Me again re: bed sharing and not sleeping..

blondegirl22

I posted a couple of weeks ago asking about bed sharing with my little one.. And things are still not getting better..

Here is a refresher...

LO is 7 months. We have been bed sharing exclusively since about 4.5 months. Before this she would sleep 4-7 hours in her PNP. She then started waking up several times a night, so I started just leaving her bed with us. I love bed sharing and it was working out great until a month or so ago... Now all she wants is to be attached to me all night long... I'm not getting any sleep!

I was asked before if she was teething. She cut through her first two bottom teeth last week. Starting last week, we have started to try and transition her over to her crib.. The first night she lasted an hour, 2nd 3 hours (!!) 3rd an hour and the last few she lasts minutes..  I can soothe her back to sleep and she will be right back up in a few minutes and this cycle continues. After 6 or 7 tries,I give up and bring her to bed with us.. Then she latches on and sleeps.  If I pull her off or she pulls off she cries until I let her latch back on.  This goes on all night..

 Very rarely she will take a pacifier ( I have tried several kinds). She will not take a bottle but will take a sippy cup. DH has tried to get her down that way without me nursing her and that doesn't work either.. I am the onely one who can put her to bed. 

She is on solids twice a day as well. I have also started being aware and making sure to nurse her every 2-3 hours during the day.  So I know she is not starving at night.. Once or twice she will actually eat the rest of the time it is just comfort nursing. 

I don't know what else to do. The issue is not her going to sleep in her crib.. She just wakes up wanting to nurse.  Any thoughts? Advice?

Thanks so much ladies!!  I need sleep! Lol! 

ncbelle

Sorry if I'm repeating something said before    Have you read the No Cry Sleep Solution?  I would suggest starting there for some ideas about changing her nurse to sleep association and to identify what else could be tweaked.  

blondegirl22

I had it from the library, then we found out we were moving and I never got to read it.   I will check our new library tomorrow! Thanks for the recommendation. 

Izybel18

My LO is the same age, and we've also been exclusively bedsharing since about 4 or 5 months when she outgrew her swing. She goes through phases, a few days at a time, where she does the same thing. Sometimes she just won't. let. go. of me all night (and day! ha). And then she'll go a few days where she's only up once or twice to actually eat, and turns away when I try to latch her if she's not hungry. She's been doing this cycle for a few weeks now. It was especially bad right before she mastered crawling. 

At this point, I feel blessed for the nights where she gives me a break. If I need it, I make sure to hand the baby off to DH when he gets up for work, and stay in bed alone for some extra sleep. Even a half hour alone makes a huge difference.

I found that I can actually manage to sleep with her attached to me if I use a body pillow. I have a Snoogle but I'm sure others would be fine. My sleep quality got much better (and my aches and pains lessened) when I started using the Snoogle.  

cyprissa

I went through this exact same thing and it lasted until he was a year old. I read No Cry and worked on the nursing to sleep association and it helped but never really solved the problem fully. I finally went away on an 8 day business trip and left him with DH (he was 13 months old) and that cured it. Probably not a popular method for most people but honestly it saved my sanity. I was about to go nutty and I love nursing. He still nurses (I pumped while gone) so it didn't damage our nursing relationship.

Anyway, if worse comes to worse, go away for a little bit...

blondegirl22

Thanks Ladies.  I picked up No Cry today.

Daddy was able to get her to sleep last night... She didn't stay that way, but a start!