OK, I have no clue how you are suppose to establish good sleep habits in a newborn when you also have an almost 2 year old running around. I've been trying, I did some baby whispering stuff during the day, specifically using the pat to sleep with shhh, rather than nursing to sleep, but I did nurse to sleep when I needed to, i.e. had 5 not 20 minutes. My little guy also started sleeping through the night at 2 weeks, and by week 8 was doing consistent 8 hour blocks, so I didn't care too much as he was sleeping great. Yes, I know, habits get established, though, and you do pay for them later.... I mostly follow 'health sleep habits for healthy babies', though, and even he says it's OK to nurse as long as you still put them down awake....Now that my little guy is more "awake," I know I need to be extra careful with his habits...so......
We are in a growth spurt period (12 weeks) and my little guy cries if I remove him from my breast when he is not asleep. I've been trying to remove him, cradle hold him while shhhhh, and then put him down. It takes a million attempts, but it is kind of working.
I am interested in opinions on whether this sort of method will work, creating the association with the shhh after removal, and gradually getting to the point where I can remove him from the breast when he is more awake, getting to the point where I can feed and put him down fully awake?
I would also be interested in opinions on other methods as well. He is only 12 weeks, so I want to do demand feeding, but I would like to break the nursing to sleep habit as soon as possible. My daughter turned into a nightmare situation where she would wake every 2-3 hours. I so need this baby to sleep, but I don't want to do CIO.
So how do you get them to not want the comfort of the boob without letting them CIO? If I nurse before bath, he still wants to nurse right before going down.
With three kids, I eventually realized that the less "props and prompts" they need to get to sleep the better it will be for everyone all round. Your baby is a little too young to be trying much, although not letting him fall asleep with milk in his mouth is what every pediatric dentist would recommend as it can damage teeth later.
With my first, I rocked her to sleep (I know, I know) which became more and more difficult as she grew heavier. The second just needed a certain routine and a song, but fell asleep on his own and rarely woke up. The third basically got thrown into his crib and has always been the best one for settling down and getting himself back to sleep if he wakes.
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J.W.
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Chicago
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I used the Babywise method of putting my children on eating and sleeping schedules. It works really well. Both my kids were sleeping 7-8 hours a night by the time they were 8 weeks old, then 10 hours by the time they were 12 weeks, and then 12 hours by the time they were 16 weeks. It sounds like with the growth spurt, he needs more milk. When I needed to increase my supply, I nursed every 2 hours during the day for a couple of days, then went back to my routine of nursing every 3-3.5 hours. The Babywise method also teaches you not to get into the habit of nursing right before the baby goes to sleep. You nurse, keep the baby awake while nursing and then for a period of time afterward, and then put the baby down for a nap. I rocked both of my kids until they were almost asleep and then put them down in their cribs. My son was relaxed by soft music and my daughter prefers the noise of a fan. It's not too late to try the Babywise method. Many of my friends and family have also used this method, and we all got the same results: great-sleeping kids. If you have any more questions, please send me a message. Good luck!
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K.
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This is pretty young to try and break him of that habit. BUT we did pretty well by nursing and then when she was done I'd snuggle her up into my arms and rock in the rocking chair for a minute. Honestly, at 12 weeks he's probably just too sleepy to put down awake most of the time. I'd try it with naps first (catch him BEFORE he's completely exhausted so that he's still awake).
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B.
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Every kid is different.I raised both of mine exactly the same and my daughter was a high needs, waking every 2-3hrs some times every hr until she was a year then she went to every 4-5 hr then finally at 3 yrs old she started sleeping all night.
My son did 2-3hrs then by 6 months he was 5-6 and by a year all night w/o waking. Sleeping and eating are two things you can't force your kids to do.
I'd recomend the book " The No cry sleep solution" by elizabeth pantley.
But babies this young can not be sleep trained, It's highly discouraged by the American Pedatrics what ever it is I can't remember the letters for it.
Just keep what you are doing and he will even out.
