11 Ways Second Night Syndrome Tries To Break All New Breastfeeding Moms

There's no way to describe how much your heart breaks when you hear your newborn cry. Especially when you think you are doing everything "right." Breastfed? Check. Diaper changed? Check. Snuggling her skin-to-skin? Check.

Once you've checked everything off your mental list, you're left wondering what in the hell could possibly be wrong.

While I was clueless at the time, I now know one of the reason my newborn daughter was so fussy was because my milk hadn't come in, and she was hungry. Next time around, with baby number two, I knew it was OK to supplement with a bottle of formula or pumped breast milk. That helped everyone get through the longest second night it and to continue to breastfeed. Who knew?

At first, I was so diligent (and maybe a bit too diligent) about tracking every time my baby ate and every time her diaper was changed, but then those moments all started to blend together. I blame sleep deprivation.

As a new mom, it's hard to know what to do when something just doesn't feel right. On one hand, most breastfed babies have a hard second night. After all, they're totally new to the planet and are trying to figure things out. On the other hand, according to Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi of the Fed is Best Foundation, a fussy baby who wants to nurse all of the time could be showing signs of jaundice or dehydration, has lost weight, or doesn't have enough wet diapers. If that's the case, they might need supplementation until your milk comes in or your supply increases.

For over 24 hours it felt like my baby had my boob in her mouth. I hadn't slept much in two days. This mom needed sleep and my boobs needed a break.

My daughter would fall asleep and then wake whenever I went to put her down. I continued this seemingly endless cycle for hours before just resigning myself to holding her all night. Surely, I would be able to sleep the next day, right? Nope.

I was worried there was something wrong with my newborn baby, so I woke my husband up. He critically asked me why the baby was in the bed with me. WTF? I was too tired to keep walking the same path back and forth to her crib, my exhausted body swaying to a silent lullaby. I shouted, "If you have a problem with this, you take her." To give him credit, he tried. She broke him, too.

Every time my daughter would start to fall asleep, I would set her down gently and slowly back away. Her eyes would pop back open, and she would start to cry, again. As if to say, "Where are you mommy? I was so comfy. I don't want to be alone."

Then I would think to myself, "I can't do this."

There's a reason sleep deprivation is a torture technique. After a few hours of nursing, drifting off, and waking back up to do it all over again, I was seriously losing my mind. I started to question whether or not anything, and everything, was real. Maybe, hopefully, I was still pregnant and this was all a dream?

Then, that moment comes when she's finally asleep, and you sigh with relief when you think that maybe you are going to get some sleep, too. Nope. When you unlatch your newborn from your nipple, he or she is totally wakes up.

Mommy: 0, Second Night Syndrome: 52.

You start to ask yourself some pretty intense questions when you're tired and overwhelmed. Is this normal? Will my baby ever sleep? Is my baby getting enough? What's wrong? Why won't my baby stop crying? Am I doing this right? Why did I even have a baby? Am a terrible mother already? FML.

However, and as the song goes, the sun will come up tomorrow, and it did. The next day I was able to get some help with breastfeeding and figure some things out in order to establish sleep schedules and arrangements. Second night syndrome didn't break me entirely, or maybe it did and that's why I'm such a hot mess most of the time. Regardless, if you can make it through the second night without completely losing your sh*t, you owe yourself a high five and a latte.