Night routine

[Starfish11]

I am working on a routine for Evangeline. We have one that sort of works right now but it involves me sleeping on the couch upright so she can nurse freely for hours on end. I think she suckles for comfort after about an hour of nursing. I haven't quite got the hang of the side nursing position that would allow me to be in the bed with her.

Right now I feed her at about 10 PM and then we change and swaddle her and rock her until she's "out" but as soon as we lift her she wakes right up. She's at the point of "limp limbs" so I don't know what's going on as supposedly they are deep deep in sleep. We get her back to sleep, but, again, as soon as we put her in the amby she is wide awake again.

Aye yay yay. What do you all do get your little ones asleep?

[jrabbit]

It takes practice to get the side-lying-half-sleep-half-nursing position down, but that's probably what you need to work on now, if you're desiring to cosleep. The longer you do the motion-rocking-to-sleep routine, it will be harder to convince her to sleep other ways.

I would prop myself up with pillows to get the more comfortable position, then ease ourselves down into the sleeping position that worked for me. Eventually, we were both so tired during the night, that we worked out the kinks and I didn't have to sit up anymore. Also, when lying down, I found that it was critical for me to lean on a pillow - a body pillow was the best, but normal pillows work in a pinch. *and* I leaked like crazy during the night, so I slept in a bra with nursing pads, on a towel on top of a washable waterproof pad. We had a cosleeper next to the bed, but it was mainly just a waste - she never slept in it - but it did mean that I could use every inch of the bed and not worry about ME falling off the bed!

Oh - and the most invaluable cosleeping tip: use twin size top sheets and blankets! You don't want your baby covered up with your blankets, but if baby is in the middle of the two adults, that's really hard for both of you to be comfortable with full size (king or queen whatever) linens. I slept on top of the blankets in a sweater until someone suggested the separate linens. Our kids are 9 & 4 now, and we *just* last year switched back to a king size top sheet/blanket ... and, now I have to switch back! It actually works really for anyone if you and your DP have different blanket preferences.

Molly learned how to sleep-nurse on the second night - probably because I wasn't in the mood to fiddle around at that point! Wonder what this baby will be like?

sleep well!

--janis

[Starfish11]

Every night I think: I have to practice that hold during the day tomorrow and of course it never happens I really need to kick my own butt and do it.

We actually don't want to co-sleep. We'd much rather use the amby if we can figure out how to get Evangeline to stay asleep long enough for us to put her in it. The few times we've been able to she has slept great so I think she's fine with it.

I'm definitely considering co-sleeping now but want to try other things first.

[kbchavez]

It took me quite a while with ds to figure out nursing lying down. I remember getting started by holding him while nursing, walking to the bed, and then lying down while holding him and then rolling to the side. And then when he would wake up I would sit up, latch him on, and do the same maneuver. After a while I could latch him on without sitting up. If I could have figured it out sooner, sleep would have been so much better. Good Luck!

[meetoo]

I think learning how to nurse laying down is the most useful thing a nursing mom can do LOL. I tried not to co-sleep this time for the first few days due to my son's night wandering. I was afraid he would smoother the baby. It was AWFUL! I was getting no sleep at all. Like by the time I would get up, she would be all out crying so then I need to calm her down, nurse her put her back to bed and by then I'm wide awake. Awful! Luckly I remember my mother had given me one of those co-sleeper nests. I forget what they are called but its sits on your bed. Plus my husband offered to sleep with our son for a while and that has helped him from climbing in with me and the baby. Anyway, my long rambly point is sometime around 18 mths with my first child I gave up on the idea of ever getting a full nights sleep again. Once you come to that realization it just doesn't seem so bad anymore. Then any amount of sleep you do get is gravy. Oh and turn your clock around! Nothing is worse then staring at that bright green 3:30 Am light LOL.

[applecider]

Originally Posted by meetoo

Anyway, my long rambly point is sometime around 18 mths with my first child I gave up on the idea of ever getting a full nights sleep again. Once you come to that realization it just doesn't seem so bad anymore. Then any amount of sleep you do get is gravy. Oh and turn your clock around! Nothing is worse then staring at that bright green 3:30 Am light LOL.

:

It took me a long time to figure that out with my first so now that #2 is here I feel like I'm having an easier time. I'm actually enjoying my nighttime nursing sessions! With DS1 I resented them. I never know what time it is until the light comes through the window and I figure it must be about time to get up.

Our routine is that DS1 sleeps between mommy and daddy in a queen bed. He generally falls right to sleep after a couple of books. We all go to bed together between 8-9pm. I nurse baby sitting up in bed. then baby sleeps on my chest for awhile, i'm reclined with pillows. I can usually get a bit of sleep this way. At some point I put sleeping baby on toddler bed next to me and can get a couple hours this way-on my side which is much more comfy. Usually once a night I have dp take baby to sleep on him so I can get a couple more hours of flat-side-lying sleep. ds1 stays asleep all night with the occasional moving of him cause he has his legs in dp's armpit or something

It's working so far but I would eventually like to get ds1 back in the toddler bed. He was in there for awhile but doesn't want to sleep there anymore. So we'll see how things go. I think that flexibility is key--I'm trying to have no expectations and just go with whatever seems to be working at the time.

[dsaucone]

I have such an easier time getting baby to latch laying down that I do sitting up. I guess that's just the way it started with DD and was most comfortable. The problem is that I don't want to co-sleep. Last time it sort of just happened without us thinking about it, and we don't want to this time. The cradle is right next to our bed and I try to just nurse laying down, wait until he stops and then smoothly transfer him to the cradle. He doesn't like the cradle though. I think it's because most of the time during the day he's all comfy in the boppy pillow or sleeping on one of us.

DH gets up and gets DD whenever she wakes up and I take care of DS. I'm honestly not even sure how many times we get up during the night? I haven't stopped to count.

[terrainthailand]

I'm a little late, but wanted to join in as my little one sounds just like yours Starfish! She falls asleep after about 50 minutes at the breast, when I try to detach her she starts sucking again, but she is basically out. No matter how long I hold her, or how tight I swaddle her, as soon as I lay her down and let go, she cries. So now, I just ease myself into a lying position with her in my arm next to me. If she is a bit fussy, I put her on my chest until she falls asleep and then ease her next to me.

We did not plan to co-sleep and purchased a moses basket to use next to our bed for the first few months but so far, the only way I get any sleep is to sleep with Hazel snuggled up next me. At first I was pretty nervous about it, but now I am enjoying it. I do still hope to get her into the basket and ultimately her own bed, sooner, rather than later, but I'm waiting till she is sleeping longer stretches. I mean, if she only sleeps two hours at time, I'm not going to waste half of that trying to "get her down" :

Our current routine is for her to nurse until 8 or 9 - as soon as we're done, I pass her off to dad and get ready for bed, I usually think I'm gong to get an hour of sleep in, but often she doesn't really settle and is ready to eat again at 10. Then she kind of wants to eat non-stop until about midnight or 1am. Then she sleeps for two or three hours, eats for an hour, and sleeps for another 2 or 3 hours. Then I feed her and dad takes her while I sleep for another few hours.