I know there are moms here who EBF their babies and their babies fed fairly often, including MOTN. I have some questions because the LCs I see and my GP/PCP are not in agreement about, well, much, lol.
P currently goes down around 7-7:30pm and usually sleeps 2.5-3 hours before waking up to nurse. My doc thinks he should be able to go longer and that he is only expecting to feed because it is habit/he can smell me. The LCs believe there are babies who feed that often, he's just one of them.
I am just wondering what other experiences there are out there, for EBF babies. He's about to have to learn to take a bottle, so there's that. Right now I am just feeding him when he wakes, mostly because it's too much effort not too, if that makes any sense. But he does feed a lot at night. A LOT.
Post by whitemerlot on Dec 11, 2015 19:26:35 GMT -5
My dd nursed once overnight until she was 2. I think she was nursing at least 2 to 3 times a night at that age and didn't sleep in our room. My son slept with me and nursed nonstop until he was over one and night weaned after 2.
If it's bothering you that he's nursing overnight, I would try to have my h rock him or care for him to space out the feedings. If it's not a problem for you, I wouldn't worry about it.
I have no problem with MOTN feedings at this point. I would ideally like for him to go from 7pm to midnight, I just don't know if that is going to happen.
DD was a bottle refuser, and although she did eventually take enough during the day to take the edge off, she really did need night feedings. She did not increase her bottle intake when I did try to cut back on night feedings and lost weight, so I really did feel like I had no choice until she was over a year and getting a lot of her calories from food.
DS, despite the fact that he wakes every hour at night, only actually nurses once (if at all) overnight.
See, and part of me wonders if it is pointless for me to even wonder about this, since once I go back to work he is likely to nurse even more at night, if that's possible.
Ds1 nursed 2-3 times overnight at that age. I....don't know how much was need vs habit. It was easiest to nurse for 10-15 min bc he'd go right back down so that's what I did. He nursed every 2-2.5 hours during the day too.
Around ten months I did ferber to drop feelings and then to get him to sttn.
At 7 months my DS would sometimes wake up after 2-3 hours and sometimes would sleep longer. I don't think it's abnormal for a 7 month old to feed 2-3 times MOTN.
My DS has always been a crappy sleeper who woke several times motn. I always nursed him because it was easier. The pedi told me when he was 4 months old that he didn't need to eat overnight anymore but that didn't feel right to me. Honestly, I always just go with my gut on these things and it felt like he needed it until around a year. I didn't night wean until he was 16 months old and I was pregnant.
DS are very 2 hours during the day until he wa close to a year. At hat age he was nursing 2-3 times a night. I definitely think some babies eat more often than others.
We did Ferber at 4 months and he still woke to feed around 1am and again around 4:30am (and would go right back to sleep) until he was about 7 months old. Then he cut back to once nightly for a couple months before finally STTN at about 9 months.
DD is 9 months old and nurses 1-2x MOTN, usually twice currently b/c of congestion and/or teething. She goes to bed at 7:30. Some nights she nurses 10pm and 2am, some nights it's 12 and 4. Always up for the day at 6 with her early riser big brother. She legit gets a lot of milk at night, so I assume she's hungry. I hope it goes back to 1x a night like it was a month or two ago. I would LOVE a 4 hour stretch of sleep.
FWIW I have no plans to sleep train. She goes down super easy at naps and bedtime, and goes right back to sleep MOTN. My husband's snoring wakes me up more than nursing her does.
Post by bananahannah on Dec 11, 2015 20:26:58 GMT -5
Both of my babies nursed often at night. My ped had the exact same opinion as yours so I fought the battle with my first with CIO, etc. He still woke often. I embraced night nursing with my second and had a much more calm, content nighttime experience with her.
DS nursed 3-5 times a night until H finally convinced me to sleep train at 11mo. He still nurses once overnight. It didn't really bother me too much though of course I appreciate the extra sleep now.
My supply [work pumping output] dropped a bunch when we sleep trained, so that was stressful.
His pedi said at the 6mo visit that DS shouldn't NEED to eat overnight. At his one year he got a little more assertive about it, suggesting that we try other things - comforting without picking him up, leaving a sippy of water in case he gets thirsty... For now I'm happy with the status quo though.
DS nursed that often overnight until I night weaned started at about 11 months. Like you it was more effort to not nurse so I just went with it
Exactly this right down to the night weaning at 11 months and the just nursing because it was easier MOTN.
Around that age it was difficult to get L to nurse during awake periods as he was just so damn active and curious. I really think he got more calories MOTN than he did during the day. It sucked. Big time.
We had a period of about 3-4 weeks around a year where he sort of STTN but all that went to hell with molars and I went back to nursing him overnight as it was the only thing that soothed him. He continued to nurse 2-4 times overnight until 15 months when I night weaned again and then weaned altogether just after 16 months.
The book "Sleepeasy Solutions" suggests a plan that worked really well with DD1 to wean all but a dream feed (she eventually went back to nursing a time or two during the night, but I didn't mind at that point).
Basically, you write down all the times that she wakes until you have a pattern. You also need to know roughly how many minutes each feeding lasts. Then, you set your alarm so that you wake and feed the baby an hour before each regularly scheduled wake up. Each night, you cut each session down by 2 minutes (or 1 minute for a more conservative plan). When you reach just 2 minutes for a particular feeding, you drop that feeding.
It sounds like a lot of work, but it really wasn't and worked like a charm for me. I plan to begin this with DD2 (5 months old) soon.
Post by redpenmama on Dec 11, 2015 21:54:53 GMT -5
If you don't mind nursing MOTN, then just go with it! My kids have always nursed MOTN while BFing, even as toddlers. Our pedi gave us the same story, but my laziness trumped any desire to night wean or otherwise soothe a baby, so I have always resorted to BFing.
DS slept through the night fairly well until he was older, say 4 to 7 months. I got into the routine of just nursing him because it was easier. Except we reached the point where nursing wasn't putting him back to sleep. So I kept the pediatrician's advice in my mind that he didn't need to eat overnight. I knew how much he was getting during the day in bottles; he was an every 2 hours eater during the day. He would reliably STTN for my H when I was OOT for work. All of that was enough support for me to go the CIO route with DS. I kept pushing back the "acceptable" waking time for him to nurse. Now at almost a year, he wakes once at 5:15 to nurse. But of course he sleeps until 6:30 or later when I'm not there.
Are you doing solids? We started rice cereal around 6 months and it definitely helped. He just turned 8 months. He goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up around 5am to eat. He then sleeps until 7:30am-ish.
We just pushed his bedtime back, so he was going to bed at 6:30 when he was 7 months. He would wake up between 3-4am to eat and then slept until wake-up.
I definitely think your baby has the ability to make it longer overnight. Have you tried letting him cry a bit? I had to do that a time or two (definitely not often), but it never lasted more than 10 minutes before he went back to sleep.
Just adding my experience for information: my DD is almost 7 months and she is sleeping through the night. But she's always been a pretty good sleeper, so I think we are lucky. We also did CIO pretty early. She is EBF and doesn't take bottles. I used to dream feed once overnight before I wen too bed, but I recently dropped it and was surprised she can now go 12 hrs without eating. Not sure how normal that is, although I do think I must have extra fatty milk which is probably why I was getting daily plugged ducts.
If you don't mind the night feed, I'd go with it until you are ready to drop it. I feel like there is no right answer to these things, you just have to do what works for you.
I nursed R 1-2 times a night until he started sttn unprompted at 13 months. At 7 months I'm sure our longest stretch was 4 hours max. He went to bed around 7 and I usually waited for him to wake between 10-11 to eat and then I would go to bed.
My oldest would have nursed every hour at that age if I let him. I eventually co slept so I could be horizontal. My second (who is about a week younger than your son) gets up usually twice a night but recently has been up more. It is a growth spurt time. I just ignore the ped--I didn't with my first and worried, but this time I am more confident. First was night weaned at one year but still woke up ALL THE FLIPPING TIME until 2.5 when he got a twin bed rather than a matress on the floor. Now he gets up once a night but sometimes sleeps through. Won't go to bed until 10 though....
DD was a bottle refuser, and although she did eventually take enough during the day to take the edge off, she really did need night feedings. She did not increase her bottle intake when I did try to cut back on night feedings and lost weight, so I really did feel like I had no choice until she was over a year and getting a lot of her calories from food.
DS, despite the fact that he wakes every hour at night, only actually nurses once (if at all) overnight.
See, and part of me wonders if it is pointless for me to even wonder about this, since once I go back to work he is likely to nurse even more at night, if that's possible.
AND OMG TO YOUR DS!! Every hour?
Mine did this until we did CIO at 7ish months. Then it dropped to 2-3 times a night until I night weaned at 13 months.
See, and part of me wonders if it is pointless for me to even wonder about this, since once I go back to work he is likely to nurse even more at night, if that's possible.
AND OMG TO YOUR DS!! Every hour?
Mine did this until we did CIO at 7ish months. Then it dropped to 2-3 times a night until I night weaned at 13 months.
DS wakes more than 3 times a night. More like 4-6.
DD too. And she's just 7 months.
Sleep training has been unsuccessful. (ETA-bedtime has never been the issue, just MOTN. She can fall back on her own about 10:30 within 5 mins, but by her next feeding she's up up - for hours if not fed).
She will sleep 7:30-11:30/12:30, then up every 2 hours on the dot until about 7:30 she's up for the day. Fortunately she eats in like 5 minutes (day or night), but by trouble is falling asleep during that and waking up in her chair stuff and cold 2 hours later.