- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Attachment Parenting
Nursing To Sleep
I'm posting here because I don't want to resort to CIO.
My LO is 5 months and weighs 16lbs 8ounces. He has never been a very good sleeper. He goes to sleep at night between 8 and 9:30.He always nurses himself to sleep, usually he nurses for 20-40 minutes. I lay him in our bed because if I put him in his own he wakes up 15-30 minutes later, if he's in our bed he'll wake up 1-1.5 hours later and want to nurse again.(We bed share as well as co sleep) I've tried having my husband go in and try getting him back to sleep without nursing and I've tried myself to put him back to sleep without nursing but he only cries more and more until I let him nurse. After the first wake up he sleeps again for 1-1.5 hours and the same thing happens. During these two wake ups he only nurses for 5 minutes max before going back to sleep. After the second wake up he'll sleep for 3 or 4 hours before waking up to nurse again and then he'll sleep for another 2 hours before waking up for good.
How do I get him to go back to sleep without nursing? I feel like if he's only nursing for such a small amount of time he's doing it for comfort, not because he's hungry. I've tried patting and shushing him while laying next to him and giving him a blankie to hold but it doesn't work. He also refuses a binkie.
TIA!
Ps. during the day he'll only take two 30-60 minute naps. I have to nurse him to sleep for those as well.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Nursing To Sleep
No advice b/c this is exactly what my son did, and I would just nurse him back to sleep...again and again.
He's 13 months now, and mostly will only now wake 1 time the whole night, but he'll always want to nurse back to sleep those times (this morning it was at 5am, so we had a great night!). I feel like it's actually gotten harder b/c now he signs for "milk" so he's looking at me so sweetly and telling me what he wants...I can't deny him...
This exactly!!
Breastfeeding Counselor with Breastfeeding USA
Babywearing Guide ** Newborn Carriers
Cloth Diaper Guide
Safe Bed Sharing Info
He sounds like a pretty typical co-sleeping five-month-old, in all honesty.
It took me until 12+ months to get my kids to fall asleep without nursing. My younger son is going to be two soon, and we've actually regressed, and I now let him nurse a teeny bit in the middle of the night (Giant Sigh!) to keep the peace - that kid can scream.
Anyhoo, we had success with my DH taking over bedtime when I was at the end of my rope. Give it a few nights, and your DS will most likely adapt. I would let them nurse somewhere brightly lit, and then DH would do the routine by himself. hth and hang in there!
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
Thanks ladies,
I don't really have a problem with nursing him back to sleep but all of my family and friends are telling me I need to stop. They all practice CIO and think I'm creating a spoiled baby.