Human Pacifier

hey i know my son slept through the night at first and then he started waking up for no reason eventually it went away...also have you tried different kind of pacifiers? Because my son will only take a certain size... it is a larger size and that is the only one i could get him to take... he wouldn't take smaller ones or ones that were different sizes maybe that will help

Aleisha,

Yes, I was the Mommy-pacifier, too, as my boys never took a plastic one. Sometimes, even without the food benefit, babies just need to nurse. I co-slept with my boys, and whenever they awoke, I did just feed them. They are babies for such a [seems like forever] SHORT time, and this is when they need to learn that their parents will meet their needs.

Read www.askdrsears.com for additional benefits of doing what your baby wants while they are tiny.

Best wishes,
K.

It's completely normal for baby to want to comfort nurse. You are mommy and you mean the food, the cuddles, you make him feel better when he gets hurt. You're the first face he sees in the morning and the last one he sees at night. All babies have various degrees of problems with separation anxiety, and it seems to start to peak at this age. Here are some helpful links on nursing to sleep and comfort nursing. http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/comfortnursing.html

On the flip side, it's also normal for you to feel "touched out" from having your baby attached to you all the time. I worked night shift when my baby (a reflux baby who didn't really start sleeping through the night until she was 13 months old) was this age, here's what I did, starting at a year when the amount of nutrients she needs from breastmilk can be replaced by solids: when she woke in the night, I rocked her in the rocking chair for a few minutes. Sometimes she fell asleep this way and sometimes she didn't. Then, I put her in her crib and patted her butt or rubbed her leg or arm until she went to sleep. She did some fussing at first when I put her in the crib, but it made it easier on me than the CIO method. I felt like there was a difference between me just putting her in the crib and leaving and her feeling abandoned and not giving her everything she wants by not putting her in the crib at all. Good luck!

This time will pass.
I don't think you should do anything to get your son to NOT use you as a pacifier--that is what mommies are...we are there for our babies. We show them that they can count on us...that we are willing and able to help them when they need us. To get more sleep, go to bed when he does, then when he wakes at 3am, you'll be ready for him.
Here is an interesting fact. One reason Drs who research co-sleeping believe in it is because biologically it helps the mommy-baby pair. When baby sleeps with mom or in close proximity (cosleeper, bassinet by the bed, crib next to bed etc) they start to pattern their sleep cycle off of mom. They even vary their breathing off of moms breathing...this helps prevent SIDS as well. What I'm getting at is this...moms who cosleep are able to comfort their babies BEFORE they start to really cry. If baby is in the other room, mom usually doesn't hear him until he is actually crying...and then the adrenalin is flowing and they are then harder to get back to sleep...If baby gets a bit restless and wimpers a bit, a mommy next to him is able to help by patting him or nursing him back to sleep without disrupting his or her sleep...better for everyone. Also, mom and baby's sleep cycle start to coordinate so that when/if baby needs mom and mom awakens it isn't as hard for mom--ya know when you get woken up in the middle of a sleep cycle and you are painfully groggy? Well, that doesnt' happen as much (or at all in my case) once your baby has coordinated sleep cycles with you.
As for 'weaning' baby from your bed--that time will come. At 7mo old he is still pretty young. He may still need food at night. There is no way to know how large/small their stomachs are so it is definitely feasable/likely that he needs you for food too. I would never ever NOT feed a baby when he needs it. It can hurt your milk supply and ensure you wean prematurely also.
Also...I don't believe in letting baby cry--letting him fuss a little in his sleep, or as he is falling asleep is one thing, but if baby needs you and you don't go to him and just let him cry he learns that he can't count on you. He doesnt' learn 'oh, I guess it's not a good time to eat' or 'I guess I dont REALLY need a cuddle' he learns 'no one is there for me..where is the ONE person I really trust?'

Also--if you think he isn't eatting much, just using you as a pacifier...realize that he may be eatting a lot, and just more efficient at night...he wants to go back to sleep too! Or he could be teething too and hurting. Milk has antiinflammitory properties and truely makes their gums feel better. Babies can 'teeth' for a month before a tooth pops thru!

Excuse typos...nursing and typing...with left hand! :)

I saw that another mom recommended giving cereal in a bottle at night -- please, please don't do this. If you choose to feed your baby solids at night, do it with a spoon. It is dangerous to feed a baby cereal via bottle. Also, many studies have shown that feeding a baby solids in hopes that they'll sleep through the night is more myth than reality. Onto more physiology...

Babies often wake up in the middle of the night due to bladder pressure (full bladder, need to pee). So there you are, awake too, and thinking that the crying is due to hunger (so you offer the breast, but he's not super interested) when in fact it's your baby wanting to pee. I was caught in this cycle with my daughter as well. Now stay with me here - before you laugh this off (which is what I totally did when I first heard about it, but now I know better since I've tried it and my baby loves it!) - you can give your baby a chance to pee in the toilet, and he might well fall back to sleep as soon as he's squeezing out the last drops of pee:
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/pottypositions.htm?&MMN...

Or then he might actually want to nurse, but he'd be actively sucking and getting milk instead of just "hanging out" on your nipple. After we tried this approach (EC at night) with our daughter, the night nursing went WAY down (first waking 3-5 hours after going to sleep was pee only - did not want to nurse! - and 2nd waking like around 4 or 5am was a definite "want to nurse" followed by a big morning pee & poop).

Yeah, I know this is not a typical approach, but it really worked for us - if you are curious, want to learn more (and it's ok to be skeptical and to chuckle about how ridiculous it sounds at first, but seriously, if you try it, it will blow your mind! It's really cool, a great parenting tool!):
http://www.viviente.com/2005/10/how_to_do_parttime_pottyt...
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/index.php?module=article&am...
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/index.php?module=article&am...

Hi Aleisha,
Have you though of myabe givng him a bottle with a little bit of cereal right before he goes to bed. He maybe just be going through a growing spurt and its messing with his sleep cycles.
Good luck

hello- i had this same thing happen to me! i had a low milk supply, and as a first time mom did not realize that my baby was not supposed to be nursing so much! once we figured out the problem- she still used me as a pacifier and the dr said whatever milk she did get would benefit her. i would say it was very hard to break her of this after she turned one- i really felt bad! i guess, at some point in time it will work itself out or you will have to break him of it(just as hard as taking away a bottle,binky-or anything else they do not want to give up). it took about 3 or so LONG and tiring nights to get past this! she is now 11 and it is such a memory...sigh. best of luck! M.

Though I don't have a magic remedy, I can offer some advice. My daughter, now 4 years old, also used me as a "human pacifier". By the time she was one week old I was working part time and in college full time, so I was forced to let her cry. It is hard to let your new baby cry, but in my case, the issue was resolved within two nights. At two weeks old, I had an infant who slept through the night.
Another piece of advice... make sure that during daytime feedings, your son is really eating, and not pacifying himself then too. I reccomend that after nursing, you put him down and play with him (as opposed to holding him close). This way he can get used to the idea that feeding time isn't necessarily a time for mommy to cuddle with him.
Hope this info is of some help to you!

Boy do I know how you feel, I am being a human pacifier at this moment. What I do is let her do her business until she falls asleep and then pull out my nipple and replace it with a fake one. I lost ALL of her pacifiers, so I am using a bottle nipple. I put the fake one right over mine so she can still feel my skin till she goes back to not sucking. Then transition her to bed.
As for waking up during the night, you might have to do what you did when you first got him to sleep through the night. Sometimes babies get used to eating during the night again and wake up during the night to eat until the parent puts a stop to it. What works best for me is going out with my girlfriends and having my husband put her to bed :) I don't do too good with the crying. Now, I already know some mom's are going to be upset that I would have the audacity to not feed my baby when she wakes up during the night to eat, but WE ALL need our sleep. If he ever takes a bottle you could give him a bottle of water, that is what I did with my 4 y/o, it was the last time she woke up during the night; it wasn't worth it for just water. Good luck.