Hawaii Babies

What's so wrong w/ eating THEN sleeping?

We've been trying to do what the books say, eat, awake, then sleep since Ryan was born. My little man has a certain way he likes things and this is not it. We've tried not unswaddling him when he wakes up and feeding and that doesn't work. We've put him to sleep hungry thinking he would eat when he wakes up but he still doesn't eat first. He just won't eat! He even started getting dry lips because he was getting dehydrated! We have no trouble getting him to eat before it's time to sleep and he's swaddled. He then goes right to sleep at the end of the bottle but most important, he will eat the whole bottle. Only thing is we don;t get him to burp. He has no trouble w/ gas or spitting up or anything though. I'm tired of trying to change this. We just went with it (his way) for a few weeks now and it just works with him. Life is so much more easy.

WWYD? Keep trying to do things like the books say or do what Ryan likes? What harm comes with doing it eat-sleep-awake instead of eat-awake-sleep?

Re: What's so wrong w/ eating THEN sleeping?

  • imagejaysgirljulie:
    do what Ryan likes

    Yes 

    honestly, why continue to fight it if he is happy, healthy, and thriving in a eat, sleep, play pattern.

    I'm no expert and I just let Jack eat, sleep, and play whenever the heck he wants - he's the boss, right? haha.

    Does your book list any health benefit to the order they write about?

  • do what works for your baby :) miss A likes to eat a lot so we often do the routine of wake up, eat, play, eat more, then sleep :) sometimes i can get away with wake up, eat, play, sleep but often i have to feed her again before nap time! sometimes i can get her to burp before i put her down (i do a combo of holding her and bouncing up and down gently, rocking back and forth and side to side, and patting her back) and other times she burps when she gets up (or she wakes up crying b/c the gas finally bothers her and i pick her up, burp her, and she goes right back to sleep)

    nothing says you have to do things by the book when it comes to raising your child (unless of course it's a safety issue). mommy knows best. trust your instincts!

    that said, if you do this, just be sure that when he starts to get older that you still teach him to fall asleep on his own (or be prepared to put him back to sleep).  i always thought it was the "suck to sleep" association that you were supposed to avoid but that isn't necessarily the case.  what i learned is that what you want to avoid is milk in the mouth before a long stretch of sleep overnight after they have teeth.  milk and formula are very very cariogenic (it causes cavities). what you want to do is enable him to fall asleep on his own so that once he has teeth, he can take the bottle and you can then brush his teeth with a wet washcloth (thereby waking him) and then he can go right back to sleep w/o any issues.  my brother is a dentist and i asked him if it is really important to brush their teeth or not since they are baby teeth and he said it's very important unless you want your baby to have to get numbing shots and fillings when they are little. he said he sees lots of babies that come in for their first visit and their teeth are "full of little holes." does he see babies who come in whose parents let them fall asleep after a bottle that have no cavities? sure. there are exceptions to every rule. but is it a big issue among babies? yes.  so that's the only thing i personally see wrong with eating and then sleeping...maybe someone else has some other insight on it too.

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  • The reason they encourage eat-wake-sleep is so that they don't develop an eat-sleep association, which can cause sleep problems.  Meaning, they won't be able to go to sleep without eating/sucking and when they wake at night they could have issues putting themselves back to sleep without being nursed or eating. 

    I say do whatever works for you now.  If you find later that he won't sleep without being nursed or having a bottle, you can tackle the issue then.   


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  • imagesanae78:
    Meaning, they won't be able to go to sleep without eating/sucking and when they wake at night they could have issues putting themselves back to sleep without being nursed or eating.

    good to know. 

    Julie FWIW we haven't had such issues with miss A despite feeding her before sleeping a lot of the time.  she's been really good about falling asleep on her own.  every baby is different but just FYI

  • inamrainamra member
    Heh, our LO falls asleep while eating. Then I can't wake him up for the life of me. An hour later, he wakes up hungry. I don't know how to break the eating/sleep cycle either, but I don't really see it as a big problem, so I'm just letting him be for now. Same with swaddling--seems to work wonders for everyone but ours sleep longer unswaddled, so we stopped swaddling. Not everything works for all kids, so I'd say just do what works best for yours =)
    Sept 2008 Wedding | May 2010 & Mar 2012 Babies
  • The EASY schedule didn't work for Elyse until she was a bit older. 

    I say do what ever works for your LO.  Just follow his lead. 

  • imagesanae78:

    The reason they encourage eat-wake-sleep is so that they don't develop an eat-sleep association, which can cause sleep problems.  Meaning, they won't be able to go to sleep without eating/sucking and when they wake at night they could have issues putting themselves back to sleep without being nursed or eating. 

    I say do whatever works for you now.  If you find later that he won't sleep without being nursed or having a bottle, you can tackle the issue then.    

    This.

    Do what works for your baby!

    One idea is to feed him, THEN swaddle him, then put him to sleep. This way the swaddling wakes him up from the nursing coma and allows him to put himself to sleep on his own. That's how I used to do it with Alexa and now she's a pro at putting herself to sleep. You really want to focus on putting him down drowsy but awake so that you don't have problems later!

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  • Oh honey...you've figured out what your guy wants/needs...go with it.  Books are just that...suggestions, ideas, etc.  They're not real life.  If Ryan will sleep after eating then do that.  It won't always be that way.  I mean, do you eat a big meal and then right to bed?  Probably not.  But for now...why not?

    We generally feed Libby and she gets sleepy and goes down for a nap or to bed soon after, especially if it's a bigger nursing session like in the evening.  In the mornings and afternoon she eats and then plays and then sleeps.  So go with Ryan's cues and you should be golden!

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