they never need it again.

When I accepted that, it made it easier to deal with the night waking so personaly I'd take the "hard" way over the "easy" way anyday of the week. My 5 year old still wakes sometimes, for one thing or another and yes it is frustrating but even at 2am when I am knackered I remind myself that I don't always sleep through without waking, that sometimes I am too hungry to go back to sleep until fed at 2am so why should I expect my children to be any different.

That is not a "go" at anyone who chooses to not go to their kids in the middle of the night, just that it's not the only way to go, it's not a "bad" thing to do unless YOU think it is and that everyone has something to say about what you "should" do when it comes to parenting. If I have learned anything, it's that by doing what feels right for you and your family, whatever that is and even if everyone else thinks that you are doing the "wrong" thing that it's not wrong for you. I did everything "wrong" this time, but in doing so I have personally had a house that is alot more relaxed, less stressful from a parenting perspective, happier and well rested.

They definitely do get better. I find some nights my baby will sleep through till about 4-5, then she'll have a few in a row of waking every 2-3 hrs for a feed (and when we're away from home I just feed her cause I don't want her to wake anyone else up!). The next night or 2 when I don't feed her, I have a couple of footballs and leak everywhere, then its fine again.

I wonder if because you've been feeding for a bit longer, they won't take the month that Sabrina took to sort themselves out. I know my supply took until about then to sort itself out with not much change in feed pattern!

Glad to hear its already starting to settle down for you.

Edited by jessm