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#1
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Tips to decrease nighttime nursing?
Breastfeeding is going well. My 5 wk. old daughter is 11 lb. 4 oz.
We've managed to stave off some problems before they started (e.g. thrush and sore nipples). Now that I'm feeling confident with that, I'm ready to start thinking about getting more sleep. However, I of course don't want to compromise my daughter's health or our chances for extended breastfeeding down the road. I go back to school full time in September and will need more sleep at that point. I'm preparing for the transition now. The current pattern is as follows. DD eats most efficiently at night. We "put" her "down" (i.e. swaddle and rock her) at 7 p.m. She's usually in a deep sleep by 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. She rouses lightly (not fully awake) around 9 or 10 p.m., during the 11-12 o'clock hour, during the 3-4 o'clock hour, the 5-6 o'clock hour, and then again around 8 a.m. At this point she's pretty wet so I change her (we use cloth diapers but that's another story) and she awakens. I feed her at each of these intervals. The feedings are quick (15-20 minutes) and very efficient - excellent latch, excellent pump, no slurping, no smacking, just soft happy moans. She actually never really wakes up - just makes enough "hungry" noises to awaken me at which point I pick her up and put her to the breast. Daytime is a different story ... she nurses about every 2 hours but is not nearly as efficient (unless she's tired). She often pops of the breast, looks around, etc. And often, during the day, she just wants to suck (no milk) so drinks a little then protests until she can suck on my finger. So, how do I begin to change this pattern? I LOVE that she sleeps but would love it even more if I could share it. My first inclination is to revamp the daytime nursing environment. Usually we nurse in the living room where people are coming in and out (DH is a student who works at home), the radio is on, and/or I'm chatting with my mother-in-law or on the phone, etc. DH has really started noticing her environment in the last week and I notice that she pops of the breast to "look around". I'm thinking of setting up my nursing station in the bedroom and investing in some sort of blanket or nursing shawl. In addition, I've also thought about introducing the swing (i.e. the Karp method) BUT I'd much prefer if DH led the way on this one ... Any suggestions? Bottom line concern: now that she's gone through her first "growth spurt", DD seems to be weaning her (or me?) off of daytime feedings - they are more social events (relative to nighttime). In light of this, is switching her clock around impossible now? As I said, ironically, she sleeps through the night - because I feed her before she fully awakens. Finally, in part because we've had a grandma here for the past 6 weeks, DH is worn, held, or rocked nearly all day (basically the only time she's out of someone's arms is when she wants to be on the floor or sit in her bouncing chair so that she can get an unobstructed view of the room). We bed share at night and she sleeps in a special co- sleeping sleep positioner. I'm thrilled that my daughter doesn't know a world where she's not held all the time and clearly at night she doesn't feel the need to "comfort nurse", which is great (she makes up for during the day). BUT DH and I are going to get busier in September and she'll be doing more sitting and sleeping alone during the day. (We aren't doing daycare - but rather will be taking turns working at home.) I want to get this nighttime sleeping vs. daytime eating routine established so, in the event that she doesn't feel like she's getting adequate parent time during the day come September, nighttime won't because eating PLUS social time. I hope that makes sense ... Your suggestions are appreciated. |
#2
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Tips to decrease nighttime nursing?
wrote in message ps.com... The current pattern is as follows. DD eats most efficiently at night. We "put" her "down" (i.e. swaddle and rock her) at 7 p.m. She's usually in a deep sleep by 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. She rouses lightly (not fully awake) around 9 or 10 p.m., during the 11-12 o'clock hour, during the 3-4 o'clock hour, the 5-6 o'clock hour, and then again around 8 a.m. From my experience, this pattern is pretty normal at 5 weeks and if she's going back to sleep straight away, that's good. From my experience (bf 2 kids, DD for 18 mo and DS 2.5 years) they both fed at about the same times as you describe as newborns, and dropped some of the feeds as they got a bit older (both finally dropped the last 'night' feed at 11 mo). Your example for me would mean only 2 times when I would have to wake up and feed baby at night which ain't too bad at 5 weeks! At this point she's pretty wet so I change her (we use cloth diapers but that's another story) and she awakens. I feed her at each of these intervals. The feedings are quick (15-20 minutes) and very efficient - excellent latch, excellent pump, no slurping, no smacking, just soft happy moans. She actually never really wakes up - just makes enough "hungry" noises to awaken me at which point I pick her up and put her to the breast. Daytime is a different story ... she nurses about every 2 hours but is not nearly as efficient (unless she's tired). She often pops of the breast, looks around, etc. And often, during the day, she just wants to suck (no milk) so drinks a little then protests until she can suck on my finger. If she's alert in the day and goes easily back to sleep after stirring at night, then it seems she does have her days and nights worked out. The comfort sucking you describe is also normal. So, how do I begin to change this pattern? I LOVE that she sleeps but would love it even more if I could share it. She'll decrease the number of feeds over time ... its early days and her pattern sounds completely normal to me, especially if she's easily going back to sleep after each feed at night and not ready to look around at the world ... that's about as good as it gets at 5 weeks! If its more sleep *you're* after, you could try co-sleeping. My first inclination is to revamp the daytime nursing environment. Usually we nurse in the living room where people are coming in and out (DH is a student who works at home), the radio is on, and/or I'm chatting with my mother-in-law or on the phone, etc. DH has really started noticing her environment in the last week and I notice that she pops of the breast to "look around". I'm thinking of setting up my nursing station in the bedroom and investing in some sort of blanket or nursing shawl. How many feeds is she having during the day compared with at night? If she's feeding 2 hourly in the day, she might just be snacking or she might be hungry. Are you sure she's *hungry* if she's feeding 2 hourly in the day .... she might just want a cuddle / comfort suck / hot / cold / gassy / uncomfortable. Bottom line concern: now that she's gone through her first "growth spurt", DD seems to be weaning her (or me?) off of daytime feedings - they are more social events (relative to nighttime). In light of this, is switching her clock around impossible now? As I said, ironically, she sleeps through the night - because I feed her before she fully awakens. "Social" feeds are normal. They're great during the day; they suck at night (pun unintended). Finally, in part because we've had a grandma here for the past 6 weeks, DH is worn, held, or rocked nearly all day (basically the only time she's out of someone's arms is when she wants to be on the floor or sit in her bouncing chair so that she can get an unobstructed view of the room). We bed share at night and she sleeps in a special co- sleeping sleep positioner. OK so you are co-sleeping. But are you having to sit up to feed her or can you bf her whilst lying down so you can both drift back off to sleep? I also think its completely normal for her to be more alert during the day whilst feeding. She very probably *is* taking in plenty of milk during her "social feeds" but her interest in the world around her makes her want to look around. ...just wait until she's 2 and doing gymnastics while feeding or even better, the "drive-by snack" Is she having plenty of wet nappies in the day ? Personally, I think she's doing pretty well at 5 weeks and she will be feeding a lot at night for the time being. Over time she'll drop some of those night feeds and you'll get better sleep ... although probably not by September. my 2c Amanda |
#3
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Tips to decrease nighttime nursing?
On Jul 20, 8:16 pm, wrote:
Breastfeeding is going well. My 5 wk. old daughter is 11 lb. 4 oz. We've managed to stave off some problems before they started (e.g. thrush and sore nipples). It sounds like you are doing a great job with her. Now that I'm feeling confident with that, I'm ready to start thinking about getting more sleep. However, I of course don't want to compromise my daughter's health or our chances for extended breastfeeding down the road. I go back to school full time in September and will need more sleep at that point. I'm preparing for the transition now. September is coming up soon for you. For your DD, September is a long way away. When September arrives, she will be more than twice as old as she is now. She will naturally go through many changes by then. From her point of view, it may be a bit soon to prepare for this. The current pattern is as follows. DD eats most efficiently at night. We "put" her "down" (i.e. swaddle and rock her) at 7 p.m. She's usually in a deep sleep by 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. She rouses lightly (not fully awake) around 9 or 10 p.m., during the 11-12 o'clock hour, during the 3-4 o'clock hour, the 5-6 o'clock hour, and then again around 8 a.m. At this point she's pretty wet so I change her (we use cloth diapers but that's another story) and she awakens. I feed her at each of these intervals. The feedings are quick (15-20 minutes) and very efficient - excellent latch, excellent pump, no slurping, no smacking, just soft happy moans. She actually never really wakes up - just makes enough "hungry" noises to awaken me at which point I pick her up and put her to the breast. One of the big differences I noticed over time with my babies is that I got to the point that I, like the baby, could nurse at night without really waking up. This came sooner with each baby, which was a good thing since I only could take daytime naps with the first. If you want to work on sleeping while you nurse, here are a few things that helped me. 1. Prop baby's back into the right position during feeding. 2. Prop your own back/hip into the right position. I found a bunched pu comforter behind me worked better for me than pillows. 3. Prop your bottom arm/hand into a comfortable position so your shoulder doesn't get sore. 4. If your hand gets cold, wrap it in a light baby blanket. The bigger my baby got, the less I needed to do these things. Even though it seems like quite a bit, they became automatic for me. Daytime is a different story ... she nurses about every 2 hours but is not nearly as efficient (unless she's tired). She often pops of the breast, looks around, etc. And often, during the day, she just wants to suck (no milk) so drinks a little then protests until she can suck on my finger. So, how do I begin to change this pattern? I LOVE that she sleeps but would love it even more if I could share it. It is likely to change on its own since your baby will be so much older in September. My first inclination is to revamp the daytime nursing environment. Usually we nurse in the living room where people are coming in and out (DH is a student who works at home), the radio is on, and/or I'm chatting with my mother-in-law or on the phone, etc. DH has really started noticing her environment in the last week and I notice that she pops of the breast to "look around". I'm thinking of setting up my nursing station in the bedroom and investing in some sort of blanket or nursing shawl. In addition, I've also thought about introducing the swing (i.e. the Karp method) BUT I'd much prefer if DH led the way on this one ... Any suggestions? All these things sound like they would be likely to make her sleep more in the daytime. If she is tired and really needs to go down for a nap, they could be good, though it may be more convenient for you if she can nap with some activity going on. If they make her nap more than she needs to in the daytime, then you may find that nights turn into day for her and she is awake and ready to play, not just nurse at night. Bottom line concern: now that she's gone through her first "growth spurt", DD seems to be weaning her (or me?) off of daytime feedings - they are more social events (relative to nighttime). This seems OK to me. Growth hormones are higher at night. At her age, it seems normal that she would need more milk at night than in the daytime. In general, it is good for her to be more social in the daytime. In light of this, is switching her clock around impossible now? As I said, ironically, she sleeps through the night - because I feed her before she fully awakens. I wouldn't do this at her age, but when she is bigger, you could try waiting to see how much she needs to eat in the night by waiting to see if she settles herself back to sleep without really waking, or starts to really wake up. I wouldn't wait until she is upset though, since that could make it much harder to get her back to sleep. Finally, in part because we've had a grandma here for the past 6 weeks, DH is worn, held, or rocked nearly all day (basically the only time she's out of someone's arms is when she wants to be on the floor or sit in her bouncing chair so that she can get an unobstructed view of the room). We bed share at night and she sleeps in a special co- sleeping sleep positioner. I'm thrilled that my daughter doesn't know a world where she's not held all the time and clearly at night she doesn't feel the need to "comfort nurse", which is great (she makes up for during the day). BUT DH and I are going to get busier in September and she'll be doing more sitting and sleeping alone during the day. (We aren't doing daycare - but rather will be taking turns working at home.) I want to get this nighttime sleeping vs. daytime eating routine established so, in the event that she doesn't feel like she's getting adequate parent time during the day come September, nighttime won't because eating PLUS social time. I hope that makes sense ... Your suggestions are appreciated. Keeping daytime the social time seems like the way to go. Right now, she has that right. As long as you don't increase the daytime sleep time in order to get more work done then, and make sure she really does get stimulation and parental interaction when she is awake in the day (it doesn't take too much to stimulate a small baby) she is likely to keep night for sleeping. --Betsy |
#5
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Tips to decrease nighttime nursing?
Hi,
First let me say that you are doing an outstanding job raising your daughter. Second I want to each another poster that at 5 weeks this sounds like absolutely normal behavior. If I do my math right, she will be about 9 weeks at the beginning of September. That's almost twice as old! :-) A lot happens in 9 weeks. You will find that her stomach will grow and her nursing sessions will spread out a little. Second, as another poster asked about, you are not clear about how you feed her at night. Do you sit up? Do you stay awake? With a couple weeks of practice you should be able to simply lie face to face with her, latch her on, and go back to sleep while she nurses. We found that with a little practice, this works quite well. Good luck, Larry In article om, says... Breastfeeding is going well. My 5 wk. old daughter is 11 lb. 4 oz. We've managed to stave off some problems before they started (e.g. thrush and sore nipples). Now that I'm feeling confident with that, I'm ready to start thinking about getting more sleep. However, I of course don't want to compromise my daughter's health or our chances for extended breastfeeding down the road. I go back to school full time in September and will need more sleep at that point. I'm preparing for the transition now. The current pattern is as follows. DD eats most efficiently at night. We "put" her "down" (i.e. swaddle and rock her) at 7 p.m. She's usually in a deep sleep by 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. She rouses lightly (not fully awake) around 9 or 10 p.m., during the 11-12 o'clock hour, during the 3-4 o'clock hour, the 5-6 o'clock hour, and then again around 8 a.m. At this point she's pretty wet so I change her (we use cloth diapers but that's another story) and she awakens. I feed her at each of these intervals. The feedings are quick (15-20 minutes) and very efficient - excellent latch, excellent pump, no slurping, no smacking, just soft happy moans. She actually never really wakes up - just makes enough "hungry" noises to awaken me at which point I pick her up and put her to the breast. Daytime is a different story ... she nurses about every 2 hours but is not nearly as efficient (unless she's tired). She often pops of the breast, looks around, etc. And often, during the day, she just wants to suck (no milk) so drinks a little then protests until she can suck on my finger. So, how do I begin to change this pattern? I LOVE that she sleeps but would love it even more if I could share it. My first inclination is to revamp the daytime nursing environment. Usually we nurse in the living room where people are coming in and out (DH is a student who works at home), the radio is on, and/or I'm chatting with my mother-in-law or on the phone, etc. DH has really started noticing her environment in the last week and I notice that she pops of the breast to "look around". I'm thinking of setting up my nursing station in the bedroom and investing in some sort of blanket or nursing shawl. In addition, I've also thought about introducing the swing (i.e. the Karp method) BUT I'd much prefer if DH led the way on this one ... Any suggestions? Bottom line concern: now that she's gone through her first "growth spurt", DD seems to be weaning her (or me?) off of daytime feedings - they are more social events (relative to nighttime). In light of this, is switching her clock around impossible now? As I said, ironically, she sleeps through the night - because I feed her before she fully awakens. Finally, in part because we've had a grandma here for the past 6 weeks, DH is worn, held, or rocked nearly all day (basically the only time she's out of someone's arms is when she wants to be on the floor or sit in her bouncing chair so that she can get an unobstructed view of the room). We bed share at night and she sleeps in a special co- sleeping sleep positioner. I'm thrilled that my daughter doesn't know a world where she's not held all the time and clearly at night she doesn't feel the need to "comfort nurse", which is great (she makes up for during the day). BUT DH and I are going to get busier in September and she'll be doing more sitting and sleeping alone during the day. (We aren't doing daycare - but rather will be taking turns working at home.) I want to get this nighttime sleeping vs. daytime eating routine established so, in the event that she doesn't feel like she's getting adequate parent time during the day come September, nighttime won't because eating PLUS social time. I hope that makes sense ... Your suggestions are appreciated. |
#6
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Tips to decrease nighttime nursing?
On Jul 20, 10:16 pm, wrote:
Breastfeeding is going well. My 5 wk. old daughter is 11 lb. 4 oz. We've managed to stave off some problems before they started (e.g. thrush and sore nipples). Now that I'm feeling confident with that, I'm ready to start thinking about getting more sleep. However, I of course don't want to compromise my daughter's health or our chances for extended breastfeeding down the road. I go back to school full time in September and will need more sleep at that point. I'm preparing for the transition now. The current pattern is as follows. DD eats most efficiently at night. We "put" her "down" (i.e. swaddle and rock her) at 7 p.m. She's usually in a deep sleep by 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. She rouses lightly (not fully awake) around 9 or 10 p.m., during the 11-12 o'clock hour, during the 3-4 o'clock hour, the 5-6 o'clock hour, and then again around 8 a.m. At this point she's pretty wet so I change her (we use cloth diapers but that's another story) and she awakens. I feed her at each of these intervals. The feedings are quick (15-20 minutes) and very efficient - excellent latch, excellent pump, no slurping, no smacking, just soft happy moans. She actually never really wakes up - just makes enough "hungry" noises to awaken me at which point I pick her up and put her to the breast. Daytime is a different story ... she nurses about every 2 hours but is not nearly as efficient (unless she's tired). She often pops of the breast, looks around, etc. And often, during the day, she just wants to suck (no milk) so drinks a little then protests until she can suck on my finger. So, how do I begin to change this pattern? I LOVE that she sleeps but would love it even more if I could share it. My first inclination is to revamp the daytime nursing environment. Usually we nurse in the living room where people are coming in and out (DH is a student who works at home), the radio is on, and/or I'm chatting with my mother-in-law or on the phone, etc. DH has really started noticing her environment in the last week and I notice that she pops of the breast to "look around". I'm thinking of setting up my nursing station in the bedroom and investing in some sort of blanket or nursing shawl. In addition, I've also thought about introducing the swing (i.e. the Karp method) BUT I'd much prefer if DH led the way on this one ... Any suggestions? Bottom line concern: now that she's gone through her first "growth spurt", DD seems to be weaning her (or me?) off of daytime feedings - they are more social events (relative to nighttime). In light of this, is switching her clock around impossible now? As I said, ironically, she sleeps through the night - because I feed her before she fully awakens. Finally, in part because we've had a grandma here for the past 6 weeks, DH is worn, held, or rocked nearly all day (basically the only time she's out of someone's arms is when she wants to be on the floor or sit in her bouncing chair so that she can get an unobstructed view of the room). We bed share at night and she sleeps in a special co- sleeping sleep positioner. I'm thrilled that my daughter doesn't know a world where she's not held all the time and clearly at night she doesn't feel the need to "comfort nurse", which is great (she makes up for during the day). BUT DH and I are going to get busier in September and she'll be doing more sitting and sleeping alone during the day. (We aren't doing daycare - but rather will be taking turns working at home.) I want to get this nighttime sleeping vs. daytime eating routine established so, in the event that she doesn't feel like she's getting adequate parent time during the day come September, nighttime won't because eating PLUS social time. I hope that makes sense ... Your suggestions are appreciated. Don't get discouraged by my response, but the nursing times you've described sound exactly like what my DD is doing. ANd she is 12 months old.... (plenty of other moms tell me their babies have been sleeping through the night since 1-2 months though, so apparently DD is the oddball). The way I survive is to co-sleep. 90% of the time I only barely wake up - we roll over, she latches on, we both fall back to sleep. I've woken up more than once to find her latched on and having no recollection of it (and 2x, she had been asleep in the crib and I didn't remember getting up to bring her to bed!) |
#7
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Tips to decrease nighttime nursing?
I had a really hard time BF while laying down because I am naturally a
small busted person and I don't remotely have pendulous breasts. In addition, I had the worst ever case of engorgement with 2 kids, and every tiny little baby noise made me let down during the night AND my breasts absolutely refuse to leak even when they are about to burst. (It's due to a genetic mutation I have--Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome--and all but 1 BFing EDSer said that they had the exact same problem, which I could never find in any published material). I never had a wet shirt from let down--only from 1 of my kids projectile vomiting nearly every feeding while still on the breast! I had to move my kids out to the hallway and close the door even though I wanted to co-sleep or at least have them in the same room. I would wake up only when they began to actually cry and they would settle down just fine. I also could not fall asleep when woken up to BF. I have to be wide awake to manage to walk across the room and hold a baby without dropping it. (I have this awful tendency to drop things once I forget that I am holding them, so motherly instinct kicked in and I was wide awake.) If you can sleep through the sucking sound, you will be just fine. Babies make sucking sounds even when they aren't hungry. So hang in there and it will get better, as all of the rest of us can attest to. I had to switch to placing my kids in an electronic swing every night for about the first year--I would set the timer and they would sleep like a baby. They both had GERD, so I think that it was the sitting halfway upright that did the trick. Plus I needed every second of sleep due to my long list of medical issues. Once your BFing is solidly established which it should be at 12 weeks, you can sustain a more than ample supply of food even if baby sleeps through the whole night. My grandmother-in-law claims that both her babies slept through the night once they were 1 week old and she BF just fine...I am a little skeptical that she didn't formula feed occasionally in order to feed the babies enough to survive. Now if you are wanting to use BF as a contraceptive, it won't work at all unless you naturally don't ovulate much. My friends have found that out the hard way...2nd baby born 9 months almost to the day from the first baby. She got pregnant on her honeymoon too (she was a virgin). Once you menstruate one time while only BFing (no supplements at all), you are probably at least as fertile as you were before the baby, and there is a good chance that 1 month before that you are fertile. Having a baby 9 mos after the first one is not at all good for either baby or yourself. It is extremely difficult to maintain an exclusive BF if you are pregnant with a 1-mo old, and your new baby gets the leftovers because, unless you have absolutely perfect nutrition during both pregnancies, your body is badly depleted, especially if you have horrible problems with morning, noon, and evening sickness. And don't count on 2nd pregnancy to be nausea-free if the first wasn't...because I only had a slight twinge of nausea when I smelled leftover shrimp frying oil with the 1st, but the 2nd one was constant nausea and lots of vomiting. I am assuming that an avid co-sleeper wants to BF as long as possible within reason (they have to be weaned by the time they're in college or you and the kid need to see a shrink). Use birth control!!!! (Ok, so real birth control is Lamaze and a better word is ovulation control.) I was repeatedly warned about my friends' very hard experiences. You can fairly easily continue to breastfeed a 2 year old while pregnant, as long as the 2-year-old isn't exclusively breastfed, just feeding once or twice a day. A friend's mother got pregnant every two years practically on the dot, no matter what BC was being used. By #3 or 4, she definitely weaned completely and instantly the day the kid was 2--she bribed the kids with whatever 1 thing they wanted and they could wish whatever was biggest in their 2-year-old mind, and it worked really well--my friend can remember being happy about her 2- year-birthday-weaning--she got to go to a restaurant (they almost never went otherwise). After #8 or 9 or 10 or something like that [I know so many people with 12+ kids that any less than that is not a big family and thus not remarkable] no baby was born 2 years later. Either she was in menopause or she had to have a hysterectomy right before 2 years, and the rest of the family was quite disappointed when the baby turned 2 and 1/2 and mommy wasn't having a baby [I bet she was secretly happy just to have her body back to herself, even with no baby] and I haven't heard of any babies after that. Christina |
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