Those who've sleep trained and bf
ns1
member
Ok...stupid me...I just saw a similar post below...but if you want to humor me and answer still that's great too! Sorry!
How long does your LO sleep at night now between feedings?
I'm really thinking I need to do some sleep training (Ferber here...) because DD has now associated nursing with falling asleep, so every time she wakes (5-6X a night recently!) she just wants to latch on and then she'll fall back asleep for an hour or so. But...since I bf I'm just worried that doing this will make my supply drop. She's not really eating at these night wakings, just latching on and doing comfort sucking, but I worry that if I go to long she'll actually be hungry and I'll just not know it if I let her CIO...but at the same time I want her to be able to put herself to sleep without needing me!
Any ideas? Thanks!
Re: Those who've sleep trained and bf
My LO is younger than yours, but we EBF and just started sleep training (ferber too, modified a bit). We started early (we did it with my older son) because of what you stated above-- he will only fall asleep from nursing and it's driving me insane. So we felt like it was our only choice. We started last week and did modified CIO-- I nurse him for the last time before he goes to bed about 6pm, and once he's done or asleep (I don't prevent him from falling asleep, but try to put him down awake), I take him up and lay him in his crib with white noise. He usually always wakes up in this process, which is actually a good thing. So the first few days, he cried a bit-- not more than 15 minutes. He slept (sleeps) anywhere to the 1-4am timeframe (and a few times until 5am) and then I nurse him 20 mins or so, and put him back awake, and do the same modified CIO process (we do increments of 3, 5, 8, 15 mins). It's been a week and he hasn't cried at all either going down at night, or in these mid- night feedings.
So all this being said, there comes the problem of when to feed them, and when to possibly let them CIO because they aren't really hungry. I think once you start teaching them to self-soothe and fall asleep on their own, they will stop all of this night waking to nurse (just to fall back asleep). If I were you, I'd start doing it sooner vs. later, and I think it will all resolve itself. I set a rule that if LO wakes before 3 hours, I will let him CIO. If he wakes after he's been asleep for 3 hours, I will feed him. He's capable of going 3 hours without eating, so if he's waking before that he just wants me to put him back to sleep. He hasn't woken more than once at night since we started sleep training.
Is LO 15 lbs? They say once they are 15 lbs, they can technically STTN, and I think at 5 months old your LO is more capable of going longer periods. Still, I'd feed her if she wakes after probably 4 hours of sleep. Anything less, I might do the CIO. Up to you of course, but you have to find that balance of feeding her based on hunger rather than soothing.
And I know some will disagree-- if she needs to be soothed, why not just feed her. But it sets a bad habit that is hard to break, and breaking it now will only serve you well for the future.
I'm not sure I have any great advice, as I am in the same situation. My DD is 13 weeks old and I also bf. She still wakes 2 to 5 times a night to eat also. My pediatrician suggested offering her a binky when she wakes, but we tried this and it didn't work for us. After giving it to her, she would fall back to sleep, but a half hour later she would be up again and I would feed her. So we are just back to change, swaddle, feed, back to sleep which must be what she needs because its the only way my DD will go back to sleep. Every baby is different.
Question for you, when you waited a week to get use to the 3 hrs, was it because your DD was having trouble making it to the 3 hrs for each feeding? The Ferber book seems to say the next day do 3 1/2 hrs so I am curious why you did not jump up to the next interval.
Did your DD get use to the 3 hrs and start waking only at 3 hrs for food?
We tried 2 hrs 45 mins last night and it was very difficult. I was dreading jumping up to 3 hrs tonight and after reading your post am wondering if we should just wait.
This is my feeling too. We just started a modified CIO with my DD and I will feed her every 5 hours throughout the night. The first 2 nights she ate at the 5 hour mark, last night she slept through it!
OP- where is your LO sleeping?
I EBF, and we sleep trained last weekend for the first time and it has been so easy! I was in the same boat, DD was nursing about every 2 hours at night, sometimes just for a few minues to fall back to sleep. But we were also bed sharing, and I think it was just so easy for both of us to resort to nursing when she woke.
I moved her to her crib last weekend ready to tackle the frequent nursing as well, turns out I didn't even have to. She is sleeping so much better in her crib! She only wakes once or twice a night to nurse. So I don't even question whether or not she's hungry. Our longest stretch was 7 hours!
We also used Ferber's method, and it took about 3 nights (no more than 15 to 25 minutes of crying) and now she is pretty quiet when I lay her down awake. Also, she has never cried in the middle of the night after a feeding when I lay her back down. Not even day 1. The only crying was when I first laid her down. She goes back to sleep very easily.
I will warn you that my boobs are still sometimes engorged when I wake up. They were so used to nursing every 2 hours, so especially the night she went 7 hours, they were so full! I just pumped though. It seems to be improving now.
Good luck!