do you feed your child every time they wake up?

[wife&mommy]

I am wondering if I should be feeding DD every time she wakes up at night? I don't really even try to see if I can get her back to sleep another way, I just nurse her. Is this something I should be doing or should I try to see if she can drift back off without eating?
I don't necessarily mind it (although I can't sleep through nursing so it does kinda suck) if she needs it. I just wonder if that's what I should do. I also hear of babies sleeping 4 and 5 hour stretches or even through the night at this point and I wonder if I should be encouraging her to sleep longer stretches?

Anyway I think this answer would vary based on where it's posted (like MDC or mainstream board, etc.) but I want to know your opinions... so please share.

[miss_nikki]

I mostly just nurse but I've started trying other things too, if ds doesn't want to nurse. I have done a little massage, rubbing or patting his back, putting him on my chest or up next to me if he wasn't before. I've even rocked him and sung to him a little. Right now I'm not too worried about mostly nursing to sleep though, if that's what he wants. He hasn't slept all through the night yet but the night before last he did sleep from about 11:15pm-4:40am. I think that's the longest stretch he has had.

[YummyYumYumMama]

i do. i almost always nurse her to sleep. she just happens to do 4-5 hour stretches sometimes. she will nurse every hour for maybe 4 hours or so in the evening, and then conk out and sleep for 4-5 hours, nurse, sleep for another 3-4 hours, nurse, and maybe take another nap after that.

[Belleweather]

Originally Posted by MmeMuffin

i do. i almost always nurse her to sleep. she just happens to do 4-5 hour stretches sometimes. she will nurse every hour for maybe 4 hours or so in the evening, and then conk out and sleep for 4-5 hours, nurse, sleep for another 3-4 hours, nurse, and maybe take another nap after that.

That's exactly what Rhys does too... the cluster feeding and then a couple of longer sleep stretches thing. He nurses to sleep most times too, otherwise he fights passing out, which is a pain. Sleep is good, baby!

[Friday13th]

Originally Posted by MmeMuffin

she just happens to do 4-5 hour stretches sometimes. she will nurse every hour for maybe 4 hours or so in the evening, and then conk out and sleep for 4-5 hours, nurse, sleep for another 3-4 hours, nurse, and maybe take another nap after that.

Ash does pretty much the same thing. And I do nurse whenever he gets up, I'm half asleep and trying to think of anything else to try, much less getting out of bed to rock or bounce seems like far too much work.

[dubfam]

You aren't going to cause problems by nursing back to sleep, even if baby is only comfort nursing.

I don;t think there is any harm in trying other ways to get baby back to sleep, but I personally find nursing to be the easiest thing.

All babies have different sleep patterns. DS #1 wouldn't sleep for more than about 2 hrs at a time for the first few months. It was soooooo hard!

DS #2 sleeps so well...at least one 4 hour stretch a night usually, and we have had times where he sleeps for 7 hours (like his first night!) at a time. It all depends on the baby, and it is all normal. It is hard to hear about babies sleeping 4 hour stretches when your LO is only doing 2 hours at best, I thought that there was something wrong with DS #1 because he was awake so much.

[minsca]

Originally Posted by MmeMuffin

i do. i almost always nurse her to sleep. she just happens to do 4-5 hour stretches sometimes. she will nurse every hour for maybe 4 hours or so in the evening, and then conk out and sleep for 4-5 hours, nurse, sleep for another 3-4 hours, nurse, and maybe take another nap after that.

This is exactly what Avye does too.

[DucetteMama21842]

Originally Posted by MmeMuffin

i do. i almost always nurse her to sleep. she just happens to do 4-5 hour stretches sometimes. she will nurse every hour for maybe 4 hours or so in the evening, and then conk out and sleep for 4-5 hours, nurse, sleep for another 3-4 hours, nurse, and maybe take another nap after that.

This is the same for Jaz. I wouldn't nurse if she didn't want to... but I always offer... and she always wants to at night.

[wife&mommy]

Originally Posted by dubfam

You aren't going to cause problems by nursing back to sleep, even if baby is only comfort nursing.

I don;t think there is any harm in trying other ways to get baby back to sleep, but I personally find nursing to be the easiest thing.

All babies have different sleep patterns. DS #1 wouldn't sleep for more than about 2 hrs at a time for the first few months. It was soooooo hard!

DS #2 sleeps so well...at least one 4 hour stretch a night usually, and we have had times where he sleeps for 7 hours (like his first night!) at a time. It all depends on the baby, and it is all normal. It is hard to hear about babies sleeping 4 hour stretches when your LO is only doing 2 hours at best, I thought that there was something wrong with DS #1 because he was awake so much.

OK see this is the problem! She can't comfort nurse. I have too much milk and she can't suck at all without the milk just pouring out. I do all the stuff for oversupply but it was always like this with my son too, he ended up with a paci. So she wants to suck but not get milk (after she is finished eating) and then she ends up just screaming because she is soooo mad. And nothing else works at getting her back to sleep at that point. So I guess I thought maybe trying to soothe her without getting to that point might be better (especially if babies at this age CAN sleep longer stretches), but I forget not everyone has that problem when I asked! I totally don't mind nursing her whenever she wants but it makes her SO incredibly mad when she can't comfort nurse. And she hates the pacifier too especially from me. DH tries but she will just doze off and not fully go to sleep with him.

[look11]

Originally Posted by wife&mommy

OK see this is the problem! She can't comfort nurse. I have too much milk and she can't suck at all without the milk just pouring out. I do all the stuff for oversupply but it was always like this with my son too, he ended up with a paci. So she wants to suck but not get milk (after she is finished eating) and then she ends up just screaming because she is soooo mad. And nothing else works at getting her back to sleep at that point. So I guess I thought maybe trying to soothe her without getting to that point might be better (especially if babies at this age CAN sleep longer stretches), but I forget not everyone has that problem when I asked! I totally don't mind nursing her whenever she wants but it makes her SO incredibly mad when she can't comfort nurse. And she hates the pacifier too especially from me. DH tries but she will just doze off and not fully go to sleep with him.

Have you tried using your little finger instead of the pacifier? The finger gets to the roof of the mouth like a real nipple whereas the paci can't and some babies find this really frustrating. I just heard this from my LC.

i have the same problem with let down and Fisher wanting to suck but not get milk. I use the pacifier or my finger, whichever works.

[ivymae]

I feel like i am feeding this kid every times she looks at me.

At night, I generally feed her, then lay her on my chest and burp her/pat her back until she falls asleep. Sometimes she ends up sleeping there for a few hours, sometimes I am awake enough to lay her next to me (which sometimes restarts the entire cycle). I wish she could fall asleep on the boob, but her latch is still not great and she is sucking in a lot of air, so if I let her fall asleep without burping, we end up wearing her meal in a few hours. Some nights we get 3-4 hour stretches, some nights we see each other every hour. How much she sleeps during the day seems to affect how long she sleeps at night, so we are trying to be more entertaining during the day.

[YummyYumYumMama]

Originally Posted by Belleweather

He nurses to sleep most times too, otherwise he fights passing out, which is a pain. Sleep is good, baby!

maya fights passing out on the boob as well as in general. so sje'll start falling asleep while nursing, pull back and FREAK OUT, latch back on, lathe r rinse repeat. i have to rock/jiggle/bounce while nursing when she's overtired like that.

[lisarussell]

Their tummy capacity is so small and they have so much growing to do. They HAVE to eat every few hours.

If you can't nurse laying down, that's fine- especially since you said you don't mind. To encourage the development of good sleep habits, though, I wouldn't be turning on all the lights and the TV and making phone calls and changing diapers, etc. Just stay quietly in the dark, feed baby at the first whimper before she fully wakes up and let her slip back to sleep until morning. Babies are beautiful in the moonlight. Husbands look kind of hot, too a that time. When all the kids are asleep......................... .................................................. ................................. ...................................

[MCKH]

I do but it's usually only 2 or 3 times in the night, so no biggie. Plus, Lane nurses best at night so I let him get a good deal of his milk at that time. I can't wait until he's a bit older though so that I can revert to "mindless laying down nursing without actually waking up."