Anyone else still nursing through the night? « Back to Group Discussions

[BabySmurf]

How are you sleeping at night? Are you making changes to night wean, or are you kind of playing it by ear?

I feel like my DS has been chronically sick since I've become pregnant.  He has literally caught cold after cold after cold.  So night time has been challenging.  When he doesn't feel well he wants to lay across my chest and stay latched on to sleep.  Occasionally I can get him to roll over ans stay next to me, but he won't unlatch.  My back has been killing me, and it's starting to bother me when I stay on my back for too long.  Not causing issues, but just uncomfortable.  I want him to get better!! I don't want to make too many changes unless he is feeling okay.  And actually he's not nursing that much over night (only once or twice) when he does feel good...it just doesn't last very long! I was planning on just seeing how things progressed with the pregnancy and only trying to nudge him toward night weaning/changing the nurse to sleep association if the due date gets too close.

What's going on with you guys?

[jr'smom]

Fortunately DD (19 months) doesn't nurse at night most nights.  She is in bed with us and usually sleeps through.  The exception is when she's teething, has a growth spurt, or isn't feeling well.  For some reason if she snuggles up next to her dad, which I encourage, she doesn't wake to nurse.  If she snuggles close to me, she does.  I won't encourage any further weaning (but then, i already have it pretty good!)

I would like to get her into the toddler bed in our room before the new baby is born.  We set it up already and she loves pretending to sleep in it and playing in it, but she even wakes up if we put her in it during her nap. Ahhh well, plenty of time left.  Somehow all our other babies managed to leave our bed (without resistance) by the time the next was born, so hopefully she will too!

Regarding frequent colds:  Do you take vitamin D3?  Most people are deficient and it helps immunity.  Most people don't know that a good maintenaance dose is 10,000iu/day.  I've been taking that for 8 years and my level is 85 which is good but not too much. I started taking 20,000iu/day this year when the general recommendation for individuals over age 8 to take 10,000 instead of 5,000.  So I doubled mine too (on the advice of my naturally minded MD) to 20,000 since I'm pregnant and breastfeeding.

I know you can give your toddler vit D3 directly too.  Mine is a capsule that I can open and shake the powder onton the kids' tongues.  Honestly I don't usually do it because I don't think about it and my kids don't sick often (which I attribute to good chiropractic care...which keeps their nervous systems in good condition and therefore their immune systems too.)

[littlegreenlady]

My little guy went through the same constant cold thing last winter when he was the same age as yours is now. We tried many things with the guidance of our Naturopath. I even thought it may be allergies and tried an elimination diet. In the end turns out he has no allergies. Turns out he just had one cold after another and some lasted over a month (which is not unusual). I have now heard that many little ones go through this at about this age, while their immune systems "toughen up" and then they don't really get sick much after that point. My son has had one cold this winter it started last Wednesday and he is all better now 5 days later. We do Vit D and have been since he was maybe one and a half. I also think it's a good idea, but in our case did not eliminate the constant cold last year. So sorry nothing really helpful to say about the illness except been there and survived.

Now about the nursing. I found that time of my nursing relationship very challenging, because he needed it more and couldn't seem to stay latched on for long due to stuffy nose. So it was constant latching on and snapping off which I found stimulating in a very uncomfortable way. Nights were very rough. I had attempted night weaning, but with him being sick, did not get very far. However you are pregnant and so may need to handle it differently. 

My son is not longer nursing all night. He nurses to go to sleep and thats pretty much it. I'ts only been a couple months since he stopped. I was having a hard time when I first got pregnant and started talking to him about how it was hurting me. We talked about perhaps cuddling instead when it was too much for me. The first couple nights he complained and we compromised depending on how much it hurt. I would talk to him about it during the bed time routine. Saying "tonight when you want to nurse and I say it hurts what should we do" and things like that. It happened fairly quickly. I was not intending to night wean at all, I just wanted to find an alternative when it was painful. But thats the way it worked out. There were times when I would offer to nurse and he's said he wanted to cuddle instead. 

I hope your little guy feels better soon. 

[BabySmurf]

Our co sleeping situation has morphed from the "family" bed to the Mama and DS bed, lol.  My DH decided for various reasons some time ago that he didn't want DS in the big bed anymore.  I said that DS wasn't ready to be on his own yet, and that I certainly wasn't going to be getting up several times a night to deal with DS waking up, so we moved to DS's room.  The bed in there is more comfortable anyway ;) 

I do think that DS is just getting to the point where if he snuggled with DH, he would be okay, but up until now, DS has definitely been waking to nurse.  I'm psyched because the past few nights DS has slept until about 5am without waking up.  He does this every so often, but usually it's a fluke and after a night or two he starts waking up more...but this has been a couple of days, and he keeps sleeping slightly LONGER instead.  Score! I just hope this isn't catch up sleeping though. I really hope it sticks!

We had been taking FCLO, but DS has been on a strike lately.  I'm the type who tries to trust the kids intuition, especially since he went through a phase where he would ask for some.  It has been smelling pretty wretched to me too, and it's something that didn't used to bother me either.  My idea is that we are getting a lot of vitamin A, and adding the FLO is just too much....so I think I need to adjust a few things if we are going to get back into FCLO.  We can't really do supplements because DS and I have too many food intolerances.  But being low in Vit D at this point wouldn't surprise me...thanks for the reminder :) 
 

[OSUvet]

Yes, my 22 month old nurses. Lately it is all night long as he has been teething off and on. He has never been a great sleeper (only slept 4 or more hours straight a very few times in his life), but does ok with his daddy. He still wakes but if I am not there DH snuggles him and he goes right back to sleep. If I am there and I tell him "no milk, go night night" occasionally he will accept it but more often dissolves into hysterics. 

I also am not ready to push weaning, especially until after we move and get settled in (probably within the next 2 months). But since he does well with DH, we will likely try some form of night weaning after that. 

[BabySmurf]

Originally Posted by OSUvet 

Yes, my 22 month old nurses. Lately it is all night long as he has been teething off and on. He has never been a great sleeper (only slept 4 or more hours straight a very few times in his life), but does ok with his daddy. He still wakes but if I am not there DH snuggles him and he goes right back to sleep. If I am there and I tell him "no milk, go night night" occasionally he will accept it but more often dissolves into hysterics. 

I also am not ready to push weaning, especially until after we move and get settled in (probably within the next 2 months). But since he does well with DH, we will likely try some form of night weaning after that. 

I am with you about waiting until you are through that transition.  I think I might try setting up some new sleep associations after the Holidays to maybe help with the nursing to sleep stuff...and I am just hoping that this sleep trend keeps up.  I really stink at "enforcing" routines, I am a much more go with the flow type of gal...I just worry about *needing* to make changes with a newborn and that causing DS trouble.  I still feel like I have plenty of time though....although it is passing awfully fast....

Originally Posted by littlegreenlady 

My little guy went through the same constant cold thing last winter when he was the same age as yours is now. We tried many things with the guidance of our Naturopath. I even thought it may be allergies and tried an elimination diet. In the end turns out he has no allergies. Turns out he just had one cold after another and some lasted over a month (which is not unusual). I have now heard that many little ones go through this at about this age, while their immune systems "toughen up" and then they don't really get sick much after that point. My son has had one cold this winter it started last Wednesday and he is all better now 5 days later. We do Vit D and have been since he was maybe one and a half. I also think it's a good idea, but in our case did not eliminate the constant cold last year. So sorry nothing really helpful to say about the illness except been there and survived.

Now about the nursing. I found that time of my nursing relationship very challenging, because he needed it more and couldn't seem to stay latched on for long due to stuffy nose. So it was constant latching on and snapping off which I found stimulating in a very uncomfortable way. Nights were very rough. I had attempted night weaning, but with him being sick, did not get very far. However you are pregnant and so may need to handle it differently. 

My son is not longer nursing all night. He nurses to go to sleep and thats pretty much it. I'ts only been a couple months since he stopped. I was having a hard time when I first got pregnant and started talking to him about how it was hurting me. We talked about perhaps cuddling instead when it was too much for me. The first couple nights he complained and we compromised depending on how much it hurt. I would talk to him about it during the bed time routine. Saying "tonight when you want to nurse and I say it hurts what should we do" and things like that. It happened fairly quickly. I was not intending to night wean at all, I just wanted to find an alternative when it was painful. But thats the way it worked out. There were times when I would offer to nurse and he's said he wanted to cuddle instead. 

I hope your little guy feels better soon. 

Thanks for the thoughts! I do wonder if the colds are just a part of "growing up" and priming his immune system.  We are taking a Mommy and Me class, so I know that he's exposed to a fair amount of germs...I am just sad because I am not really sick, so I was hoping that he would be getting some antibodies from me...or maybe he is and that's why things have been relatively mild.  Only time will tell, I guess!

It's funny, I think that kids really do understand when things make us uncomfortable, and if they are at that tipping point of being *almost* there on their own, that realization that they are contributing to pain/discomfort can be enough for them to let go enough to realize that they are okay *just* snuggling.  (That was a really long sentence!) 
 

The past few nights DS has actually been sleeping really well...and it seems to be just because he's finally able to get into a nice deep sleep.  It's been awesome, and has really helped a lot with the discomfort I was feeling.  Luckily, typical nursing doesn't bother me much at all, so I don't mind the nursing to sleep thing...but I do think after things settle down from the Holidays I will have to slowly begin to help DS find another sleep association. 

[littlegreenlady]

Oh I'm so glad he is sleeping better, I'm sure you both need the rest. 

I'm thinking at some point I'll need to get my guy used to going to sleep without nursing as well, but I figure I got time.

[BabySmurf]

Thanks...that on again off again sick latch is the pitts! It feels really good to get some good sleep...if only i didn't have to pee so much! I feel the same - there is plenty of time to let things play out. 
 

[zjande]

I too am nursing through the night. My 14 mo old nurses several times per night. Also our 3 yr old wakes at night sometimes and I have to pee all the time and I suffer with occasional insomnia. :p I haven't had a full night's sleep in, well,... never. lol I've just become accustomed to being tired and loopy. My nipples are very sore during pregnancy though, so it's not super fun.

Jr'smom, I also have taken 10,000 iu/day of D3 for several years. I almost never get sick. I give the children chewable D3 half the year as well. They still get sick now & then but I figure it's just helping build up their immune systems as well. I have read that D3 is incredible at warding off cancer which was the main reason I began taking it, and hope to take it all my life. (I'm so fearful of Evil Cancer)

[BabySmurf]

I don't realize that I'm as tired as I am until I get those few "teaser" nights in there! DS has gone back to his 4ish times per night wake up routine....the sleep was nice while it lasted! I can see his molars are starting to poke up a bit, so i am guessing that this is why.  Maybe he will start sleeping better again when they pop through....or maybe he will keep waking up just as often, and I will still be used to the sleep deprivation when baby comes