Nursing at Partial Wakings

ninakbo79 · January 2012

Hi,

I bedshare and my DS has to nurse at every partial waking in order to settle back to sleep. I always offer it to him, but I wonder if I am doing him a big disservice by reinforcing this sleep association.

Does anyone else do this and is this something that I should try to put an end to sooner than later? Is this something children eventually outgrow?

Thanks!

tokenhoser · January 2012

In my experience, it's something that got much worse with time, not better. I had to 100% bedshare for a month over Christmas because our house was over full, and it got to the point that LO was waking every 45 minutes and I had to nurse him every time. I nearly lost my mind.

The Pantley Pull Off worked fairly well for us - her book (No Cry Sleep Solution) has a lot of AP friendly suggestions if you want to try to discourage breastfeeding from being the ONLY way to go back to sleep. I do still nurse before bed and naps, and once at night.

QuiltingBee · January 2012

There are times when I feel like a human pacifier, and times when it's not quite so bad. It seems like I can comfort him back to sleep without nursing at times, but at others he just isn't having it! Sometimes he just wants Mommy. There are times when I worry that I'm "creating a monster," so to speak, but most of the time it works for both of us and he's happy...so I figure it will all work out in the end.

I have read Pantley's book, though, and I use the pull-off method at times when it seems like he's had a long run of using me as a pacifier.

ninakbo79 · January 2012

Do you find that LO wakes up totally when doing the Pantley Pull Off? (I've read her book). How long would it take to see results?

tokenhoser · January 2012

ninakbo79:
Do you find that LO wakes up totally when doing the Pantley Pull Off? (I've read her book). How long would it take to see results?

I just started taking the boob out after less and less time. Sometimes, he needed it back a few times to settle. Sometimes he didn't. I never let him get worked up over it, and it did work to decrease how much he was eating overnight and encourage him to go down boob-less.

I really miss the days when he did take a pacifier. I swear, I have the only baby ever that used to love a paci and quit on day himself, cold turkey.

QuiltingBee · January 2012

tokenhoser:

[quote} I just started taking the boob out after less and less time. Sometimes, he needed it back a few times to settle. Sometimes he didn't. I never let him get worked up over it, and it did work to decrease how much he was eating overnight and encourage him to go down boob-less.

What she said

KCKappa · January 2012

tokenhoser:

ninakbo79:
Do you find that LO wakes up totally when doing the Pantley Pull Off? (I've read her book). How long would it take to see results?

I just started taking the boob out after less and less time. Sometimes, he needed it back a few times to settle. Sometimes he didn't. I never let him get worked up over it, and it did work to decrease how much he was eating overnight and encourage him to go down boob-less.

I really miss the days when he did take a pacifier. I swear, I have the only baby ever that used to love a paci and quit on day himself, cold turkey.

This is us too! From 10 weeks to 19 weeks old DD loved the paci and went to sleep for every nap with it, until one day she was suddenly done. Now she usually nurses down for naps but will sometimes go to sleep with just rocking - never with the pacifier though.

We've been trying the Pantley Pull-off too due to a similar holiday bedsharing scenario as a PP, but DD has four top teeth and four bottom teeth so sometimes it gets pretty painful! Maybe I'm doing it wrong? It hasn't really worked for us so far, although I've been far from consistent due to the level of ouch.

Birdies08 · January 2012

We're in a similar situation. I actually found, sometime around the 4 month wakeful period, that I was waking LO up more by offering nursing. I started waiting when she got restless to see if she could settle herself. Sometimes she can, but sometimes she needs to nurse down. She has a particular noise she'll make if she needs the breast and then I'll latch her on. Otherwise, I leave her alone or switch positions. It worked very well for us! We have been very lucky when it comes to sleep, though.

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