Advice on Sleeping

As you know, nothing with babies is routine! My daughter just turned 6 months old and still gets up to eat twice a night, even after eating cereal approx. 1 hour before bed! The only thing that has worked for me is once she gets up to eat I just put her in the bed with me and nurse her laying down. We both fall right back to sleep when she's done. I work full time too and I know how important it is to get sleep and this is the only way I can get it! There are some many pros & cons to sleeping with your baby but you need to figure out what works for your family. She always starts out in her crib but once she wakes up I keep her with me in my bed for the rest of the night. Try it out, you have nothing to loose but sleep lol! Good luck.

Many times when mom's return to work this happens. It is the baby's way of getting the breast time since they are away from you during the day. The best thing to do is to breastfeed in bed so that you can rest while he is nursing. Enjoy the time, it will be over sooner than you think!!!

He may be nursing more at night because you have gone back to work...he may be making up for those missed nursing sessions. It may be easier for you to nurse him in bed that way you can get some sleep as well. I wish I had some better advice, but my 9 1/2 month old still nurses at night.

I have had a similiar experience. My daughter was down to one feeding a night when she started to wake up more often during the night again (around the same time I went back to work). My instinct was to feed her until I spoke with a friend who has a baby around the same age as mine. She suggested giving Samantha her binkie, not feeding her a bottle. I tried this and it worked. When Samantha would wake up, I would give her back her binkie, turn on her music (she has a CD she listens to each night) and she would go back to sleep. After a week or two of doing this, Samantha was back to her schedule. Now she is one and sleeps from 7:30 in the evening until 6:00 the next morning. I H. this suggestion helps, and good luck.

Hello,
I breastfed my son also. His doctor said he needed to be supplemented with formula due to anemia and jaundice. Anyway, I used to supplement him with the formula right before he went to bed then I would let him nurse a little bit. He would sleep all night long. I started this routine when he was 3 months old and it worked out perfect.

Hi E.! I had that same problem until I finally gave in to supplementing at night. Not everyone will agree with me when it comes to nursing, but I had to get some sleep. I really wanted to just be a nurse only mom, but for me that meant I was a walking zombie without sleep. I supplement at night right before I put my daughter to sleep and she sleeps the whole night. From what I hear it is a little heavier on their bellies so they don't wake up as often. My daughter was born on November 17th so are kids are about the same age. If you aren't against supplementing then I would give it a try. Good Luck!

M.

Ask your doctor if you can start your baby on solids a little early. Once they start eating solids, it can help them feed less during the night. Also, now that you are back to work, make sure you are eating and drinking enough so that your breastmilk has enough nutrients.

They say babies need to eat through out the night until they hit a certain weight and emotionlayy until about 6 months. I nurse my daughter and she is 5 months old. Sometimes she wakes at night to feed and other nights she doesn't my advice would be to either allow the night feeding to continue (they won't last forever)or try not to jump up right when you hear him fussing. Give him a chance to sooth himself to sleep. Good luck!

This is completely normal!

Breastfed babies will often "make up lost time" during the night. When you began to work, he lost that nursing time during the day that he had before, so he is making up for it during the night. Often times mothers notice that upon returning to work this happens. Also, some babies eat very little from a bottle while separated and wait for "the real thing"

If you are comfortable with it, try cosleeping. It will allow him to get his snuggle time and you to get your sleep.

I hope this helps you!

I have a 11 month old who still gets up once or twice a night to feed. I really recommend that you bring the baby in bed with you. We did this until she was 6 months old because it was the only way to get any sleep. And then we gradually had her start taking naps in her crib and then play in her crib sometimes and worked on making her crib a nice place to be. Then I started putting her to bed in her crib between 6 and 7 months and I always checked on her every ten minutes if she was crying and soothed her. Sometimes if she was particular needy I brought her back into bed with us. My point being is be patient, stop counting the times she wakes up, try to come up with something that works for both of you, and understand it will probably a year or two until you sleep a full night again. Hang in there!

Even though I am a stay at home mom, I did a lot of reading about breastfeeding, as well as attend the breastfeeding support group at Upper Chesapeake twice a week. I know that a lot of moms that were going back to work were having the exact same problem. And the fact that the timing of you going back to work and this starting isn't a coincidence. From what I've read and heard, the baby is basically trying to make up for lost time with you. He is used to being with you all day, and now he's not. So, he is waking up to spend more time with you, even if it is a very short amount of time. I do hear that it gets better, but that the change in routine just takes some time to get used to for both mommy and baby.

Hi E.,
Talk to you pediatrician. It sounds like your baby might have his days and nights confused. I remember my ped asking if my daughter had this problem but luckily she didn't. He said if she ever does to let him know and he could correct the problem:) Hope this helps!
Jen

3 month growth spurt. It'll be over soon. But yes it sucks that it always coincides with return to work.

Hi E.,

My daughter did the same exact thing, sleeping for 6 or 7 hours to waking up all over again. My husband and I started to just listen to her fuss on the monitor and if it gets to a cry we get up and feed her. If it's just fussiness, like the sighs or whimpers, he may be dreaming or getting restless...that's what we have come to learn of our daughter. As much as we want to go pick her up and feed her, we have to restrain ourselves because she will never learn the difference between day and night. She is now 6 months old and is starting to wake up in the middle of the night again - we listen for a few minutes and she eventually calms down and goes back to sleep or she is seriously hungry and lets us know by crying a bit.

I hope this is helpful. We are new parents and are trying not to spoil her too much...

Hi E., I'm J.. 3 months old is prime time for a growth spurt. I breastfeed my son and he def. hit one at that time. Iknow it's rough. We did co-sleep but that actually intensified the nursing throughout the night. He would wake up every 1-2 to "nurse". While I wouldn't do this at 3 months old and never thought I would period, last night I attempted to let him cry it out. Mind you he's now 10 months old, still breastfed, and eating 3 meals of solids a day,and was still waking every 2-3 hours whether be in his crib or my bed. IMO - supplementing or adding solids doesn't always mean you're gonna get a baby to sleep more. For Isaiah - it didn't matter - it was the comfort of mommy he wanted - not the food. Tonight was the 2nd night - he slept for 6 hours - something he's never done (ever!)and only cried for 2 minutes before going to sleep - and when he just woke at 5am - i gave him his binky and he cried for a couple minutes again but he fell back asleep quickly. BUT that being said I personally would not have done that at 3 months simply because i feel they still are waking cause they're actually hungry, rather than just comfort nursing back to sleep. Hang in there girly - if you have any questions just send me a message.

HI E. IS HE SLEEPING TOO MUCH DURING THE DAY? TRY TO SEE IF MAYBE THE PERSON WHO IS WATCHING HIM CAN KEEP HIM UP SOME MORE DURING THE DAYTIME. UNFORTUNATELY BABIES HAVE THEIR OWN TIME CLOCK. SO YOU JUST MIGHT HAVE TO BARE WITH IT FOR A LITTLE AWHILE. HE WILL GO BACK TO SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHTS SOON. IF HE NAPS WHEN YOU GET OFF WORK TAKE A NAP WITH HIM. GOOD LUCK STEPH