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Breastfeeding
marleysmom
member
EBF and STTN
marleysmom
member
I'm sorry - this probably gets asked a lot but I either need reassurance or advice. My son is 5 months old and still wakes every 2-3 hours at night to eat with an occasional 4 hr stretch. I work outside the home at least 50-60 hours per week and I'm exhausted. He eats about every 3 hours during the day if getting EBM while I'm at work, or every 2-3 hours on weekends when I'm home and BF. He takes 4-5oz per bottle and usually takes both sides when nursing. He's huge (19+ lbs) so there's no concern about weight gain. We've tried giving him a bottle of BM before bed and even a bottle of formula to try to tank him up with no change. A couple of times we've tried just giving him the paci and trying to soothe him back to sleep without feeding him without success, although I give in pretty quickly since it's just easier to feed him once I'm up. At what point should I be able to stop feeding him overnight? I'd give anything for a solid night's sleep!
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Re: EBF and STTN
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
I feel your pain! I had been getting up with my son 2-3 times at night and was really wondering if it would ever end. About a month ago I told myself that I would not go to him if he cried before 11 (his bedtime is 7). So he cried a while at first and it was hard but now I still don't go if he cries before 11pm and he puts himself back to sleep usually within 5 -10 mins. So he usually gets up around 2a and then again around 5a or 6a. So I stopped going in for the 2 o'clock fussing (started this last week )and only went in once to nurse because it turned into a full hard cry. Now he is only getting up around 4am or 5am. It seems like my son knows the clock better than me, he is very scheduled- he is always ready for naps and feedings at the same times. I think he got used to getting up at the same times during the night because that was part of his "schedule". I don't think he needed to eat all the time, he was just used to the pattern of getting up at this time and this is what happens- I get a nice meal and time with Mom. I was afraid of letting him cry because I didn't want him waking up my H since he works crazy hours. I was even thinking of maybe giving him a bottle of breast milk when he got up in the middle of the night to see how he would react... that might be my next plan if this doesn't work.... Good luck and let me know if you try anything that seems to work!!
My DD was EBF until 6 months, and I'm still nursing at 16 months once/day. At 10 weeks, she started STTN (10 hours). She did this for 6 weeks (glorious!). Then, we hit the 4 month wakeful, and she woke at least once/night to eat until she turned a year, when I gave in and did CIO. It took 2-3 nights of crying/whining, and then she started STTN again. If I could do it all over again, I'd let her CIO at 4 months when she started waking again. I don't think it had anything to do with eating/hunger. I think it turned into a habit (unnecessarily).
I read Dr. Weissbluth - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - and I found it to be very helpful.
Good luck! Sleep issues are miserable!!!