My 8-month old is now waking up every 1.5-2 hours t night to nurse - he does not take a paci. I trie but he does not want it. My husband tried to comfort him, but he ended up having a bigger fit since I did not nurse him. I woud try the cry-out method except my oldest son is a light sleeper and I would hate to have two kids screeming every 2 hours at night. What tips do you have? My eldest slept through the nigh at 4 months, so this is very new to me. He eats well at night (solids and milk) and he two naps during the day of ~1.5hrs each. By the time he goes to bed he is very tired. He sleeps from 8 to midnight and then the waking every 2 hr start.
8 month old? that's normal...let him nurse to sleep mom, he's still a baby, my ex sister inlaw nursed her first til she had too many teeth and kept biting her (accidentally) almost 2 years of nursing.
We had the same problem. So we went to St. Lukes sleep center, should be covered by your insurance. Within a week, he was sleeping without nursing. Basically, your husband needs to put him to sleep. You do it over the weekend. And you get to leave the house for a couple of hours. It works, go see Nancy. Good luck.
Very, very VERY normal boobie baby. Just go with it - nature designed them that way. It will pass. Most breastfed babies do nurse at night, at least once, all the way until the wean (and yes, that includes the long-term breastfed kids that are 3 years old before they wean). It also helps maintain your supply!
:)
I'm in the "yes, let's figure out a way to stop this" camp! Dad needs to step in more, supplement with bottles regularly.....so baby becomes accustomed to not having you at his beck & call. This is not mean, this isn't not nurturing.....it's creating an atmosphere where your child can thrive.... because that's what a proper night's sleep will provide. Good Luck!
While I did not breastfeed, I had the same issue with my son @ 8 months old. I am not sure where you are located, but there is a sleep specialist here in st. Louis named Nancy Birkmeyer @ St. Lukes (you can even conference with her if you aren't close enough). In a nutshell, my 2 yo daughter and i left the house for 3 days (b/c he was attached to me) and my husband would go in every 10 minutes and pat him and calm him and then it moved to every 15 minutes, etc. and by then they usually fall asleep. It took a couple days but it worked and while my son STILL only goes for 8 hours (its makes the biggest difference). Good luck!
I am not sure how old your oldest son is....but I went through this too and my daughter was only a tiny bit over 2 when my son was 8 mos. He started waking up 4 or 5 times a night to nurse -- same deal with not wanting my husband. I wasn't having it! Daughter was also a light sleeper and would start crying when the baby cried. We picked the few nursing sessions we wanted to start getting rid of most and made him cry it out (we would go and comfort our TODDLER instead to keep her quiet and had talks with her about her brother learning how to fall asleep on his own). Eventually our older child got used to the crying-it-out and slept through it or at least wasn't as bothered (but I would let her nap longer during the day to make up for lost night sleep). I continued to get up only 1 time a night in the middle of the night with DS until he was 9 mos to nurse him. Then, I quit that one too and would only nurse first thing in the morning and last thing before bed (pumped at work for the other bottles in between). Unless your infant has a health problem, 9 mos is an OK time to stop night feedings (even according to Weissbluth).
My DD slept through at 12 weeks - yes, 12 weeks! So, imagine my surprise that my son was torturing me at 8 and 9 months. Every baby is different. DS also did not take a paci so I understand- you are essentially becoming the human paci. Good luck with everything! Establish as good sleep habits as possible now - it will pay off later!
A. F.
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if it's bothering you, certainly change it (I do not believe in changing things that are going perfectly well for your family just because other people think you should change them). Have you read the no cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley? It's full of loving ways to get babies to sleep longer/wake less/fall asleep easier, etc. I personally wouldn't let my children cry it out no matter what the circumstances, but over the years and 3 kids, Pandley's books have helped me change things that weren't working and keep the things that are. Also, he may really be hungry. People kept telling me my oldest daughter couldn't possibly be hungry in the middle of the night (she was over a year), she just wanted comfort, but when I decided to experiment, the first night we made her a huge bowl of oatmeal (at about 2am) and she ate it all and then went to sleep. Don't feel guilt about parenting through the night (how do you think people have survived so long), but don't feel guilty changing things that aren't working for you. And remember, this is a short time!
K.
