- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Attachment Parenting
My Attempt at NCSS w/ 8 month old tonight: Detailed!
This is a long post. I documented for myself only but thought I would post in case anyone was curious or was going through same thing.
History: Ben is 8 months and wakes every 2 hours all night long, had done this since birth. He mostly wakes now to be rocked back to sleep, but used to require to be nursed back to sleep at every waking. The extra nursing seemed to stop when I offered the breast twice as much during the day to fill him up and also by sending in DH now and then to block his attempt to nurse. Typically we nurse to sleepat bedtime until he is dead asleep and I then lay him down in his crib fine but he then wakes every 2 hours ALL night LONG. He has been doing this since birth. We tried CIO one night at 7 months and didn?t last because he cried 10 minutes and fell asleep. Victory we thought! But then he woke 45 minutes later. We let him CIO ten more minutes and he fell asleep. Then woke one hour later. We then quit CIO.
Tonight: First Night of ?NCSS ?ish? attempt at curbing all night long wakings. I ordered NCSS book but it has not arrived yet so everything I did tonight is based off of web research, so not sure if is 100% Pantley.
We nursed at 7:10pm after bath and bed time routine. White noise machine was on as it is every night. Lights off, room dim but not totally dark because sun is setting. We have room darkening shades down but a little light comes through on the sides.
I could see by 7:25pm he was just sucking to suck and was done eating. I kept trying to unlatch him (Pantley pull off) but had trouble. He was on so tight yet his eyes were closed. I know he was not asleep but drowsy.
7:30pm When I finally unlatched him the crying began and I stood up and put his head on my shoulder and bounced lightly back and forth to baby dance him. He was angry and tried to push off me to nurse and I kept holding him close on my shoulder while he kept pushing me and crying.
7:35pm After 5 minutes of him fighting to go back to nursing I realized he was just getting more and more worked up. So we sat back down and back to nursing we go. He was nursing and wide awake this time.
740pm After several minutes I unlatched him again and he didn?t seem too upset but was nowhere near drowsy now. I picked him up, on my shoulder rested his head and bounced lightly around the room to rock him to sleep. We bounced lightly around the room while he proceeded to go back and forth between ?sleepy with his head on my shoulder? and ?totally in awe of everything in the room with his head jutting left and right to look around?.
7:45pm He seemed a little drowsier now so I laid him down on his belly in the crib. He immediately flipped onto his back and cried and stood up and cried to be picked up. I tried laying him back down a few more times without picking him up before realizing it wasn?t going to work this time.
7:50pm I pick him up out of the crib and back to baby dancing. His head is on my shoulder but I know he is awake because I can feel his fingers playing with my neck. We dance lightly around the room for several more minutes.
8:00pm I lay him down, he is awake. For a split second his lays still and flat. He then starts to rise off his belly and I immediately pat his bottom and he goes back down and stays still. I stop patting and he then tried to rise up again. I start patting his bottom again and back down he goes. I then keep patting until I think he will not rise up and then slowly stop patting and make the intervals between pats longer until I am no longer patting.
8:06pm I finally leave the room. He is asleep.
Here?s hoping! It took almost an hour from start to finish. A big deal considering normally we nurse for 10-15 minutes before he is out cold. It was a much more exhausting and LONGER process than we normally do, but I think investing upfront will pay off in the long run. I really hope we see an improvement!
PS....I really am amazed he laid down and went to sleep knowing that when I laid him down he was awake! He has NEVER done that before ever. That is why we have always nursed to sleep. So maybe this does work!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: My Attempt at NCSS w/ 8 month old tonight: Detailed!
Good luck! I recently started with the NCSS too and it seems like we have the exact same problem. I usually nurse until Ace is completely asleep then i lay him down. He is 5 mo. old and has been waking every 2 hours (or less) to nurse (but he really isn't eating, just comfort nursing). I am trying the "Pantley Pull Off" and trying to put him down. before he is completely asleep. With the "pull off" i've had better luck if i put my index finger under his chin and my thumb pressed on his lower lip. This seems to stop him from searching for the breast (sometimes it takes me 3-5 tries though).
The struggle i'm having is doing both the "pull off" and laying him down not completely asleep. I feel like i only have success with one or the other. For example, if i take him off the breast i need to hold him until he's asleep OR if i lay him down almost asleep he needs his pacifier. Tonight is night 4. We'll see how it goes. I hope things go well for you!
He woke up 2.5 hours after I put him down! I was so disappointed but reazlied it will take time so i kept up what i was doing and put him back down in the same fashion I did earlier at bedtime.
It took 30 minutes but he went down and slept almost 5 hours straight! (4 hours 45 min to be exact) I couldnt believe it!!! So that is an improvement! I am keeping this up and hopefully we keep getting good results!