Using frequent night nursing as a pacifier..

[aplidoro]

My 5 month old son has been sleeping in a co-sleeper by me since he was born. He was always pretty easy to put back down after night nursing and drifted off peacefully to sleep even when I put him down still awake. However, about a month or two ago he started awakening after only and hour of sleep and crying when put back down after nursing. He is now sleeping with us and nursing on and off all night long. He's not eating much at all at a feeding, more its just that he likes to sleep with a nipple in his mouth! When I take him off he wakes immediately and fusses, often going into a full blown howl if I don't give in and nurse. I love having him sleep with us, as does my husband, but I'm not as crazy about having him attached to my nipple all night long. I find that my back and hips are incredibly painful come morning. I would love any advise on getting my son to sleep without a breast in his mouth, or even some tips on more comfortable night nursing so that I don't wake so stiff and achey! 

[Blanca78]

Hey, just wanted to say my five month old DD acts similarly sometimes. We don't co-sleep--she is in a crib in our room--and once we get her settled for the night she generally will sleep around 6-7 hours before waking to eat. However, getting her settled can take forever--most nights she also does the wake-up-after-an-hour (or less) thing--and often wakes up one or two more times before sleeping her long stretch. I also nurse her to sleep. The wakeups drive me crazy because DH and I never know when we can relax or whether our together time will be interrupted. So no advice, but some commiseration from a mom of a baby the same age.