Sleeping issues, need some help

[Joannerobinm]

OK, we finally got it so Alex doesn't need to nurse to fall asleep. and this last week he was doing great. 8pm to about 3am, nurse, and asleep for another 3 hours or so. Hubby and I think we should stop the feedings because he isn't really eating a lot. just for a few minutes until he falls back asleep.


So the question: do I continue nursing when he wakes up...I get to go back to sleep quickly....


Or do we not feed him and try to comfort him some other way. and what other ways work? btw, he won't take a pacifier.

looking for all sorts of suggestions

[momofajcl]

Have you tried to let him fuss for a while? I'm not a big fan of crying it out but if Nicholas wakes up in the middle of the early morning, I'll wait and see if he is really serious. Sometimes it takes up to 5 minutes of him fussing to get himself back to sleep. But if he starts to seriously cry...loudly...then I go to him and rub his back. He usually sleeps on his tummy. I may be in there for a few minutes until he calms down and falls back to sleep but it works for the most part. Rarely, I will have to resort to nursing him to get him back to sleep. Good luck:)

[Joannerobinm]

Thanks for responding so quickly.

We have let him cry a bit to see if he will resettle. As of yet it has not worked. Quite possibly b/c he knows I'm going to come in eventually.
perhaps we will have to let him try for a longer period.

[MommyToAshley]

I am probably not the right person to answer this because I too have problems with Ashley sleeping through the night.

She will go to sleep during the day for her naps without nursing, but she always has to be nursed to sleep at night. She has good days and bad days... as you may have seen from my other posts. She will have a stretch of about 3-4 days where she will sleep 9+ hours without waking up, and then she has nights where she wakes up several times. However, it is getting better. She used to NEVER sleep throughthe night. She used to always wake up crying, but I think that is due to her teething. Now, sometimes she just fusses. If she fusses, I let her try to go back to sleep on her own. If she cries for more than a few minutes, I go get her. I always try to let her go back to sleep without nursing. I rock her or walk with her. If that fails, and she is not wet, I know she is hungry and I nurse her. Sometimes, when she cries, I think she just misses me. I go in there, pick her up and give her a hug and she falls immediately back to sleep.

Some of the other BTDT Moms here might be of more help than I am. Sorry I haven't been much help, but just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. : )

There was another post that Zemirah wrote about her thoughts: http://forums.parentingclub.com/index.php?...t=ST&f=11&t=157

Here is another post where I asked a similar question not too long ago:
http://forums.parentingclub.com/index.php?...ct=ST&f=24&t=66

[supermom]

Hello
Well, I can say that I am not a fan of CIO but letting them fuss (mildly) for just a little bit to see if they can calm themselves down is not a bad way to try to deal with it, as long as it's not a "hard" crying and they are safe, warm, fed and dry....

However, keep in mind that babies of this age do NOT learn manipulation, so just not going in will not teach them that you aren't coming, going in will teach them to not rely on you (like they should!). When they are this young, my personal opinion is to go to them, if you are serious about giving up the feeding, then try to comfort them in other ways.

If it's not that big of a deal to YOU to "have" to BF them back to sleep, then keep on doing, it. It (in my past experience) will not promote a baby who wakes up more often or will quit waking up sooner. It will promote security in that infant and when THEY are ready, they will give it up......BTW, how long to you plan on continuing the BF?

If that came across as harsh, I didn't mean it to, just giving my .02

[dhoppygirl]

We were having the same issue with Peyton. He would wake up at midnight or so and I would feed him and then he would wake up again around 3ish and I would feed him again. We decided to let him fuss it out at midnight and when he got himself worked up (which means he was doing more than just talking) either I or my DH would go in and give him his pacifier, which he usually would spit out; we also turned on his FisherPrice fish aquariam. If that didn't work, we rocked him. Now, he is sleeping through that midnight feeding, but still waking up at 3; we are debating whether to let him go back to sleep on his own.
One thing we found really difficult was that we were still half asleep when Peyton would wake up, so without thinking DH would go get him and bring him to me to feed, and I would take him because I would still be half asleep...we had to really work at it!!
Anyway, good luck!!!

Dawn