[CherA]

Baby is 7 weeks old now. We have been trying to establish a day and night pattern with him, but he's usually very fussy at night. At day time, he's gentle and easy to take care of. He easily falls asleep after nursed. At night time, usually after 9-10pm, when we try to put him to sleep, he still cries so hard. So we either by cuddling or by nursing. So we either cuddle him or offer him my nipples. When he seems quiet again in my arms, I try to put him down to his crib but he cries again! We try to hush him and pad him but he still makes lots of noises till 1-2am, until hubby and I become so exhausted that we give up and give him a pacifier... which I considered as a last resort.

How do I know if he needs milk/ purely sucking need? His feeds before sleep time is so frequent (cries again half an hour after a normal feed!) that I cannot tell whether he is still hungry or he purely needs something to suck on. We try to just lull him to sleep in bed but he still cries, then I offer my nipple again and he sucks say 5 min and cries again. Then we cuddle him again or change his nappy. But he is still not satisfied. We are just clueless as to how to deal with it....

[Sara]

I went through very similar situations with my little one. When we went for the 2-month check-up, her weight gain was fine, indicating that she has had enough food. Her ped also suggested that I tried expressing for a day, to see exactly how much milk I had, in comparison to how much she needed. Bear in mind that you will get less milk in the bottle than the baby gets in his tummy from direct nursing.

Good luck. I totally feel for you...

[ELT]

Pacifier and swaddling work like magic for me

[CherA]

Sara - how old is your little one now and how did you deal with it? How long did this problem last for at the end?

Apart from feeding him on the breast, I also express milk first thing in the morning and sometimes during early evening. I'm convinced that milk is sufficient. Most of the time, baby just sucks for 15-20 min on one breast and he'll feel satisfied. I never need to switch breasts in one feed (he's not willing to open his mouth if I switch as he is already full on one breast). He has been gaining weight well too. It's just that I'm quite fed up with the fuss... I wonder how I can handle it. Should I offer him my breast every time or should I train him to sleep on his own without sticking him to the breast?

Swaddling never works for my baby. He hates being swaddled the day he's born and he always wants his arms out...

[elaine]

My baby is 6 weeks old and she wants to be cuddled after her 9pm feed. Whenever we try to put her to bed, she cries. We know she is not hungry as we give her formula at night - so she gets cuddled until her next feed which is aorund midnight. We hope this is just a phase she's going through...