11 week old nursing every hour all night

[simonboy'smommy]

Any suggestions for my friend? She isn't getting any sleep and is getting depressed. Her dh wants to do CIO and they tried it one night and it about killed her and she doesn't want to go that route. She just didn't know what else to do. She can only nurse her to sleep and then she can't put her down or she'll wake up. She doesn't mind co-sleeping, but waking every hour is too much. Any one else have this problem? How can she change this habbit?

[CookAMH]

How long has it lasted? My guess is it'll be short lived.

Has she tried swaddling? If babe is swaddled, wakes, is fed, tightened in swaddle and back to sleep, maybe she can lay her down that way.

[Xavismom]

My 7 week old DS does most of his nursing at night too. We co-sleep, I end up sleeping through most of it. I still manage to get a good nights sleep, I actually get more sleep now than I did when I was 9 months preg.

We sleep on our sides, tummy to tummy, with DS positioned so he can latch on/off by himself. Usually he wakes me up when he roots around and latches on, but not always, sometimes I sleep right through it. If he does wake me, I usually fall back asleep after a few min, and he nurses himself back to sleep. Once or twice during the night, he'll fuss, and its bc he wants his diaper changed. Sometimes I do it, but a lot of the time DH does it so I dont have to wake up/get up. DH scoops him up, gets him changed (we dont talk to him, or stimulate him in any way during night changes bc we want him to stay as sleepy as possible) and sets him back down next to me, and I get him latched on. Everyone goes back to sleep.

I'm not sure what 'system' your friend has going, but maybe this would work for her? I know I get very depressed and moody with no sleep, and I feel very very lucky we are getting the sleep we have been. GL to your friend!

[averlee]

I agree with Xavismom above. I think instead of trying to make the baby nurse less (because babies need to nurse at night) that everybody can figure out how to get enough sleep while nursing all night. We slept together, facing each other, and to switch breasts we'd roll over together. I'd help her get my clothes arranged or find the nip and we'd all go back to sleep. or sometimes she'd just root, strike it lucky, and not really wake me at all. One thing that seemed to help was facing the clock away. I didn't need to be looking at the clock in the middle of the night.

[buttercups.nest]

I also suggest swaddling...my little one hated it at first (cause he sucks his hands) but that's the only way I can get him to sleep on his own.

Also, what about waking babe to make sure he's had enough to eat? Maybe a bedtime CD? I can sympathize with your friend...I couldn't put my little one down the first 2 weeks either.

[ktmeyer]

She may not be all the way into deep sleep when she tries to set her down, so she wakes back up again. She needs to get all the way to "deep sleep", where you can drop her arm and it doesn't wake her up, before putting her down. It may take an extra 20 minutes, but it's worth it if she stays asleep. There is a section on this in Dr. Sear's baby book, it might be on his website too.

[ktmeyer]

There is some great advice here:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp

[karika]

my current baby is 13 mo and is latched onto me 70% of her nighttime sleeping hours and has always been this way. I mostly sleep through it, or return to sleep quickly. dd1 was not that way tho, but had periods of it. I get more rest than pre baby. This is because I am in bed with baby from 7pm to 7 am. I bring a book or laptop to bed, browse tv... leave an energy effiicient light on all night so I can see when we do wake up to switch positions/ potty (we ec too) or move the wet bed protectors to place down dry ones... I also lie down with her for naps, during which I generally get an hour or two of sleep in daytime too. To get enough sleep, for me, the trick is to spend 12 hrs in bed a night (of which I have 7-8 hrs of broken sleep)being her pillow/boobie, and then take the nap too.... this time in the baby's life really doesn't last long, soak it up! There will be time for other endeavors after the baby gets older....

[weliveintheforest]

It would help to know a bit about baby's daytime schedule, but I agree with the posters who suggested swaddling.

[LadyCatherine185]

I would suggest to her to read The No Cry Sleep Solution.

That said, my DS woke hourly until he was about...... ok, well some nights even now at 16.5 months he wakes hourly. It got better for awhile around 9 months, 11 months, and 15 months.