Nursing positions during the night

[leigh09]

In Dr. Sears "Baby Sleep Book", his wife mentions she got a much more restful sleep once she figured out how to nurse her baby from both breasts without rolling over. She doesn't go into any detail on how she accomplished this.

How on earth would you do this?? Has anyone tried or mastered this? When we're sleeping, we sleep on one side, then roll to the other, because I need to keep switching breasts throughout the night. I am really wondering how you would nurse *comfortably* from both breasts without constantly rolling to the other side.

[HeliMom]

I do this. It is very convenient. I'm not sure how to explain it, though...It came very naturally to me. I just tilt my chest more away or towards the baby depending on what breast she's working on. I switch sides completely every other night so I'm not always sleeping on one hip.

[Dmitrizmom]

nak.

i nurse while laying on my left side. when using the left breast, i lean back a little. when using the right, i roll slightly more toward babe and tuck the left breast under...

ftr, i'm large breasted (36g-ish).

[ears73]

yeah, I do both breasts while lying on one side... as other posters said, leaning away from or closer to as needed. However, I have some tingling in my lower legs at times which is a feeling I can not stand so I put a pillow or wadded up blanket under the outside hip to help.

[texmati]

not the op, but I'm definitely going to try this tonight! I read that too in the sears book, but assumed that she could do it because she was small breasted.

[GoGoGirl]

It took me until DD was around 5 months old to figure this out. I just lean my top shoulder forwards to use the top breast. My lower half stays in the same place. The tricky part for me was figuring out what to do with my top arm when I'm nursing from the top breast. (I'm about a 36C, so I have to lean pretty far forwards). It's most comfortable for me to bend my top arm at the elbow and prop it on my pillow. That also helps me stay leaned over when I fall back asleep. I think you just have to fiddle around and see what works for your body. It will be so worth it!

[Mommy2anangel]

I'm small chested so it's easy for me to do. If I'm laying on my left side and need to use my right breast, I just lean a little bit down. And I keep my left hand over my head so I have more head support.

[mambera]

Another top boober here. I lean my top side toward the baby and arc my top arm over her, with my hand on her other side to prop me up. I think I'm around a 36D (haven't worn sized bras since I delivered so I'm not really sure).

I don't think it would work with a very small baby.

It's not as comfortable as using the lower boob but it's way better than switching sides all night.

[mama2myloves]

I've always wondered about this, too. I'm going to give it a try tonight.

[Llyra]

I think breast size and shape may have something to do with whether you can make this work. I myself tried and tried for many months, and could never make it work. I'm very unusually small-breasted, though. If I leaned over in the way you guys describe, my babies still couldn't reach. The positions I would have had to lie in myself were very uncomfortable, so I couldn't sleep anyway. So I wound up giving up, eventually.

[leigh09]

i have a small baby and tried when he was maybe 1 month old and gave up. maybe will try again now that he is 5 months old. it may work better, you ladies have give me ideas

[stealthmode]

nak

dd is 6 weeks and we started doing "top boob" at 4 weeks. i'm not large chested...just have to lean over more

[Erinz]

Make good use of pillows, that is how I do it and make it comfortable. When I'm nursing on the bottom boob the pillow is behind my back for support. When I'm nursing with the top boob it helps if my head is propped up a bit more and my bottom arm is up and bent. It's really quite comfortable and I fall asleep in that position fairly often. The only part I don't like is that my bottom boob gets a bit squished which I can sometimes feel during let-down and I always imagine that can't be good but knock on wood no clogged ducts or diminished supply yet!

(I almost typed clogged ducks quack quack!)

[mommy212]

well, i manage to do this sometimes, but I find it easier just to switch. I prop his head on my upper arm and just roll over and stretch... lol. I have gigantic (they feel like it) boobs now though. He could nurse a foot away if he wanted to, lol.

[staceychev]

So funny that some ladies are saying that they always assumed they could do it because they're small-breasted. I always thought I could do it because I'm on the large side!

But yeah, totally. Work to learn this trick. Makes a huge difference!

[Tattooed Hand]

I tried but don't find it comfortable at all. Plus, I can't sleep on one side all night. So I just nurse her on the bottom boob side, and then sit up and move her (sometimes just dragging the blanket I've put her to sleep on) and then nurse on the opposite side. She never fully wakes up and then is immediately entranced by the new boob. I find this much easier on her and me than rolling with her. She doesn'tlike being rolled.

Sometimes though we both fall asleep before we get to boob #2 so I just move her when she wakes next.

Nursing from the top boob is so uncomfortable for me that I can't relax so it defeats the purpose for me.

[JayJay]

Well, Isobella is 7 weeks old today and we do things a little differently: ever since my rather large oversupply issues, I've nursed on the left side only, all night long! Then in the morning, around 8.30am we nurse on the right for a bit makeup breakfast session!

Then I nurse from both sides equally throughout the day! I do have a bit more milk from this in my left side, but because of our nursing schedule it works out perfectly. No lop sided boobs or anything!

I think this arrangement works better for us at the moment because Bella is a "boob in the mouth" sleeper really, especially when she's first nodding off. She feeds very frequently at night - I think if I had to roll and prop myself up and stay awake to feed her from the right side as often as when wants to feed, I'd be a complete zombie... As it is, I just lay on my left side, boob out on a receiving blanket all night long, and we both get some sleep!

Incidentally though, I've nursed in all sorts of positions when awake: in the bath, both sides, while she's been held by Daddy - I turned myself around, crouched on the sofa and fed her in the crook of his arm! Also fed her while she was strapped into her car seat before: tilted the car seat off the sofa and kid of brought her, upright, to my breast!

Ah, long may the nursing odyssey continue! :P