Hermione, does not go down for the night until 9-10pm. I want to bring this forward, with Rowan it was easier as he was combination fed he had a bottle before bed.

But the evenings are not peaceful. this is what happens.

we have dinner around 6-7pm. Hermione feeds at 5:30pm she is then very fussy from this point onwards (the colic) she does not like a bath in the evening when she is fussy.

But she'll have a little sleep for 30 mins then will be wide awake for hours. she'll then feed continuously from 8pm until she falls asleep which could be as late as 10:30pm some nights. she dont feed like this during the day.

sometimes she'll fall asleep but as soon as i move she wakes up. Rowan goes to bed at 8pm, and then i have to sit in the bedroom with her until she falls asleep. and during that time OH and I are apart.

how can i move it forward? i'm finding it hard to do

Aww Kelly, it's tough at this stage isn't it. I remember Amelia cluster feeding every evening and it was exhausting. I just rode it out as I didn't have anything to compair too and she just started drifting off earlier and earlier herself until we got to 8pm, which is still her bedtime now. I found just relaxing about it and letting her feed and feed whilst sat in the living room infront of a film or the TV with Dave meant that she'd be relaxed and then drift off and sleep for ages as she was so full. x

IM watching this one with interest as Amelia is a nightmare.Sleeps lovely during the day but we cannot get her to actually go to bed. I'm going back to work in 3 weeks so I need it sorted x

Both mine cluster fed too - it's very hard work but Im not sure there's much you can do if you are feeding on demand

Why do you have to sit in the bedroom with her after Rowan has gone down? Can you not have her in the living room with you and OH till she goes to sleep? She is still very young so I wouldn't worry about it too much, just pop her to bed when she falls asleep and she will gradually get used to it then you can start to bring it forward by 1/2 at a time here and there. Enjoy mummy/daddy/Hermione time after Rowan has gone down for a while longer

xx

i dont know i guess i felt i had to go in the room so she knew thats where she goes to sleep. she's awake alot in the day now too so i thought the earlier evening would start to fall into place. But she is sleeping longer she slept 9:00 to 2:30am then 3:00am to 7:30 this morning.

is it normal for them to cluster feed of an evening then?

It's just i would really love an evening bath to relax, but i find by the time i get the bath (after 10pm) i'm so tired i fall asleep in the bath. so it's not relaxing and i wake up in a cold bath.

I managed a bath today whilst Rowan was at nursery and H was sleeping but it's not the same as an evening bath. and I hate showers

God i'm all moany i know its not for ever.

I did everything by what rowan wanted when he was a baby and thought he'd set his own routine for bed time and sleeping through and by 7 months he had not done this so we tried CC but i dont want to do this with her as she's far far too young.

argh ignore me i'm going on about nothing over nothing

Lol hun - stop being so hard on yourself! You're gonna drive yourself mad. All babies are different but yes it is totally normal and very common for exclusively Bf babies to cluster feed of an evening. It's exhausting in those first few weeks, especially when a growth spurt comes along and you find yourself feeding constantly for hours on end

Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about having her in the bedroom of an evening yet, she is still very young hun and it's also the perfect time to enjoy a bit of one on one time. Feeding on demand makes a structured bedtime routine quite difficult but you will get there. Can you maybe express a bottle during the day so OH can give her it of an evening and allow you to get a nice soak in the bath?

Personally I would just keep her in the living room until you spot her getting sleepy and then pop her in her cot just as she's drifting off so she's aware she is in bed but not so wide awake that she will wake up instantly the second you put her down. Make a mental note of what time this is each day and slowly adjust her routine so it gets earlier each night. It will take time depending on her tbh - my two were and are still polar opposites when it comes to bedtime and I can't say I did anything different it's just who they are.

I agree she is far too young to do any form of CC yet so just enjoy your teeny baby cuddles while you can coz it wont be long and you'll be sat there of an evening missing her while she is tucked in bad

(((((((hugs))))))) I know how it can seem such a huge and daunting thing at this age and the sleep deprivation makes it all the worse but it will all come together in time hun

xx

Aw hon i hope it gets easier soon. Awen cluster fed in the evenings too and in the end I just gave her a bottle formula for bed. Im not suggesting you do that just saying it worke dfor me. It was the only bottle i gave her til a cpl weeks ago so not like i was giving up bfing but helped me get my evenings back and cos she was used to having 1 bottle every day she didnt make a fuss when i started swapping her over to 2 bottles a day this month.

Alternatively I agree with Debs try having her down in the evening, is she still in a moses? She could go in her basket in the lounge then carry the basket up to bed later? I started off that way (we had a stand up and a stand down so only had to move the basket with awen in it) then had the basket in our room then when she went into c's room put the basket in the cot before gradually just having the cot and she was still in her own room in a night routine at 12 weeks so its not forever.

The only other thing I can think is, is she comfort feeding to settle her for bed? If so what about a comfy. You can get proper ones but awens fave is her baby bunny c gave her which is just a stuffed rabbit and i slept with him for a few nights to 'scent' him so he smelled familiar and popped him by her side in the basket and it settled her really well. She now sleeps with baby bunny under one fist and an asda blankie under the other and she knows its sleepy time when i do that so maybe something like that might help her too

I feel sorry for you. Jamie cluster fed in the evenings until about 4 months and it was a killer. He still rarely goes down before 10 or 11 but at least he sits and plays in the evening so we have a bit more freedom. Hope she settles into some kind of routine soon

I 100% agree with the ladies who have suggested keeping her in living room until bedtime. At that age Caitlin was feeding up until midnight, it was about 4 months until I got bedtime to 10 pm and god knows what age before it was 8-9pm.

I just kept her down with us, watched TV, let mum/Stuart take her for 15 min at a time while I went to loo/had supper/got a break from the screams! It is hard work but I didnt see the point in isolating myself for hrs at a time or running back and forth to her room for hrs.

Caitlin did have sleep problems as a baby but she always went to bed fine, well if I left it to a realistic time for her eg late lol (constant waking for dummy drove me insane for months but!). I just mean being down with us didnt make her hard to settle at bedtimes, I still put her down awake but sleepy at midnight and gradually bedtime got earlier. Oh and after 8 weeks I was btl feeding and still she took her last feed late. I didnt attempt dream feed, she still dozed in Moses basket in living room until last btl at 1130pm before going to bed at same time as me. Its def hard BF constantly but even btl fed babies sometimes dont settle until late. They all different and it doesnt last forever - feels like it but doesnt it! The only bonus with keeping Caitlin up later was from very young her normal waking time has been 830-930... might not be so great but if Rowan wakes earlier anyway...

Hope you get a bath/rest soon x

Lily would start screaming from 6pm and carry on until 1am. With no break, it nearly sent me around the bend. It was torture! This went on for the first 8 weeks. She was bottle fed, and would cluster feed all evenng too.

We used to keep her in the lounge with us in the crib and move her when we went to bed. We did try to put her in a different room, but she just went bonkers.

It will get better hun, but I would say to have her in the living room with you guys, she is too young to associate that with where she sleeps, so dont worry about that. x

Thank you for your replies. I think I'm hoping for too much too soon as she is still young.

I'm in the living room though except OH is in bed! And has been since 7:30 yet another night putting them both to bed on my own

Aww Kelly, it is draining, I remember Milo cluster fed what felt like 24 hours a day he wouldn't settle from 10pm until about 7am, then sleep through to 2pm.. it was tough! It settled down eventually, but i remember how horrible and draining it was. Noah likes to cluster feed from about 4pm to 7pm so cooking/eating dinner is a challenge!

I think it's fine to keep her near you, if that makes you both feel better.
Also, please kick your OH up the bottom, or I will come and do it for you!