I recently moved in with my in-laws. We all get along great, and they love having my 6 month old DD here. She goes to bed perfectly, and will sleep from 7-8:00 until around 1:00am, whens she wakes up wanting to eat. No problem with that... If she's hungry, I don't have a problem waking up to feed her. The problem is that after that 1:00 wake up, she wakes up every 1-2 hours wanting to eat! She will continue this until about 7-8:00 am when she wakes up for the day. I know that it is purely comfort nursing, since she goes back to sleep withing 1-2 minutes of nursing. I give her a binky, but she only wants mommy. I have tried not picking her up, and just patting her to calm her down, turning on her glow worm, re-tucking her in, basically whatever "comfort" she usually responds to... Sometimes it works, but most of the time she gets more and more angry until she starts screaming... at which point I pick her up because my FIL works early mornings and I don't want her waking up the whole household.. (Luckily for me, they have raised their kids and understand that babies cry... and don't get angry when she does... But I still want to keep her as quiet as possible...) What methods work for you to keep them asleep? I really don't want to let her cry (and wake everyone up) but I can't be waking up every couple hours either! (My hubby tries to help, but his "method" is to pick her up and go watch TV until she falls back asleep on her own... so I prefer to do it myself. lol)
Why don't you try to keep her up later? Put her to bed when you go and atleast her first wakeup wouldn't be until 3 or 4. Since FIL works early at what 6 or 7 you can comfort feed her until he goes to work and then after he's gone you can try to let her self soothe the rest of her wakes ups. She will still be tired but everyone else will already be up.
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Try keeping her up til 9 pm and give her a bath in baby lavender my son was same way til i did this
Maybe she is falling back to sleep before she is completely full? Try making sure she is fully awake when she wakes for feeding. IT seems counter productive to wake them up fully, but in the long run it may pay off because she will eat a full meal and then sleep soundly for the remainder of the night. It could be that you stressing over he being quiet is counter productive...she senses your discomfort and responds to it. Also, kind of as a Rhetorical question more than anything...WHY exactly do you have an issue with your husband holding her until she falls back to sleep while he is watching TV? He is letting you sleep, there is bonding that takes place with just being held...would you have an issue if he was holding her and reading a book that he enjoyed? I would say relax and everything will even out and settle into a routine and relax.
Good Luck,
T.
(mom of 3 boys - and we lived with my parents for 2 years while my husband finished graduate school starting when my oldest two were 2 and 4 years old - so I get the whole adjusting thing)
It is a growth-spurt.
6 months old, and every 3 months... is a growth-spurt in a baby.
At each growth-spurt... they get hungry, and more frequently and their intake needs increases... to keep pace WITH their growing.
Both my kids, I breastfed... and they had GINORMOUS appetites. I nursed on-demand 24/7, and per our Pediatrician.
For the 1st year of life, a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition is from breast or Formula... NOT solids and NOT other liquids.
Both my kids, at that age... woke more than yours.
And... babies often go through "cluster-feeding"... which means they need to feed even every.single.hour. It reflects their changing growth and intake increases. And so that... your milk composition and quantity... increases as well and to provide what the baby needs.
I just nursed my kids on-demand... especially for the 1st year. And I always knew when they were having growth-spurts. They had huge appetites and grew like weeds.
You can tell if it is comfort nursing or nursing.... by if she is actually swallowing... or not???
As a baby gets older, their suckling/nursing gets more efficient... so they then do nurse... quicker and more efficiently. Not for a long time like when they are newborns. So that is also a difference...
Your baby IS also sleeping-through-the night... because she is going from about 7-8:00 until 1:00am sleeping. For a baby, sleeping through the night, means sleeping for at least 5 hours straight. Your baby, is doing that.
all the best,
Susan
You may just have to agree with the family to let her 'cry it out' on a weekend (or days when FIL doesn't have to work the next day), and stick to your guns if it seems to be working. Our oldest daughter only had to cry 2 nights. Second child (son) it never did work with (he's almost 31 and still the one who doesn't 'go by the book' in his daily living habits. LOL) It's not cruel. It just teaches them for the first time something they always need to know -- the world really DOESN'T revolve around them, they have to adapt to the world.
OH! And MAKE SURE she 'burps' before going back to sleep! It could be gas.
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of the "No-Cry Sleep Solution" - lots of great ideas on how to get your baby to sleep (or back to sleep) without tears.
It is high time for cereal to be added to milk.
I'm guessing a growth spurt or teething... exhausting, but it will pass :)
