nursing to sleep and naps

[wishin'&hopin']

My little guy (3.5 months) is finally asleep (in his crib for naps, co-sleeping at night). The dilemma we have is that he nurses to sleep, which I don't mind, but if he's not hungry he won't nurse. This means that if he's tired but not hungry he just can't fall asleep. So, he cries (and I soothe as much as I can) until he's hungry enough to nurse to sleep. He used to take a pacifier and fall asleep that way if he wasn't hungry but now he will not take a pacifier and just gets madder if it's offered ("what is that plastic POS you're trying to put in my mouth mama!!!???") He also tends to wake up if he's moved, so I'm having a hard time getting him into the crib (he also wakes up if I move away from him, on the days when I treat naps like I do nighttime, so I keep ending up trapped in bed for the 4-5 hours a day he would like to sleep). So, today he cried for about half an hour until he was hungry enough to nurse (I tried rocking, swaddling, singing, soft music). Then I gently tried to put him in the crib. He started to wake but I took the shirt I had been wearing and put it over him like a blanket and that seemed to work.

So, here I am. Hoping he'll stay asleep. Any other mamas with nurslings who won't fall asleep w/o nursing but won't nurse if they are not hungry? What worked for you? (Our little guy wants 11-12 hours at night and 3-5 during the day--I cannot stay in bed with him for 14-17 hours...especially since I work at home sometimes).

edit...that worked, for 7 minutes. So, I've been trying to get this very tired baby to sleep for over an hour and a half. Now I'm wearing him on my back in the babyhawk. Hopefully he'll nap there (that's where he napped yesterday...for a hour and a half).

[LadyCatherine185]

my DS was a bad sleep fighter too.. still is a little bit but it has gotten much easier. If he was clearly tired (rubbing eyes, yawning, fussing) I would go into a dark (pitch black, blackout-curtains) and quiet (with a fan for white noise) room and would rock him. A lot of the time he would cry until he finally gave up and would nurse to sleep. He was never one of those babies that would just "fall asleep" when he was tired, or just nurse to sleep whenever/wherever. He needed ZERO stimulation (hence the pitch black and white noise) and motion. Around 9 months it started getting a LOT better, so hang in there!

Have you read The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley? I got some really good tips from there.. never actually put the whole plan into action, but did get some great advice.

A lot of times if he didn't sleep after 20-30 minutes of the rocking, or if he woke right back up, I did just give up and go for a walk/drive/wear him around the house.

Oh, could you try nursing him to sleep on the bed and then rolling away once he is asleep? That worked REALLY well for us once we started it. I put pillows around him so he would still feel like someone was there and he wouldn't roll off the bed. He NEVER liked sleeping in the crib.

[wishin'&hopin']

He's asleep now, on my back in the babyhawk. Sigh, I guess it's just hard b/c he nurses every hour and a half to two hours all day and the longest he'll go at night is about 4 hours. The nursing sessions are relatively short, but when trying to fall asleep he'll nurse for upwards of 45 minutes yowch! My body needs his naps for a break!

Today was one of the worst days tho'...I started trying to get him to nap at 10:30 and it is now 2pm and he is just now asleep on my back. I don't really like to have him on the bed alone (it just doesn't feel all that safe to me but I'm a worrywart) but on occasion I've been able to ease away from him w/o him waking up. Perhaps I should just give up on the crib for naps? Does this mean that our plan to transition him to the crib at night in the next couple of months will be a big FAIL...?

I'm going to order the no cry sleep solution b/c DW and I are clear that CIO is out of the question.

[LadyCatherine185]

There are a lot of things that are going to change in the next year or so, and many of them bring sleep regressions. My DS woke every hour or more his whole first year. He also nursed every hour during the day. Enjoy the 4 hour blocks you are getting now because it may change! You may be able to get him to sleep in the crib, but maybe not. Teething, developmental milestones, growth spurts all effect sleep.... Definitely get NCSS, if you REALLY want to have him sleeping in a crib it may take a LOT of hard work. For us, realizing that DS would be sleeping with us for at least a year, and not trying to change it really helped. Once he was ready (around 18 months or so) we nightweaned and moved him to his own bed very easily. This is SUCH a short time in his life, try to enjoy the middle of the night snuggles!

[HeliMom]

I agre with the PP that even though it seems like forever right now it really isn't that long in the lifespan of your child.

DD always needed me in bed for naps until just this week (she's 15mo). She was sleepy, passed out in my arms and i put her down on the bed, She open her eyes for a second looked at me closed them and slept for 2.5 hours!

What helped me was having a good supply of books or the laptop with me during naptimes. I realize now that it forced me to slow down and rest which was really good for both of us.