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Old December 17th 03, 09:14 AM
Sarah Lee
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Default Sleep routines and nursing baby to sleep

My daughter is just over 5 months and for her night sleeps my husband and I
have been bathing her and then nursing her to sleep (she's exclusively
breastfed and won't take the bottle). Up
until a few weeks ago she was waking once for a nightfeed and sleeping 10 to
11 hours all up (I was quite happy with this). However, the past few weeks
she has started to wake 2 or 3
times a night and I know she isn't hungry - just looking for a 'comfort
suck'. She hasn't really taken to solids and the nurse said it's probably
because she's getting extra at night, even though she's only comfort sucking
and not having a full feed, and that I should let her cry/sleep train her.
Incidentally she hasn't increased her number of day feeds, and generally
feeds every 3 to 4 hours, sometimes going 5 hours without wanting a feed
(usually around the middle of the day).

Last night we had a hell of a night, my baby went down at 7.30, woke at
10.30 for a
feed, then 12.30 and then 2am - I knew she wasn't hungry at 2am and my
husband and I went through 2 hours of hell starting 'controlled crying'. I
really hate hearing her cry, but am led to believe that this is what we now
must do. I'm wondering if anyone on the newsgroup can offer
advice/tips/words of wisdom?

Also, during the day I often lie with her for her day naps and nurse her
down - usually because I'm tired and need the sleep myself! Otherwise I go
out for a walk in the pram. I've found the latter is no longer working as
her ability to fight off sleep has become very strong. Anyone got any
ideas, or am I going to have to face the music and let her cry it out (which
I've done on occasion when she's overtired and doesn't want to be
rocked/nursed).

Any advice very much appreciated.

Sarah & Charlotte (born 28 June)