Nursing while sleeping

Well, I tried nursing Caterpillar lying down. Neither one
of us were very satisfied with it, but I'm not sure how much
of that was novelty, and how much was inherent to the setup.
Do any of these things change / get better / go away with
practice?

-- If she only eats on one side, she wakes up hungry 2
hours later, rather than the 3-4 she'll go after both sides

-- She slurps herself on if left to her own devices, which
results in a less good latch

-- If I keep my arm behind her head to help her latch, she's
at the wrong height, and I have to hold myself up with the
other hand

-- She flails wildly for the 30-60 minutes it takes her to
wake up and really latch on. So I get mouthed and hit and
shoved and scratched. If I sit up and pick her up, she
wakes up enough to eat.

-- I feel the nursing enough that I can't sleep through it,
and lying down is less comfortable (but more restful) than
sitting up

-- Switching sides is so disruptive to both of us that it
hardly seems worth it

Phoebe

G'day

Well, I tried nursing Caterpillar lying down. Neither one
of us were very satisfied with it, but I'm not sure how much
of that was novelty, and how much was inherent to the setup.

It did take us a while to get the hang of it, but it's so worth it now.
Some mornings I've even woken up and commented to DH that it was a good
night and DS slept through, and then DH tells me that we fed at some
godawful time of the morning that I have no recollection of because I
seem to be able to feed in my sleep these days. Not always but sometimes.

-- If she only eats on one side, she wakes up hungry 2
hours later, rather than the 3-4 she'll go after both sides

Don't remember this one, but see further down on feeding both sides.

-- She slurps herself on if left to her own devices, which
results in a less good latch

I had problems in the first week (nipple coming out as a lipstick shape,
blood blisters and pain). A great LC came out to see us and one of the
first things she did was make me lie on my side and DS lie on his side
facing me with my nipple lined up with his forehead. She told me to not
to touch him and let him find the nipple and attach himself. He did it
perfectly with a beautiful latch. My LC says most babies can do this
when left to their own devices. By watching DS do this, the main thing I
learned was that you should start with the nipple higher than their
mouths so they tilt their head back more then the bottom lip latches so
much better. So in short I dont' have a good answer for you.

-- If I keep my arm behind her head to help her latch, she's
at the wrong height, and I have to hold myself up with the
other hand

I'm trying to picture this and can't quite - have to hold what up with
the other hand. Sometimes I lie on my side and have the downside arm
bent up and resting my head on that hand - but not for very long. But I
imagine your downside arm is crooked under DD so it is your top arm -
holding yourself in front or behind your back? Actually I do do
something like that when feeding from the top breast - more later..

I usually sleep with a single low neck pillow. When I lie on my side to
feed I find that it's much more comfortable with a second pillow under
my head - I keep this second pillow propped up at the headboard so I can
easily grab it and pull it under my head as he wakes to feed. The second
pillow raises me so that my nipple is a little higher off the bed and
closer to DS's mouth level. btw my breasts are not the big long sort but
the more perky Mary S type breasts. Bigger than they used to be, but not
that big in the scale of what some people talk about here.

My downside arm is sometimes curled around behind DS's back to hug him,
or bent up under the pillow under my head. My upside arm is usually
resting on top of DS to stroke, pat or hug him.

-- She flails wildly for the 30-60 minutes it takes her to
wake up and really latch on. So I get mouthed and hit and
shoved and scratched. If I sit up and pick her up, she
wakes up enough to eat.

Hmm. I forget how old the Caterpillar is - not very I think (Did she
appear the month I was away in Australia?). I think this is something
she will learn with time. Neither DS or I need to really wake up much if
at all to eat these days (19 months, but I hope you don't have to wait
that long!)

-- I feel the nursing enough that I can't sleep through it,
and lying down is less comfortable (but more restful) than
sitting up

I didn't sleep through nursing for at least the first year, but it was
definitely less disruptive to all of us (we cosleep) than having to get
up to feed at night. It is much more restful for me at least, even if
awake to curl up with my little guy and listen to him/watch him feed. In
the first 6- 9 months I often would stay awake after he had finished
just watching him sleep in amazement at what we had created. 8-)

It's definitely worth sticking with it coz gee it's great when you
finally get it working.

-- Switching sides is so disruptive to both of us that it
hardly seems worth it

I used to lie on my side facing DS with him facing me, hold him close to
me, roll on my back with him now lying chest to chest on top of me, and
then roll to the other side. I had a bedrail on that side of the bed coz
I was worried about him falling (at first).

Then I learned from mkb about feeding from both breasts while lying on a
single side. Meaning you feed from the "bottom" and the "top breast"
without moving your nursling.

I imagine this may be easier with bigger breasts, but then I can't
really imagine what bigger breasts are like. To feed from my top breast,
I sort of roll a little more towards DS so he can reach up to the "top"
nipple. Sometimes I support myself with the upper arm, reached over his
body and leaning on the bed behind him. Sometimes it is easier to get
rid of my second pillow under my head to lower the top nipple down to
DS. These days DS just helps himself and often switches back and forth
between sides multiple times and does the manouvering himself. LOL.

Hope this helps a little. If I haven't explained this well, ask more.

DrRuth
Mum to Joshua Eamon (Nov 15th, 2001)
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~drruth/joshua/