Son Only Falls Asleep at Night When Breastfeeding

Hi T., I had the same issue. That's always how my son fell asleep at night. I nursed him until he was almost 11 months but about a month or 2 before I knew I was going to stop I started feeding him a little earlier than his regular sleep schedule and putting him down while awake. It was so hard. For the first couple of nights he cried a lot but I sat next to his crib and he eventually fell asleep. I think it only took about a week for him to start going down without any trouble. He is now 21 months and he smiles at you when we put him down and sleeps for 12 hours. I know every child is different but hopefully this helps.

Does he take a binkie/pacifier? Sometimes that helps when i am watching my sisters new babies. I can rock them with their pacifier and they will usually fall asleep. 6 weeks is a hard age, it is really a lot of rocking and patience :-)

What's really nice about a thumb is that it doesn't fall on the floor, it doesn't get lost, and once your son can control it better, he can find it whenever he wants it. :-)

I think the problem is that your son is only 6 weeks old. give him time, and he'll ge to the point where he'll take a bottle, but right now, he wants that cuddle time, close to your heart and breast. He knows your heartbeat and your voice so much better than anyone else's.

Funny story: when my sister had her 2nd baby, she left her with me for a few hours while she went to an afternoon meeting. The baby got hungry, and I tried to give her a bottle of breastmilk . . . nothing doing. . . that baby wanted to nurse. I was the only one home, so no one was there to notice, so, to settle her down, I let her suck on my empty breast. And it worked. She just wanted to go to sleep, I guess ! (I felt stupid, but I wasn't listening to a crying baby, either !!)

Things will change as your little guy gets older, every week brings big changes . . . so give him time, and just relax. If you know other nursing moms, you can always ask one of them to babysit. My sister babysat my first child when I went back to work. I gave her bottled breast milk, and she used that, but sometimes my baby just wanted to nurse. Because she was almost done nursing her 1 yr old, she would sometimes nurse mine. It worked really well.

Hi T.,

Contact your local La Leche League Representative.

www.llli.org

Hope this helps. D.

My child would only fall asleep while breastfeeding for months so know that you are not the only one in this boat. Look for when he is sleepy - rubbing eyes, yawning around 7-8pm. feed him before this and then try putting him down. If this does not work you may just have to wait until he's older. I know this is not convenient for you but it may be better than crying it out. Take a look at the no-cry sleep solution book for other ideas. Again, my little one didn't fall asleep w/out breastfeeding until he was at least 7 mos old as we did not believe in crying it out. You could also try wearing him down to sleep as outlined in the baby book. that works too. good luck!

y.

Nurse him earlier then use the binky.

Hey, Sorry to respond so late to this, but I've been out of town. I am the PRO at keeping this simple! My step sister has 12 kids, all slept htru the night by 3 months, and I learned from her and have had no problem with my two.

At six weeks, it's too soon for him to make it through the night, but you can break the habit of nursing to sleep. The best way is to use the sleep, eat, wake pattern all day. As in, feed him as soon as he wakes up from naps, then let him play until he doses, and don't feed him back to sleep. Feed him again as soon as he wakes up, and let him dose without eating. Repeat. At night, nurse him before bed, but then "finish nursing" and then put him to bed afterwords.
Falling asleep once in a while while nursing is OK, but make sure he can fall asleep sometimes after you have stopped nursing.

As the weeks go by, the more he eats during the day, all day long, the better he'll sleep at night. Babies may not seem hungry in the day time, but can often eat more. If they don't eat enough, they wake up during the night. Just a big feeding before bed is not enough, it has to be maximum feeding all day long. Stuff him all day, put him through his cozy bed routine and walk away.

Anything you do for him at night to "sooth him to sleep" will become a dependency. A little crying at first is OK while he learns to put himself to sleep. But right now he's too young, and too hungry to worry about letting him cry. Just get him used to sleeping without eating all day, and wait a little longer. Good luck!

he's only 6wks old don't rush him. It may seem like your trapped while nursing so much right now. But enjoy it, as it will go by much faster than expect. I'd wait until he was a bit older like 3mos or so.