Nursing around the clock...

lexmtown · March 2013

Does anyone else have a LO that still wants to nurse every 2 hours day and night? I have been feeding LO on demand and he still wants to eat so frequently....and it's not a growth spurt, it's how it's been about the whole time, he wants to nurse even more frequently during those...

AAA024 · March 2013

K is 7 months old, and he's nursing/eating every 3 hours except at night when he goes about 7 hours.

Your baby might just like the comfort of nursing. Thats something I think can stick around about 9 months.

Thai527 · March 2013

Even with the introduction of solids? Are there other ways you can soothe him? Truth be told, they will eat if offered even if they don't need it. My peds strongly believes that past 6 months, they physiologically do not need to eat at night. What does yours say?

lexmtown · March 2013

Thai527:
Even with the introduction of solids? Are there other ways you can soothe him? Truth be told, they will eat if offered even if they don't need it. My peds strongly believes that past 6 months, they physiologically do not need to eat at night. What does yours say?

I haven't been able to ask her yet...his 6 month appointment is not for another month. Maybe I'll give her a call tomorrow and ask her.

At night he will scream until he is nursed, we have rocked him, tried using a passy, singing, rubbing his back, etc...he will not have any of it. He screams bloody murder, and if it takes too long for me to nurse him, it takes even longer to get him to calm down when he gets too worked up.

As far as solids, he eats a veggie for lunch and a fruit for dinner, probably an oz at each. I'm thinking of going back to formula before bed, he slept longer (like waking every 3 hours instead of every 2) when we were supplementing with a formula bottle before bedtime.

I think I've created a little monster, he doesn't want to nap anywhere during the day except for my lap/his nap nanny, and we have the crib set up next to our bed as a cosleeper and he sleeps in that thing for maybe 2 hours a night, even with cosleeping most of the time he still wakes me every 2 hours. It has been like this since his 4 month wakeful...

kacenka · March 2013

I'm surprised you've lasted this long. That being said, I have a baby that does/would nurse every 2 hours, even sooner perhaps. And I do nurse him on demand during the day, about every 2 hours, even since introducing solids (similar to what you're doing, solids-wise). However, we did Ferber some modified CIO for nighttime wakings. He now nurses about 3x at night, and goes from bedtime (7pm) until at least 12am. I guess it's how much it's bothering you. I live in Europe and have 2 years maternity leave, so I'm home and I can handle it. I have thought about gradually increasing time between feedings by about 15 min, but haven't done that yet. My doctor did say he should be going longer between feedings, and I thought solids would help that, but still waiting. Just wanted to say you're not alone. Good luck!

lexmtown · March 2013

kacenka:
I'm surprised you've lasted this long. That being said, I have a baby that does/would nurse every 2 hours, even sooner perhaps. And I do nurse him on demand during the day, about every 2 hours, even since introducing solids similar to what you're doing, solidswise. However, we did Ferber some modified CIO for nighttime wakings. He now nurses about 3x at night, and goes from bedtime 7pm until at least 12am. I guess it's how much it's bothering you. I live in Europe and have 2 years maternity leave, so I'm home and I can handle it. I have thought about gradually increasing time between feedings by about 15 min, but haven't done that yet. My doctor did say he should be going longer between feedings, and I thought solids would help that, but still waiting. nbsp;Just wanted to say you're not alone. Good luck!nbsp;

I'm not going to lie, it's been rough. But he is so worth it. I'm a SAHM as well right now so that's probably the only reason it's not an impossible situation for us. LO also has the milk protein intolerance so I haven't eaten dairy in over 5 months either. Like I said, he's worth it.

caeraRose · March 2013

So sorry that thing are so tough for you right now. Good for you, though, for responding to your baby's needs. We have an 8 month old that was this way at 6 months. That was about the time that we started co-sleeping so that we could all sleep easily.

Do you still swaddle? We stopped swaddling DD at 3 months because she didn't seem to like it anymore. About a month ago, though, I decided to try swaddling again... DD immediately started going 5-6 hour stretches again.

lexmtown · March 2013

caeraRose:
So sorry that thing are so tough for you right now. Good for you, though, for responding to your baby's needs. We have an 8 month old that was this way at 6 months. That was about the time that we started co-sleeping so that we could all sleep easily.
Do you still swaddle? We stopped swaddling DD at 3 months because she didn't seem to like it anymore. About a month ago, though, I decided to try swaddling again... DD immediately started going 5-6 hour stretches again.

DS never liked the swaddle, we stopped that after just a few weeks. We were spoiled for the first 3 months, he usually slept a 6-8 hour stretch each night and he would either sleep with us or in his rock n play. Since his 4 month wakeful he will not sleep any where well including with us. Last night was probably one of the worst...he was asleep for bed @ 7:30, up to nurse at 10:30, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, and then was awake from 4 until 6:45, fell asleep until DH had to get up for work @ 7:15 and was up for the day. I'm running on like 4 hours of sleep and feel like a zombie today...

caeraRose · March 2013

That sounds really rough =/ Good news is that it won't be this way forever! I try to remind myself of that when I'm up in the middle of the night - this won't last forever, and even though I'm sooo tired right now, we're getting in good bonding time.

Here are some things that you might want to experiment with if you haven't already:

A white noise machine (if you have one already, could you make it louder or softer?)

Light levels (night light? maybe two night lights? maybe none?)

A stuffed animal (if you're comfortable with this. DD sleeps with a small stuffed animal that reassures her that someone is next to her)

Possible health causes (does his nose need sucked out? does he have an ear infection? is he teething? is he eating enough during the day - enough dirty diapers? any possible food allergies? anything else that a doctor needs to check out?)

Is he warm or cool enough? (DD likes to be veery warm like me - footie pajamas, a sleep sack, and a blanket wrapped around her)

Is there anything outside his window that might be waking him up? Weird noises? Headlights on the street?

In the meantime, I would recommend checking out nurshable.com if you haven't already. She has some great posts that are really encouraging when you find yourself running out of patience and energy. There's also a WIO group on facebook that's really helpful during those rough times.

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