Question for Breastfeeding Moms. - Salt Lake City,UT

18 months. Not what you wanted to hear, I know. But it's the truth. He didn't sleep through the night until 18 months.

Very normal, all my kids did it at that age.......sorry, it too shall pass. Enjoy the snuggles , they grow up too fast.

Breastmilk is a perfect food and therefore very easily digested and easy on baby's delicate/immature system. If baby never got satisfied/full, as you were wrongly told, they would nurse non-stop. Big difference!

Infants have to be physically and neurologically able to sleep thru the night. 4 months old is too young to attempt crazy things like the Ferber method (even Dr. Ferber says you don't begin this until at least 6 months of age. And it would *never* begin in my house) and please avoid Babywise like the plague! It has caused cases of failure to thrive, the end of nursing and the author has zero medical training!

I can, however, highly recommend 3 books that made a huge difference for me when I was trying to learn about how to *teach* my oldest to sleep. Yes, I said teach. Babies don't know how to sleep. They have to be taught. They have to learn what to expect and what is expected. This is not accomplished by standing on the other side of the door and counting the minutes while they wail. Dr. Sears Baby Sleep Book, The Baby Whisperer and The No-Cry Sleep Solution all have *invaluable* tips, tricks and information to help teach baby to sleep. I used info from all 3 to develop a kind and gentle sleep plan for my exclusively breastfed babies.

Cosleeping was the best way for me to maximize my sleep when my guys were little. I would barely wake up, latch him on, and doze off while he nursed. Since I had us set up to cosleep safely, it wasn't stressful.

I also agree with cosleeping. It's what saved me as a nursing mother. Their are safety factors to consider, (heavy sleepwalkers, obese, smokers, sleep apnea, if you have lots of pillows/blankets... should not cosleep) but we did none of those and we were very cautious.

The fullness issue is theory. Babies are meant to awake, even if they are full to their hearts content, their digestive systems will wake them up.

Dr. Sears has some excellent advice on cosleeping and infant sleep issues here you can try, he has some of the safest and most valued tips out there:

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/sleep-problems

Good luck!

There have been studies done that have failed to show any link between feeding a baby solid foods (rice cereal in particular) and that baby sleeping longer. It is just an old wives tale that feeding the baby solids will help him sleep. Also, breastfed babies DO get completely satisfied from just breastmilk, the difference is that (as compared to formula) breastmilk is easier to digest and is therefore metabolized more quickly. When a baby sleeps through the night just depends on the baby; some sleep longer periods than others. And keep in mind that “through the night” can be interpreted differently by different people; a baby that sleeps 5-6 hours at a stretch can be considered to be sleeping through the night by some parents, while other parents may think that a solid 8 hours is the only standard for “sleeping through the night.” For me personally, my babies slept a good 7-8 hours at a stretch at about 8-9 months old, but when they did wake up, I just brought them into my bed and nursed them back to sleep. I realize that co-sleeping is not for everyone (and I only did it for part of the night, usually from 4 or 5 AM to 7 or 8 AM) but it was the best solution for me, I was able to get more sleep that way. Whatever helps you and your baby to sleep well and feel good in the morning is the best solution for you! Best of luck!

I noticed that some people are saying that a child that co-sleeps will have a hard time brakeing that habit, in my experience that has not beent he case. When my children urn 2 I buy them a 'big kid bed" and they sleep in it every night all night long unless they get sick in the middle of the night. I have not had a problem with chidlren wanting to co-sleep over the age of 2.

Cosleep! I resisted with my oldest. I just thought he needed to sleep in his crib. Not sure why, I just thought that's where he needed to sleep. One night I brought him back into bed with my and nursed him lying down. Best thing I even did! He was happy because he was eating. I was happy because I fell right back to sleep! I woke up later ... who knows how much later, and he was a asleep. I did a quick check to make sure there were no blankets or pillows near him and went back to sleep.

Our routine was that he started every night in his crib. When he woke for the first feeding, I just brought him to bed with me and nurse him while lying down. That's where he stayed the rest of the night.

Personally, I liked my kids beginning the night in their own beds. It gave them a place to call their own and my husband and I had some time together at night. If they joined us in the middle of the night (which they still sometimes do) that's fine, but they always begin the night in their own bed.

I have nursed all of my three children until approximately 3 years old. None of them slept through the night before 18 months when I night-weaned them. Now, I would disagree that breastfed babies are never "satisfied" -- just look into the face of your little one after a good long nurse, and see that blissful milk-full expression, and you know that he is satisfied and full. It's just that breastmilk digests better and more quickly than anything else, so they are ready for more. The way I made it through those early months of constant nursing was cosleeping. There are safe ways to do this (discussed at http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/sleep-problems/sleep-saf.... When you're cosleeping with your baby, your sleep cycles synchronize, so when your baby wakes, you are coming awake as well. Also, you do not have to get up out of bed to nurse -- you just shift around, latch your little one on, and you both drift off as he nurses. You still wake up, but not for as long, and you get back to sleep more quickly. And there's nothing quite like snuggling with your baby all night.

That is how, it is.

I breastfed both my kids.
I had plenty of milk and they had GINORMOUS appetites and grew like weeds and are very healthy.
I nursed, on-demand, 24/7, day and night.
This is also per our Pediatrician.
At growth-spurts as well, a baby wakes more/gets hungrier/and feeds more often.
They also "cluster feed" which means they get hungry/need to feed even every.single.hour.

Yes, is it no sleep.
But is it only for now.

Solids, does NOT replace nursings. NOR does it make a baby sleep more.

This is a building-block period for a baby... thus nursings are important. Especially in the 1st year.

Even if on solids, breastmilk/Formula is still a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition. NOT solids and not other liquids.
And if you replace nursings with solids, your milk supply/production will decrease.

I slept when my baby slept. Yes things never got really done. And really not all the time when during the day did I sleep. But I would often nap too. It does get better.

It has nothing to do with the type of food at this stage - it's more of the size of their little tummies - you can only get so much in it at a time. Also 4 months is slightly early to start with cereal unless the doctor recommends it for reflux or other issues.

My first went through the 2-3 hours for the first year of her life even with solids. My second slept "through the night" since she was 6 weeks old but recently started waking up every 3-4 hours and sometimes even 1-2 depending on other issues... gas, being sick, teething, etc.

Oh and ditto on the co-sleeping. I've had to start doing that in the last week just because it was easier than lifting her out of the crib every 3-4 hours.

Your baby is learning sleep habits even at this early age. You got a lot of advice to "cosleep", but if you do this, i guarantee you'll be on here in 18 months as king how to get your kid out of your bed and sleeping on his own! He most likely doesn't NEED to eat, he is just in the habit of eating when he naturally wakes rather than falling back to sleep. don't rush to him right away, see if he goes back to sleep on his own. if not, your solution might be in sleep training, which is worth it and important for everyone involved. look into books that have a plan you can use. your baby needs uninterrupted sleep and so do you.

this is mostly likely not a hunger problem, and really not likely due to breastfeeding.

I co-slept and as a single Mother who worked full time and went to school part time for her first 4 years... I never lost any sleep due to waking up for night time nursings. When you co sleep, all you have to do is barely wake up enough to slide your nipple in their mouth before you both can fall right back to sleep.

At 4 months... solids should still be on hold. Breastmilk should be the only form of nutrition for as long as you can - until about 7-8 months. Now since you know it was a lie that solids make your child sleep longer, you can stop introducing foreign bacterias to his system until his GI tract closes and matures around 8 months.

Also - as an aside - most ADULTS I know still cannot and do not sleep thru the night, so why would you expect an infant to be able to?

My 10-month-old still gets up at night to nurse. Solids made no difference for sleeping with her. We are working on cutting back on nighttime nursing, but she is legitimately hungry at least once a night. I guess this is the one "disadvantage" of breastfeeding-but despite this I have found that the advantages far outweigh it! Good luck to you!

my first was a terrible sleeper, but for her the trouble was food allergies/intolerances...not anything identified by the allergist we saw, but just things we had to figure out on our own. No, I don't think that every kid that doesn't sleep well has allergies, but we had everyone telling us to let her cry it out. We followed our gut, thank goodness, because she was waking because of pain. Also, there isn't one sleep training solution that will work for everyone...cry it out will not work for babies for persistent personalities like my child. You can read more about sleep training for different personalities here http://www.babysleepsite.com. I read every book on baby sleep when she was little...felt more comfortable with The No Cry Sleep Solution ideas, but nothing worked until we made her feel better (she was almost two. ouch). Good luck and hang in there. It's awful, I know, but you are not alone. Oh, and don't resort to formula because you think the problem is breastmilk. Formula will completely change his gut flora, which can lead to other problems. My 5 month old is only BF...came home from the hospital sleeping four hour stretches, and will sometimes sleep as long as 11 hours at a time, although I can't predict when this will happen.........God took pity on me this time, but I know that just as soon as you think you have it made, something will change. She's a big girl too, so her stomach may be bigger than the average kid (baby #1 was huge too though). I'm rambling...not getting as much sleep as I'd like lately either. Oh, I also loved the Dr. Sears Baby Sleep Book...made me feel like everything was going to be ok.

How often your child needs to eat has nothing to do with what he is eating - it has to do with how big your child's stomach is (obviously, as it grows, it will be able to hold more food, so he'll be able to eat more at a time), and how quickly your baby metabolizes the food. So no one can give you any clearer input on when he'll start needing fewer feedings, but do know this - everything come to an end, both the good and the bad. Your son will get older, and he'll need to nurse less and less, and before you can blink your eye, he'll be wolfing down burgers faster than you can make them, and you'll be wondering when he'll stop eating so much then too!!!

HOWEVER - if he seems to need feeding more often at night than during the day, then he is probably using the nursing as a way to soothe himself back to sleep, rather than truly being hungry. If that is the case, then I suggest the Ferber method, which I used with my daughter at 7 months. Three days of that and she was able to soothe herself back to sleep when she woke up at night, so I was able to sleep through the night too!

A bouquet of flowers to Heidi and her answer. :)
Exactly my thoughts...

My daughter is 6 months old and still not sleeping through the night, so I feel your pain. She also has a ginormous appetite :) and eats baby food 2-3 times a day, but no matter how much I feed her before bed, she wakes about 4 hours later -- sometimes sooner, sometimes later. She has occasionally slept through, but it's nowhere near consistent or routine.

"Every baby is different." It's a tired old line, but so true. If you're not into co-sleeping I'd invest in a bassinet. Craig's List all the way. I have her right beside me and will continue to do so until she's sleeping through on a regular basis. It does make it much easier -- everything is right there.

And I'll finish by saying what everyone has said to me: Enjoy this while you can, even though you're exhausted. Before you know it, the day will come when you won't have these precious moments and you'll miss them. Best of luck to you and your little one!

Having the babies in their own rooms from day one, lights out and door closed also having a swaddle on makes them feel as though they are in the womb. I place their arms down at their side and with the swaddle that you can find at most baby stores, make it as tight as possible. then with a wedge place them slightly on their side. Only one of my four children had problems sleeping through the night and that was do to stomach issues in which was corrected through surgery. I find it dangerous to place a baby in bed with yourself and your spouse, and this is a mom and dad zone only. I go on the couch to nurse during the night if my baby wakes (which is rare using the above techs.) also if they are teething makes for restlessness. Good luck mama:)

Every baby is different- my DD slept 12 hrs a night at 12 weeks, DS up 3 times a night for 9 mos; newest son is 10 weeks and sleeps 7-8 hrs at night waking 1-2 times to nurse. All breastfed and none started even rice cereal till 6 mos. Good luck! Keep lights low, no talking and put to bed drowsy! Just keep to the plan!

I am going to assume that your baby is heathy and gaining weight and stuff- no digestion issues or colic?
If yes, then there is no reason you shouldn't just start training him to sleep a little longer before the next feeding. With my first baby, who was healthy and breastfed 12 months (6 months exclusively), I started removing a feeding around 3 months. So, I would feed him right before bed at 7pm and put him down drowsy, full and happy. So, he'd learn to fall asleep without the breast. If he woke up any time before midnight we would get him ASAP and I would rock him back to sleep but not feed him. He liked a pacifier and would be happy to just suck on that. Sometimes, he would cry awhile but never long if my husband or I were there rocking him. I think we also would wrap him (which he would squirm out of) but it helped him stop moving and calm down. He liked being told shhhhhh or listening to the sounds of his cloud b lamp -makes water sounds. Once asleep, we'd put him back in the crib. Then after he'd sleep til midnight before waking (took about 2 weeks for his tummy to adjust) we eliminated the after midnight times. We tried to get him to sleep midnight til 5 without feeding. I think it took about 2 weeks total to get him to start waking up only one or two times a night and eventually he'd wake up only every 6 hours. By the time he was 4 months, we started to try to get him out of the midnight habit as well.
Yes, it takes some patience to rock em and not fall asleep yourself or just feed em to shush em, but it was totally worth every second because we were able to do it within a month and he was sleeping 13 hours straight by 4 months. My husband and I would rotate hours so only one of us would be awakened. So I'd take the up to midnight and he'd take the midnight til 6 or whatever. Now, this son is 3 and STILL a champion sleeper.
Email me if your son has colic or digestive issues. My second son had this and was much tougher to get to sleep (not till 11months!) I'd be happy to let you (or whoever) know what worked, finally.

My almost 12 month old still doesnt sleep through the night. Were down to getting up once at night; thats since we started on bottle only two weeks ago. Before that he was up every 2-3 hours through the night wanting to nurse. The solid foods didn't make a difference and still dont with him. Ive always been told that breastmilk is so natural that it digests so much easier and quicker which makes them hungry sooner. Another thing I have been always told is to watch out for is making sure baby isn't using you as a pacifier. I know mine was a little bit at night but I didn't mind it. I would rather him do that than sleep with a pacifier/bottle thats just another thing you have to take away from them. I personally dont believe in the whole co-sleeping. Its just another thing you have to break them from too. Plus its not safe, you could accidently roll over on baby, baby could get smothered by pillow or blanket, and when they start crawling/rolling over they can fall off the bed while you are asleep. I recommend toughing it out through the getting up many times at night, they are only that little for a short time. Good luck

My exclusively breastfed twins slept through the night at nine weeks of age. My five week old breastfed baby now sleeps anywhere from 3-7 hours at night. Breastfed babies tend to wake up more often, but it doesn't mean they don't sleep through the night. Hang in there! He'll start soon!

I completely agree that every baby is different. My first didn't sleep through the night until she was at LEAST 9 months old (started cereals around 5 or 6), and was definitely the 4 month old still waking every 2-3 hours at night. However, my second is now a month old and will sleep from 8:30 or 9 until at least 1:30 or 2 a.m. STARKLY different from my older. I nursed my first until she was 8 months, then weaned her to formula & she STILL was not sleeping through the night. Then, after her 9 mo check-up, her pediatrician suggested I try NOT feeding her when she woke during the night. I didn't like the "cold turkey" idea, so i started diluting her formula down about a week at a time until it was probably 1 part formula 3 parts water. Sometime during that part she started sleeping through the night. But, like I said, she was 9 months old, probably close to 10 before she (and I) got to sleep all through the night.

An 11 pm feeding should last till about 4am ... that's considered a decent stretch of sleep. Mine used paci's, they really helped a lot to get them to sleep through the night. I always got up to feed the minute I heard them start rustling around. I sat in a little rocking chair and rocked while nursing. When I decided to drop the middle of the night feeding I would get the baby out of the crib, rock, but use a paci instead of the breast, they would fall back asleep and soon learned to sleep longer because they werent craving that feeding so they wouldnt wake up hungry..

You have to get him out of your room. If he senses you are there he will continue to wake up. I like you, was very sleep deprived up until about 4 1/2 months when my son finally accepted his crib. Before that he would cry unless I held him or he was in his carseat. One magic day I put him in the crib so I could have some peace and actually eat something. He fussed a bit and then fell asleep. From then on, I nursed him until he was asleep then put him in the crib with an ocean wonders aquarium (that he could turn on himself) and his lovie. He would wake up still if he was teething or sick but I finally got my life back! The key is, if he wakes up, give him a couple minutes to settle back down. If he does not settle down, go and nurse him back to sleep. But put him back in the crib. Do not take him to your room.

I was so tired at 9 months, mentioned it one day at church to the guy serving me my second cup of coffee. A woman overheard me and asked "Have you not read Babywise?" Long story short, I bought the book, read it in 3 days, and by the end of those 3 days implmenting what I read, my 9 month old was sleeping thru the night. I have since given the book away, or I could better remember what were the key things I had to change. I know that one was to put the baby down drowsy and not asleep.
The other was to change my daily routine order. Instead of wake, then play, then eat, then sleep (like I was doing), the book said (I think I am remembering it right) that the order should be wake, eat, play, sleep. So mainly doing those 2 things helped me get my son to sleep.

I tried the whole 'rice cereal to fill him up' thing and that didn't work.

We never did co-sleep, as that's just not for me an my family. But I do know a few moms who say that's the best way they get their sleep. Babywise will NOT recommend that btw. The book did say that it's possible for very young babies to sleep thru the night, granted they consider a 5 hour stretch to be 'sleeping thru the night.' Not my definition of it, but theirs.