When does it get easier?

[shopaholic]

Hi,
As many of you know I have a 6 week old baby girl, boy it goes quick. I feel as if I am spending my days and nights nursing. She cries for food anywhere between every hour to every three hours. Each feeding I spend about an hour, she starts and stops frequently . As a result I end up in bed until 11 Am each day, and feel the day is half over. Here it is almost 1:00Pm and i am in my pjs. When does it get easier?

 

[Southernfit]

Hi Shopaholic,
Congratulations on your baby girl. I have a little girl who is 2 and half years old. I nursed her for about a year. Now, believe me, when she was in the newborn stage I felt sure that I would stop nursing around the 6-month mark and yet that was when I started losing all of my weight. It will get easier. I promise!! I know how hard and frustrating it can be to spend most of your time nursing. I did some reading on this and discovered that when she was nursing this much, it usually meant she was going through a growth spurt. I found (and I know it's different for everyone) that after a few days, it would subside a little. It's also good to remember that as babies grow, their stomachs also grow and that means that over time, it will take more and more to keep them satisfied. I will also say that pumping my milk was very helpful to me. I did go back to work when my daughter was 6 weeks old and I invested in the Medela Pump-in-Style breastpump. It was a WONDERFUL investment. Not only did I pump at work, but also at home. If I was nursing her and she fell asleep, I would then pump and save that milk. My husband was then able to help with the feedings and it gave me some freedom.
I hope this helps.
Jessi

 

[tknelsen]

My baby is turning one in just 2 weeks and I can't believe how fast the time went by! I think by 5 or 6 months you will find that your baby can go for longer stretches of time between nursings (being able to have solids will help with that) and hopefully she will be falling into some predictable sleeping habits. Naps should become more of a regular event which will help you since you will be able to plan for them and around them. I know that with all three of my kids that 6 months was kind of a watermark as far as things getting easier. Just hang on a little bit longer - you'll make it! Don't worry about staying in your pajamas all day (we've all done it) just enjoy this time with your daughter and keep telling yourself that someday soon she is going to sleep 12 hours a night.
Tracy

 

[hippahips]

Hi Shopaholic, you could be almost there. My son started sleeping through his 1 a.m. feedings at eight weeks. When I woke up at the time and saw that it was past 2 a.m., I freaked out. Ran to his crib to check if he was still breathing.:7 At the time, he would sleep at 11 p.m. and sleep 'til about 5 a.m. Then at about four months, he started sleeping through his 5 a.m. feedings. At six months, he had learned to sleep though the night and wake up at 7 a.m. The first four months were my hardest, I think -- sleep-wise. The colic}(, which lasted much longer, is another story.

Hang in there,
Pinky

 

[shopaholic]

Thanks for your replies. Last night was a good night, she slept from 10:30 until 2:30 am, then woke at 6, didn't want to eat and fell back asleep. Unfortunately each night is different. Did any of you have a snacker, who would nurse on and off for over an hour? This remains her usual pattern.

 

[MSJ]

Shopaholic,
I don't have a ton of wisdom or anything. I would just tell you to enjoy this time while she is little, because even a few months from now she is going to be a very different baby. This is just a short season of your life. My first child is nine now and in nine more (short) years, he is going to be 18--a man. I remember nursing him and getting very little else done, because he was a very demanding baby, but it was a sweet time also.

I feel overwhelmed right now, because during the course of a day, there just is not enough time to do all that I feel I ought to be doing. (If I gave up exercising, I would have more time, but I can't do that. It is a priority.) For example, I feel like I am always cleaning and the house is always a mess. Moms at church who have grown up kids remind me that this is just a season of my life and someday our kiddos will be grown and we will have a house that stays clean because no one will be around to mess it up, so to lighten up and enjoy them when they are small and not worry so much about things that don't matter as much.

Hope I didn't sound preachy.

take care,
Maggie

PS--my third child was a snacker and it about drove me nuts at the time. She was a really cranky baby as well. I had a lot of PJ days with her

 

[emy]

Shopaholic,
That sounds like me today. We (baby and I) got up at 11 am too! He went to sleep around 11 pm, and I did at 11:30. He woke up in the night to eat, then we went back to sleep. Then he fed again early in the morning, and I put him in bed so I could continue to rest/sleep until he cried just before 11. So you are not alone!
Maxwell has been very much a snacker. But, in order to get him to go longer between meals, I have been trying to play with him now that he is getting more active. Laying him on a blanket and dangling rings and other baby toys over him for him to bat at and coo at seems to be "distracting" him from eating all the time. I am starting to think that all of the cries he had were "pay attention to me" cries and not just I'm hungry or change my diaper cries. Don't know if this is the case with you, but as I am a first time mom, I am just learning and wanted to share my experience. As I am typing, he is on a blanket on the floor batting at toys, allowing me to type this message to you. Good luck!

 

[shopaholic]

Emy, sounds like our children have similar patterns. I have a baby gymnee which I should get out, a mat with dangling toys. I forget when was Maxwell born? Alexis is doing better at night and sleeping from about 11-3, then for another 3 hour span after feeding. I am actually starting to arise about 9:30 Am. She continues to start and stop eating but I am beginning to think her problem is gas so I rub her back or tummy. I also have been leaving her in her swing to calm self down.

 

[emy]

Maxwell was born Aug 30th, so he is 10 weeks. He is starting to sleep a bit longer at night, but still wants to eat a lot. Some evenings he wants to be constantly eating, sometimes for 10 minutes with a half hour in between for 3 or four cycles.

My parents actually made a comment that I should let him cry. That it is good for a baby. But, I am firm in the belief that this method has been proved to be unbeneficial - at least during the day. I saw a presentation by a professor that says an infant whose needs are met and is not left to cry, will be a more independent, trusting, and well-adjusted child.

So, our only problem left to figure out is interpretting those cries. I am trying to decipher the little differences, so I can recognize what he needs without going through each possibility every time he cries. (I have found that feeding him will most often "solve" the problem, but that that isn't necessarily always the reason he is crying.)

 

[shopaholic]

Emy, thanks for your feedback and advice. Our children sound very similar in their patterns.