Midnight snack overload
Baby Boy is going through a phase. A very nasty phase. A phase that is making Mommy very, very, very tired all the time.
I thought, at first, that it was his three-month growth spurt. He had been sleeping really well, and only getting up once (maybe twice) a night to eat. But about a week before he turned three months, he started waking up many, MANY times throughout the night, needing to nurse. And I don’t just mean “nurse for comfort” — the kid was famished, and nursing for a solid 20 minutes.
No problem, I thought, that’s just the three-month growth spurt. It’ll end soon.
Ha!
It’s been going on for more than two weeks now, so I’m not sure I can still say it’s the growth spurt. He’s still getting me up five or six times a night for feedings, and it’s slowly killing me.
I used to be able to count on one “long stretch” every night — his first stretch — that was four or sometimes five hours. I NEED THAT STRETCH! I am the kind of person that doesn’t fall back asleep that easily, so I need that ONE STRETCH where I can get a few consecutive hours of sleep. Because if not, I feel like I do NOW, which is aslkdjsdkfhdskjfhzzzzzz …
With this waking-up-every-two-hours crap, by the time I nurse him, put him back to bed, pee, and then fall back asleep, I’m only getting about an hour. And then it starts all over again!
It’s been hard on Baby Boy, too, because he’s been extra cranky during the day — since he’s not getting a great night’s sleep, either. I’ve been putting him down for naps whenever he seems tired, but he just never seems rested. It’s awful.
I’m still doing my usual “fuel-him-up” routine before bedtime — which consists of sitting on the couch with him for about two hours, stuffing my boob in his mouth as often as he’ll let me. He’s definitely going to bed with a full tummy.
My fear is that because he’s such a big baby for his age — wearing 6-12 month clothing and weighing about 17 pounds — he is eating so frequently because his body just needs more food than the average three-monther. It makes sense that a baby who is the SIZE of a six-month-old (or, uh, seven-month-old) has the appetite of one, doesn’t it?
I know I could make an appointment with the doctor to ask, but I just KNOW he will suggest starting him on rice cereal, and I don’t want to do that yet. I’m afraid of what the breastfeeding natzis would say. They all insist that babies don’t need ANYTHING except breast milk for the first six months. And I agree! I do! In theory …
… but I also can’t keep waking up every hour for another three months.
Help?
2 Comments on “Midnight snack overload”
So what do you think?
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Heather's Handmade Life 
One of the ladies I work with started mixing rice formula in with her pumped breastmilk at age three months for both of her kids. She got some sleep and her kids were none the worse for it (they're both over age 20 now). She recommended this highly to me when my baby was doing the exact same thing your son is doing now. Worked like a charm.
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Thanks for the suggestion! I really do think it's worth considering. It's just such a big step, eek!
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