Breastfeeding and Sleep Schedule

Hello,

I have had great success with "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. Different things work for different kids, but I think the book also just has some good information on baby sleep in general and is worth reading. Hope it helps!

K.

Why don't you talk to the doctor about feeding cereals. Alot of doctors will give the go ahead as baby approaches 5 months (they did when my youngest was this age), unless there is a reason the docs saids not to.

I work with children as an energy practitioner.
I would recommend an appointment for you and your child and to learn how to help her.
You will be getting a lot of response from other moms and what they do but there are simpler ways.

Please reply if interested.

May God Bless!

I agree with the cereal and don't agree with co-sleeping. Its good for awhile but can be hard to break out of. Not to mention hard on a romatic relationship. My girls were sleeping through the night at 3 months. SO my suggestions are only my opinion and not an experience. Good luck.

Hi L.,

I was in exactly the same situation as you when my daughter was 4mos old. Has your pediatrician said you can introduce rice cereal yet? That is how we handled this problem. Breast milk, as you know, does not last that long in their little tummies. If you get the ok from your doc, start mixing up a little rice cereal with expressed breast milk and feed it to your son at the dinner table, while the rest of you are eating dinner. (You don't want to do this right before bed, because you don't want him to miss the regular bf session) The rice will hold him longer, but you won't have to go to formula. Make the cereal pretty runny and be patient - it's messy - they don't understand the spoon at first. Also, you might want to try having Daddy get up once in the night to help soothe him back to sleep, without food. That way, you could get a 6hr block of sleep, and your son will learn to put himself to sleep and bond more with Dad.

I hope this helps! My girls are now 4yrs and 2.5yrs, are healthy and wonderful sleepers! J.

Hi L.!

I recommend co-sleeping. One of the biggest blessings in disquise for me was, I go to bed when my daughter goes to bed. I may read for a while, but I am getting great rest and sleep at night. she sleeps at my side and when she wants to nurse (which is quite frequently) she nurses. Theres no getting up, she doesn't fully wake up and I go right back to sleep. She is confident in her trust that I am going to supply her every need, which crying it out does not support. I would very strongly recommend that you investigate other options than crying it out. I have not personally read it, but I have heard that "The No Cry Sleep Solution" is helpful. I love sleeping with my daughter, it works so well for both of us and I would recommend co-sleeping to anyone. Dr. Sears has written several books that I found helpful, he is an advocate of attachment parenting (co-sleeping being part of that), The Baby Book was a huge help for me. Please let me know if you want to know more about this, I would love to share!
H.

Have you checked with your local lactation groups. I bet you'll find much support. I was a stay at home mom of four and I breastfed all four, except I didn't have enough for my last child. I later found out that stress and a diet insufficient of certain nutrients contributed significantly to the quantity and quality of my milk.

My daughter is also 4 months old and breastfed exclusively. She does nurse throughout the night, but I am not sure if she actually wakes up fully to do so. I sleep with my baby so I only have to roll over and stick a nipple in her mouth and both of us go right back to sleep. Does your son sleep in your bed with you or at least in the same room? There are co-sleepers available that attach to the side of your bed if you are not comfortable with the idea of having him actually in your bed. I will state that I am opposed to "sleep training" and any "cry it out" methods, especially for one so young! If they had any effectiveness at all, it would only be for getting him to sleep and he would likely continue to wake up just as frequently. I can't imagine being able to sleep while listening to a crying baby in another room. Are you resting when baby is napping? On days when I am exhausted, I just lay down with my baby and nurse her while she is napping and that way both of us get some rest. Some great breastfeeding resources to check out are kellymom.com and La Leche League at llli.org. I would also recommend looking for a local La Leche League meeting to attend for additional support. Finally, breastfeeding moms can certainly drink coffee. Very little caffeine passes through the breastmilk and peaks about an hour after consumption. If you are concerned about passing it to your son, wait to drink your coffee until right after you finish a feeding. Kellymom.com has a lot of great information about this. I hope this information helps. Your son needs you to be well rested.

Hi - I have a reflux baby as well (almost 5 months old). It does get better, it just takes time. I am supplementing with formula at night and breastfeeding when he wakes up. He is also been swaddled right from the start. We now are getting 8 hrs at night. He does wake up and "peeps" but falls back asleep. If he is hungry - he is crying. He sleeps in his own crib in the room next door now (after 6 weeks of co-sleeping). I turn off the monitor and only turn it on when I hear him wake up as I have found they make lots of "noises". Also remember that growth spurts will make her more hungry and more demanding. I feed about every 3 hrs now. Hope this helps

We just went through almost the same thing. My son is 4 mos old and since he is my 3rd child we didn't have much choice but to sleep train him as soon as he was old enough. The method we used for all of my children is the extinction method. It is very simple. You do your bedtime routine as usual (if you don't have one I it is a good idea to get one going) then just lay them down for bed. I try to say the same words every time I lay him down so he learns that it means it's sleep time.(aka a sleep cue) Then you just let them cry. It sounds harsh, but we have found it has very quick results. The first night he cried 25 min, the second 7 min and now he just chats a while and goes to sleep. It's tough, but over faster than you think. I try to remind myself I am teaching him invaluable skills to get sleep unassisted, that will stay with him his whole life. The same technique works for night wakes. At 4 mos old they should be able to go one long stretch( 6 or more hours) and then a short one. I just try to go in when I really think he is hungry and not when I think he just wants to hang out. My son also eats every 2 hours during the day and 2 times at night. Formula, in my opinion is not needed at all. You are giving him the best stuff he can get and formula wont last a significantly longer time in his belly. Even though it seems like this time will last forever, it all goes by quickly. Besides, my 3 year old sometimes wakes me more than my baby! I don't expect to sleep for several more years! My sleep bible is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth. I highly recommend investing in this book. I constantly refer to it for advice and it has never done me wrong! Good luck, and feel free to contact me if you need moral support!
A.

Hi L.
It looks like you've already gotten quite a bit of advise. We used a book called "Babywise". It worked really well for us and had our daughter sleeping through the night by 10 weeks. Hope something helps, I know how tiring it can be!!

We had fantastic success with the Baby Whisperer books on how to remind our little one, now 17 months, how to sleep. He is a great sleeper and I think her methods work. We didn't follow her EASY routine exactly, but our son still ended up putting himself on a schedule that was pretty similar. We fed him once through the night (usually early, early morning) from 3 months to 8 months and then he didn't want the feeding anymore. Her books talk about cluster feedings before bed which really helps. Good luck as it's one of those annoying questions that everyone seems to ask you.

Hi L.! My baby girl is 4 months old too. Sorry, but she has been sleeping through the night since she was 5-6 weeks old. My girlfriend has a 5 month old boy and we are both BF. He is up 2-3 times during the night to nurse and mom is back to work so, she needs to rest at some point too. Her doc suggested starting him on rice cereal mixed with breast milk before bed to satisfy him through the night. Check with your doc. as this might be a solution. Mix the rice cereal with expressed breast milk 1 - 4 ratio.
Oh, and you CAN enjoy a caffeinated beverage - Sounds like you could use a "treat"! Good luck!