still breastfeeding at night?

arheins

For those of you who are still breastfeeding at night - we unexpectedly found ourselves co-sleeping (even though we thought we never would) and are currently trying to get LO to her own bed. She goes to bed around 8 and sleeps till about 2 at which she will not go back to sleep until she has been fed. I can tell she eats a good amount so i assume that she is legitimately hungry at this time - that being said after the 2 oclock feeding she is up every 2 hours (if we make it to the 2 hour mark) wanting to eat and these feedings i feel like are more of "comfort sucking" but if i give her the passy and try to get her back to sleep she will not have it until she gets the breast. i am at the stage where we are trying to start weaning her and am not sure how to get her back to sleep during the second stretch. i am not sure if she is actually hungry or it is a comfort thing.

On a sort of similar note - she eats regular food like a champ and will eat a good amount at each feeding (breakfast, lunch, dinner with a few snacks) but IF i am home after she has eaten she will get fussy/whiny until she has the breast - and she does not eat a good amount but rather repetitively latching on and off - but this still has me wondering if she is actually needing the nutrients from my milk even after eating a meal or of it is a comfort thing.

Anyone have a similar situation?

anakah

I have no advice but we are in the same boat.  LO goes to bed around 8:30 and sleeps a good stretch until midnight or 1ish at which point he has a good feeding.  After that if we put him back in his bed he'll cry every hour to nurse until I give up and just bring him into our bed.  These subsequent sessions are really short and I think more for comfort than hunger.  I keep thinking he'll grow out of it however, sleep training may be in our future if we want him out of our bed.

We don't have any issues with daytime eating.  LO is the most distracted nurser during the day and doesn't really care for me when he has real food.  Which is partly why I give in to the MOTN feedings because I think he's not getting enough milk during the day... 

arheins

I was lurking on the attachment parenting board a few weeks ago and read that this lady did her transition from co-sleeping to the LO bed by putting the crib mattress on the floor and laying down with them till they fell asleep and then snuck out. i want to try this (since our previous attempts at sleep training have been epic failures haha) but am still wondering how it is going to work if she is up every 2 hours for that second stretch for the night.

anakah

We wound up transitioning my older ones out of their cribs and onto twin mattresses on the floor around their 2nd birthday because of the co-sleeping issue. We did exactly like that attachment parenting lady.  We'd lay with them in their beds and then sneak out. 

Thankfully, LO sleeps the first stretch in his own bed.  It's the second half of the night that I'm at a loss.

RJBrownie84

This is us. No advice, but I'll be lurking here for suggestions

ErinO21

I've been wondering about something similar. LO is a great sleeper once he is asleep but every once in a while he will wake up around 12 or 1 and I'll nurse him back to sleep. I'm ready to be done BF'ing in a couple of weeks but I'm afraid to get rid of the crutch that is my boob. Next time he wakes up I'm going to make him a bottle to see if he really is hungry or if he just wants to nurse. If you LO wants to take a bottle maybe you can try that!

jodifredericksen

This is us, only I get no long stretches. She's goes down at 7 and is up every 2-3 hours until we are up for the day at 5:15, 5:30. I typically just nurse her after listening to a few minutes of fussing (I keep hoping she'll soothe herself to sleep) but sometimes when it's real bad, she comes to bed with us. This mama is beyond exhausted but I just can't do CIO. I'll be following this!

sasq09

I'm so glad to know we aren't alone! You're story is just like mine! Goes down for a longer stretch then up every two hours at most after that, ending up in our bed just so I can sleep a little. No idea how to fix it, especially since my DD is in our room (and due to renovations I can't get her out until spring at the earliest) here I am wide awake at 2:30 am

arheins

It is so good to hear i am not alone! I was starting to think i was just giving in too much to her but seems like this is normal behavior. Just not sure how to fix it haha. We did try the CIO method for about a week and her crying sessions just continued to get longer and my husband said that was enough of that - it clearly wasnt working and he couldnt stand to hear her cry like that. She is very stubborn for being so young. She would cry even if we were in the room and trying to pat her back or even pick her up and she would just scream at us until she was laid down in our bed beside me.

Missykisses85

^^^^^ that is me with ruby can't handle crying

Just hope she will eventually want her own space

bsz05

I weaned cold turkey but it came with a price lol I'm at a stage where my lil boy has a hard time settling down now ...he's 11 months

Jen4033

We are still nursing at least once in the MOTN. Sometimes more, but ifit is more than once, I can bank on his diaper being soaked through in the morning & the need for a bath & bedding change. SUCKS for weekends where 2x is more common since we are not getting up at 5am. Cannot wait to get off the night nursings!